Ranking the Detroit Red Wings captains of the last 40 years
By Ben Heydt
5. Danny Gare
Early on, it’s time to own up to the recency bias, even if the first one may be a name that leads some to discredit the next four in the countdown. But there is still plenty of insight to talk through, but I had to own up to the recency bias (or lack thereof) with Danny Gare. I was born in 1989 and truthfully do not have a recollection of watching hockey before Eric Lindros laced up the skates for the Flyers on my father’s grainy basement television.
If it was unclear, that was well after Gare’s reign as a Detroit Red Wings captain. All of my knowledge of his play comes from older clips I have seen of him from the 80s since I did not see his play live with the Red Wings. It is a fairly understood fact that Detroit was not icing very competitive teams for much of the 80s, so needless to say, it was a pretty grim decade for Detroit.
What I know of Gare is that he had a long stint with Buffalo before leading the Red Wings and that he never shied away from dropping the gloves. Seriously, if you are unfamiliar with him, as I was, look up some of his highlights online. You will be bombarded with videos of him chuckin’ knuckles for his teammates.
How can you hate on a captain who is willing to put his blood, sweat, and tears on the line for the boys that he went to battle with night in and night out? That’s why he slots in as no. 5 on this countdown of Detroit Red Wings captains.