WE SHALL ‘C’
AT a different time, there would be no better man to award the Rangers’ captaincy than Mats Zuccarello. But Zuccarello is entering the final year of his contract and is more likely than not to be traded approaching the Feb. 25 deadline, so unless the Rangers want to run through a turnstile captaincy and be in this same position next season, no C for No. 36.
Larry Brooks
Chris Kreider could be an interesting choice for the position that was vacated upon Ryan McDonagh’s deadline trade to Tampa Bay last Feb. 26. But Kreider’s deal only has two more years to go, so there is no way to know whether management will extend No. 20 or instead deal him before the contract expires, and really, wouldn’t the captaincy become as much of a burden as a reward for the forever internalizing winger?
Marc Staal, second in team seniority to Henrik Lundqvist, has the pedigree and has been an alternate for eight seasons, the position management appears to believe best suited to No. 18. Kevin Shattenkirk has talked the leadership talk since breakup day and is in position to spread the Gospel According to David Quinn, but No. 22 is no sure thing for a longterm run on Broadway, either. So no C to either of them. “I think that just takes care of itself,” Quinn said in his press conference Thursday, which preceded Friday’s on-ice testing sessions. “A good captain usually emerges from a group, especially when there’s been a coaching change.
“There’s a lot of different dynamics when you have a new team and a bunch of changes that we’ve made. I think the captaincy will take of itself one way or the other.”
Make book on “the other.” Chances are the Rangers will go into, and play, a season without a captain for only the third time in franchise history in following the path set by the 1948-49 and 2005-06 clubs.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
In fact, going without a captain seems a growing trend in the NHL. The Maple Leafs won’t choose between John Tavares and Auston Matthews and so Toronto will go without a captain just as it has since Dion Phaneuf was traded to Ottawa in February 2016. The Islanders have not named a successor to Tavares. The Canadiens may not replace Max Pacioretty. Vegas appears on its way to its second straight captain-less year. Vancouver and Ottawa could go with alternates only.
A letter does not imbue leadership skills to an athlete and the absence of one does not diminish a player’s ability to lead. Far better not to have a captain than to name the wrong one. There might have been other factors, but let’s just say McDonagh hardly thrived with the C on his chest in the four seasons he wore it.
It is debatable whether a good captain usually emerges, but when a good captain emerges, everyone knows it. There was, for instance, no doubt in the world of Ryan Callahan’s readiness or worthiness when he was named to the post by John Tortorella in 2011-12 following Chris Drury’s retirement.
There is no need to fret over the Rangers’ leadership quotient. You know who’s a leader? Jesper Fast, that’s who; a prime example of a low-talker who leads by example. Adam McQuaid, acquired Tuesday from Boston, is renowned as a leader. Zuccarello, Staal, Kreider and Shattenkirk have the necessities to be example-setters for this embryonic group. And of course so does Lundqvist, barred as a goaltender by NHL statute from being named captain.
It is unclear whether Quinn intends to go with the traditional three alternates or four — two at home, two on the road — as the team had done for the three seasons prior to last year. Zuccarello and Staal are incumbents, with Kreider, Shattenkirk and Fast likely the three leading candidates to also wear the scarlet A.
Tom Renney, as head coach, asked Jaromir Jagr to captain the 2005-06 team coming out of the canceled 2004-05 season — but No. 68 declined. The lack of the C didn’t hamper Jagr, who recorded a franchise record 54 goals and 123 points, and the absence of a captain didn’t prevent the Rangers from making the playoffs after entering training camp as a projected lottery team.
Thirteen years later, perhaps history can repeat itself.