One Hall of a career for Mess

John Muckler did a lot of things during his three wacky years behind the Rangers bench that made me shake my head in bewilderment. But a couple of weeks ago, he topped them all.

Going into the Stanley Cup Finals, Muckler actually said that Daniel Alfredsson was a leader "on par" with Mark Messier. Though there is no evidence that Muckler's firing as GM of the Ottawa Senators about 10 days later was related to that remark, shouldn't such a lapse in judgment be sufficient grounds?

Hey, no disrespect to Alfie, who was one of the few notable Senators who continued to fight long after his top-tier teammates conceded the Cup to Anaheim. Similarly, I mean no disrespect to Scott Stevens or Steve Yzerman or Derek Jeter or Don Mattingly or Patrick Ewing or even Willis Reed - fine men all.

But when the topic is leadership in sports, there is Mark Messier and then there is everybody else. And among everybody else, nobody could carry Messier's "C."

In Edmonton, where he began his legendary career, Messier still is known by the alliterative nickname "Moose," which aptly describes the burly way he played the game - particularly as a youngster.

Around here, where he merely taught a woebegone franchise how to win again after 54 years of clueless sputtering, we call him The Captain. And always will.

This is a guy who has scored more points (1,887) than any player in NHL history other than Wayne Gretzky - the greatest player in the history of pro sports, though that's a topic for another day. Still, he's known primarily for his leadership.

He won six Stanley Cups and two Hart Trophies as NHL MVP. He played in more games (1,756) than anybody other than Gordie Howe, scored more than 800 goals counting playoffs and played in more NHL playoff games (236) than anyone other than Patrick Roy and Chris Chelios. Still, bring up his name around an NHL rink and the first thing anybody will discuss was his leadership.

I've covered every sport as a beat writer and been privileged to watch many of the aforementioned players run their locker rooms. None came close to doing it the way Messier did. None came close to getting groups of men from widely disparate backgrounds, with levels of intelligence and skepticism that ran the gamut, to so utterly and willingly follow his lead the way Messier did.

Two things made Messier unique.

First, he treated every teammate as an equal deserving of complete respect - from fellow superstars like Gretzky and Brian Leetch to fourth-liners and enforcers such as Darren Langdon. Second, he not only commanded his locker room with an uncanny sense of when and what to say, he led the way on the ice at the critical and most harrowing moments.

A hobbling Reed buried a couple of inspiring jumpers and then watched Walt Frazier play the consummate Game 7 to win the 1970 NBA title. Messier guaranteed Game 6 against the Devils in '94 and then won it with a hat trick.

Upon his arrival from Edmonton in 1991, Messier demanded that his teammates no longer quiver and cross their fingers when asked about the Rangers' epic title drought. Rather, he insisted they accept it as their own and pledge to end it. Three years later, he lifted the Cup and handed it to them - handed it back to the city of New York, literally.

On Thursday, in what had to have been one of the shortest conversations in the history of that body, the Hockey Hall of Fame selection committee designated Messier for induction come November. Soon after the announcement, posing a question that was moot since the hockey Hall makes no such designations on its plaques, a reporter asked Messier if he wanted to go in as a Ranger or an Edmonton Oiler.

More relevant: Even in a remarkable induction class that includes the luminous likes of Scott Stevens, Ron Francis and Al MacInnis, Messier will go in as the leader.

The best that there ever was.