HE WOULDN’T SAY NO TO A ‘C’
Senators’ Chris Phillips would be honoured to serve as team captain
Chris Phillips is not the type of guy who would campaign for the captaincy of the Ottawa Senators by walking around with a Vote For Me sign.
It’s not his style to be a selfpromoter.
At the same time, Phillips won’t try to stickhandle around the question: If he’s asked to be the team’s captain, he’ll serve. Gladly.
“Yeah, definitely,” he said Tuesday, after an informal practice at the Bell Sensplex. “I’ve played a long time now, seen a lot, been able to experience a lot.
“If that was something that was asked of me, then, yeah, I would certainly welcome that and be honoured.”
With the departure of Daniel Alfredsson, the Senators are in the market for a captain for the first time since Alfredsson got the C at the start of the 1999-2000 season, when then-captain Alexei Yashin was suspended by the team for not honouring his contract.
It’ll be a tricky decision for coach Paul MacLean and general manager Bryan Murray.
There is one school of thought that believes Phillips, 35, should get it as the longest-serving member of the team.
He was drafted first overall in 1996 and is entering his 16th season with the team. Widely respected around the league, he’s been an alternate captain since the start of the 2006-07.
He was also the team’s outspoken NHLPA representative during the 2012-13 lockout, accusing the NHL of “dirty tricks” during the negotiations.
The other school of thought believes that Spezza, 30, should get the captaincy as leader of the team’s younger generation.
Arguably the team’s top offensive player, Erik Karlsson and Bobby Ryan notwithstanding, Spezza is entering his 11th season with the team. From almost the moment he was drafted second overall by the team in 2001, he has seemed to be a captain-inwaiting, if not in Ottawa then somewhere else.
The thought is that Spezza should be given the C and be allowed to put his stamp on the team while he is in the prime of his career.
Presumably both players are of sufficiently strong character not to be miffed if the other is selected, but there can’t help but be some fallout from this decision.
Phillips might very well feel insulted if his long service to the team is passed over.
Spezza might very well feel slighted if he has to keep playing second fiddle.
Then there is each player’s contract status to consider.
Phillips has one year left on his contract at $3.25 million ($3.08 salary-cap hit). Spezza has two years left on his at $5 million and $4 million, respectively ($7-million salary cap hit both years).
Given the team’s internal budget of around $51 million and its unwillingness to pay big dollars for aging players, it’s not inconceivable that both Spezza and Phillips could find themselves on the free-agent market once their contracts expire, making their reigns as captain very short.
A number of players, including Phillips, have had experience as the interim captain while Alfredsson has been out with one injury or another.
‘Off the ice you have to, once in awhile, say things to guys that they might not want to hear.’
CHRIS PHILLIPS
Senators alternate captain
And nothing changes when the label becomes permanent. You don’t all of a sudden become a screamer if you were never one before, said Phillips. You have to carry yourself as you always have.
“For me, the biggest thing is leading by example,” he said. “Every time you step on the ice, to work hard, be focused and do the right things.
“And off the ice you have to, once in awhile, say things to guys that they might not want to hear ...
“It’s just being able to keep everyone together.”
This matter of the captaincy will likely get sorted out not too far into training camp, or else it runs the risk of being a distraction.
Phillips is looking forward to it, not so much for the outcome, but also for a chance to see how it works.
It’s been such a long time a new captain was appointed here, he joked, the process is something of a mystery. “I’ve been actually been asked a lot, you know, what’s the process: Do they ask the players, do they ask the coach, how do they go about finding a new captain?”
“And my answer has been: (Alfredsson) has had it for so long that I don’t know what the protocol is.
“But I’m sure that’s something that will get sorted out in the next couple of weeks.”