Mike Richards: How Does He Match Up Against Former Flyers Captains?

One of the most important leadership roles in sports is being your team’s captain. Fans, teammates, coaches and other captains look to you to make the right decisions both on and off the field. In hockey particularly, the captain has the right to speak with the officials, takes part in ceremonious puck drops and leads the team through the season and often deep into the playoffs. Hockey is also the only one of the major sports in which the captain is awarded the trophy when the championship is won. Commissioner Gary Bettman awards the Stanley Cup to Jonathan Toews, not Joel Quenneville or Rocky Wirtz. Bettman gives it to Sidney Crosby, not Ray Shero. The Philadelphia Flyers organization has had 16 captains through their 43-year history, averaging about 2.7 years of reign for each captain. What began with Lou Angotti in the fledgling expansion team’s first season has now come to Mike Richards, the franchise player and (eventually) long-tenured captain of the club. As the captain, Richards has done what most Flyers captains have been unable to do—lead the team to the Stanley Cup final. In fact, just four captains before Richards have done this: Bob Clarke, Mel Bridgman, Dave Poulin and Eric Lindros. But where does Richie rank among the esteemed group of Flyers captains. For that matter, where could he rank when his now-young career is over in a decade or so? Richards has won a Memorial Cup, a Calder Cup, a World Junior gold medal and an Olympic gold medal, all before the age of 26. He is nearing his prime and with 283 points in 372 career NHL games (142 in the past two seasons), he is showing how well he can perform on the ice. There is no doubting his leadership off the ice, but with so many famous ones before him, how does Richards stack up against the likes of Bob Clarke, Eric Lindros and more?

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