Nil d wrote:

---

Was anyone else insulted by the low percentage of votes Jean Beliveau received (I think around 14%) in the TSN poll during the Colorado/Habs game?  The question was to vote for the greatest captain of all time; the candidates were Beliveau, Gretzky, Messier, Yzerman, and a couple of others I can't recall.  Yzerman won (somewhere around 38%), and Beliveau came in fourth out of six.  I was quite appalled by that!  What did Yzerman ever achieve that Beliveau didn't do better? Yes, I'm biased towards my favourite ever player, but I think he's the greatest captain ever!

---

 Nil: No one is or was better than Beliveau! Messier was a great leader and player but Beliveau was better!

 People got caught up in the emotion and present day celebration! Voted with their hearts and not their memory!

 I'm old enough to appreciate and remember his last couple seasons, although I was a kid my father never missed a Habs game and Bel was his favorite! Beliveau to his peers meant leadership, talent and most of all class!

 Forgive me if I'm wrong but in his last season, he won his last Cup and was still productive when he hung them up! He won 10 Cups, lead the league in scoring twice and won the Hart once!

 I would rank Mess second, then Yzerman and Gretz last! Hard to compare if you haven't followed Beliveau's career for the younger folks! I was fortunate to remember his last couple seasons and he was still very productive. Also fortunate living in Edmonton and Alberta to follow Mess and watch him play! I would say Beliveau had more raw talent and Mess was a big chippy player with lots of strength and good skills!

 I don't put Gretz up there at all because he may of been a great player but I found him too irritating and whiny to the refs after every call or whistle. Came across as a spoiled child having a tantrum! I always imagined him irritating his team in the dressing room!

habs93 wrote:

---

Nil d most of the people who would have taken the time to go on an online poll would not have seen Big Jean play only heard how great/classy he was - (he retired in 1970/1971 after helping to lead with alot help from Ken Dryden The Habs over The Big Bad Bruins etc) plus they are mainly Leaf fans (lol) as well as beeing a generation who in the last dozen years or so have seen the Wings playing in the playoffs (winning a few Coupe Stanley) or Stevie Y playing in the Olympics so that makes him the so called greatest captain of all time and listening to the media say it (along with Messier whose teams never made the playoffs in the last seven years he played) he is the current flavour of the month until he retires.....

---

I'm sure the poll results reflect the average age of TSN viewers (i.e very young); they certainly seem to play to that demographic.

I totally agree with Steve Yzerman as the best captian of all times.  This guy breathes and sleeps Red Wings.  He signed with the Wings for 2 million a few years back when he could have gotten 5 somewhere else.  That in my eyes makes him a great captain, and a player who is in a class of his own.