James Mirtle has a good piece on who should be captain of the Thrashers, Panthers, Kings, Rangers, Leafs, Flyers, Lightning and the Canucks. He list possible candidates for each team mentionned above. So let’s start with the most obvious choices on different teams.
The New York Rangers, it’s a no brainer, Chris Drury, that is one reason why Sather signed him as a UFA last summer, as he knew that he would be parting with Jagr and Shanahan.
The Philadelphia Flyers, the same thing, no doubt Mike Richards will get the nod. They did not invest all that $$$$ on his possible 50 goal a year seasons, because it won’t happen. He will be a 20 to 25 goal a year center.
In Tampa Bay, again there, no brainer, Vincent Lecavalier, will be captain of the Bolts until he retires.
Now for the less obvious.
Atlanta, Mirtle listed three possibilities to replace Holik. They are Niclas Havelid, Ilya Kovalchuk and Slava Kozlov. I am not sure I would pick any of them, as your best players don’t also make for good captains. I think Todd White would be a good captain and a locker room presence.
In Florida, the choices are : Bouwmeester, Horton and Cory Stillman. Bouwmeester’s status is up in the air, so would not be a good choice. So it’s a toss up between Stillman and Horton. I would go with Stillman, he a proven leader, he has two cup rings, would be a good influence on the youngsters.
The Kings, the choices are : Armstrong, Brown (Dustin), Frolov, Kopitar and Stoll. I think Brown would make a good captain.
Oh yes the Leafs, now this is interesting, as that person will have big shoes to fill with Sundin gone. The candidates are : Jason Blake, Kaberle, Kubina and Mayers. Mirtle had put McCabe, but I doubt he would want that job anyways, this notwithstanding his possible trade to Florida or elsewhere.
The Vancouver Canucks, the candidates are : Kesler, Mitchell and Ohlund. Ohlund is a UFA a the end of the season, if they are tanking by the tradedeadline in early March, no doubt he could be a sought after defensemen for a team looking to good deep in the playoffs. So it remains between Kesler and Mitchell, I think he will get the nod.
Like everyone else, I’m getting sick of hearing of the where will Mats Sundin go ? story. As long as he stays silent and let’s the speculation go on, it will get sickening for fans all over the NHL, not only in the cities where has gotten offers from, but others also. Turn the microphones off and use the old it’s ‘’off the record’’ line, and you surely will get snarks from a GM. As in ‘’ How long will this take, we can’t wait all season for him to decide.’’ The worst part is, is that even Gary Bettman can’t even intervene. Hopefully he comes to a decide soon and puts an end to the saga.
Three years after the signing of the new CBA, there is still a misconception on who counts against the cap, espacially when it comes to long term injuries. It’s also the same for short term injuries. Just because a player goes off the active roster, it does not mean his salary is off the books, he still counts in the team’s upper limit count. Players on long term injury reserve, and the team applied for the exemption, and that are close to the upper limit, can go over the limit, but not by all of the injured player’s salary. I will use the situation with Ryan Whitney in Pittsburgh. Presently the Penguins sit at 55,360,867 which leaves them with 1,339,133 in cap space. Whitney’s cap hit is 4,000,000. Take that amount, substract what is left in cap space, and that is amount they can go over. Teams don’t lose their cap space because of this, it’s more calculate how much they can go over. Teams can replace an injured player such as Whitney,with as many as they wish, as long as the total is not larger than the replaced player’s salary/cap hit.
Hopefully news picks up between now and Saturday, see you then.
