Jonathan Toews is a really good hockey player. He's not a God. He's a media creation. Jonathan Toews has a points per game average comparable to guys like Zack Parise, Paul Statsny, and Thomas Vanek. But the media can’t comprehend that, because he’s won three Stanely Cups.
Sure,Toews was more than a bystander on those teams, but he wasn’t the best player on the ice. Crosby is number one in points per game among active players, followed by Malkin, Ovechkin, Jagr, and Patrick Kane. Did you watch last nights game? Kane is a superior player than Toews. But Toews wears the “C,” so he’s a leader.
The media doesn’t know where to put Toews. His statistics are blah. He even had a twenty-plus game goal drought in the playoffs a few years back...and the Hawks won the cup anyway. But that doesn’t compute. So anytime the Hawks scored a goal, it was because Toews willed it in the back of the net by using the force.
I heard that Toews once impregnated a woman by just looking at her! Sorry, this isn’t about Toews…It’s about the media. You can measure goals. You can measure assists. Plus minus is a thing. You get it. Those things are all tangible. You can compare one player to another player.
You can’t compare leadership. And that’s how the media will get you. “How can you possibly say Toews is a bad leader!? He won three cups!!!” Well, how can you say he’s a good leader? Do you have some sort of radar for leadership? None of those analysts are in the dressing room. You can’t quantify it.
Leadership is makeup for sports writers. When lacking any real analysis, they just drop the line ”leadership.” It covers up the blemishes of some in the media.
It’s lazy, it’s weak, and I see right through it. You should too.