From Steve Gorten of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel:
For years and years, European players have been bashed for believedly having poor leadership qualities. The strongest argument for those that believed a European can’t be an effective NHL captain was that no team had ever won the Stanley Cup with a European as its captain. Their contention has been that only a North American, ideally a Canadian, was “tough” enough to lead a team to the Cup.
Well, clearly that’s not the case. The Red Wings captured the Stanley Cup last night with defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom, a Swede, as its captain. Lidstrom soft?Hardly. And countryman Henrik Zetterberg won the Conn Smythe as playoff MVP.
Read his entire entry.
Gorten is exactly on point in this piece. The Red Wings championship destroys the preconception that a European-laden line-up cannot win the Cup. The Wings were guided by Zetterberg, Datsyuk and Lidstrom–all three of which are from overseas. I wonder if we will now see more teams hand over their captaincy to non-North Americans?
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A new team, a first goal, and a forward starting to feel at home.