Much has been made of the fact that George Armstrong was the Maple Leaf captain to retire with a Leaf jersey on his back. The media will have you believe that somehow the Leafs treat their players worse than other teams. Just not true.
Let's look at the New York Rangers captains during the last 25 years.
Mark Messier was the last captain prior to Chris Drury and he did retire as a Ranger. However, he also left the Rangers in 1997 while a captain to sign as a free agent with Vancouver. He returned in 2000 and was made captain again.
While Messier was in Vancouver, Brian Leetch was appointed captain. I believe he finished his career as a rental player with the Leafs.
Prior to Messier's first run as captain, the Ranger captain was Kelly Kisio. He finished his career with San Jose and Calgary. Prior to Kelly Kisio there was Ron Greschner who retired as a Ranger.
How about the Boston Bruins? There last captain before Zdeno Chara was Joe Thornton. The two captains before him were Jason Allison and Ray Bourque. All were traded.
I could go on and on. Hockey is a business where assets are traded. Even team captains.
12 years ago
