Predicting the next captain for the six vacant roles

The importance of being named the captain of a team still carries a lot of weight in the NHL, as it comes with a lot of responsibility. They have to act as the face of the team, as well as be an important figure in the dressing room. Parts of it have certainly changed over the years, particularly with teams leaning towards giving the position to one of their best players with marketing playing a bigger role in the sport. That said, giving the captaincy to a bottom-six forward or bottom-pair defenseman isn’t completely extinct either.

As of today, there are currently only six teams without a captain. Three of the vacancies have been around for at least a couple seasons, while a few more have only existed since the previous trade deadline or this summer. The next player to get the “C” likely won’t have a huge impact for most of us outside the team, but it’s still fun to speculate who might be given the role while it’s open.

With that, I decided to make my prediction for the next player to get the captaincy for the six teams currently without one. Some feel like very obvious options, some I went off of the speculation surrounding the team, and some are just straight guesses based on my gut feeling, but all of them feel like strong candidates to lead the team next.

Anaheim Ducks: Cam Fowler

The Anaheim Ducks have had their captaincy open for two seasons now after Ryan Getzlaf retired, and considering that they are still in a rebuild phase, it is quite possible that they keep this position open until one of their younger players emerges as the obvious candidate for the role. If that’s the case, Mason McTavish or Troy Terry seem like two of the likelier candidates based on the fact that they’ve been given time with the “A” on their jersey last season.

But in the event that they want to go with a veteran player who will eventually transition the captaincy to one of their younger players, Fowler seems like a likely candidate. In a revolving door of alternate captains over the past few years, he has technically held the position the longest at two seasons, so he appears to be the de facto leader of the team. He’s 32 and has two years left on his contract, so he’ll also hold the role for a long enough time that the team can transition to contending status, but not so long that it blocks the eventual leader of this new Ducks’ core from getting the position for a while. He seems like the ideal candidate for the captaincy right now, but it’s also very possible that they keep it open for a couple more seasons until a younger player makes themselves the best option.

Buffalo Sabres: Rasmus Dahlin

The Buffalo Sabres have one of the shorter vacancies on this list, as previous captain Kyle Okposo was dealt to the Florida Panthers at the trade deadline after having the “C” for two seasons. The Sabres’ captaincy has a bit of a chaotic history as well, as they’ve never had a player hold the position on their own for more than three seasons since Pat Lafontaine did from 1992 to 1997. Actually, that doesn’t even count because Alexander Mogilny was an interim captain during the 1993-94 season during that span, so it’s actually Gilbert Perreault from 1981 to 1986. As they look to finally end their lengthy playoff drought and turn over a new leaf, what they need is a leader who will hold the role for a long period of time, and hopefully stick around for most of their career.

So who better to take that spot than Dahlin. He’s arguably the face of the franchise, so you have that part nailed down. He’s also just starting the first year of an eight-year deal, meaning that he’ll also likely be around for a long time, barring any instances involving a surgery for an injury that the Sabres decide to not approve. Along with that, he’s the only player still on the team that started the year as an alternate captain, so he’s already become a leader in the room. They also don’t really have an old guy to give it to, as the only 30+ player on their NHL roster right now is Jason Zucker. Maybe they like Tage Thompson or Alex Tuch better for it, but I feel like giving it to Dahlin might just be one of those tiny details that helps change the culture in an organization that has sucked for 13 seasons now.

Chicago Blackhawks: Connor Bedard

I mean, this one is pretty obvious. Excluding instances of mooning a police officer right before the captaincy is being named, teams that draft generational level talents tend to hand the “C” to them once the role is vacant and the player seems ready. The second the Chicago Blackhawks won the lottery, Bedard has been the face of the franchise, so it seems like a shoe in. Ideally they would have had Jonathan Toews around for a couple of seasons to provide Bedard with an example of leadership and help transition him into the role, but at least it leaves the role open for him to take it when he’s ready.

The only way I see Bedard not getting the captaincy is if the Blackhawks decide to hand it off to another player as a transition role until he is fully ready. Nick Foligno probably seems the most likely candidate for something like that, especially since he’s only signed for a couple of seasons so he wouldn’t be blocking the position from Bedard for too long. But otherwise, Bedard becoming the next Blackhawks captain seems to be a matter of when, not if.

Seattle Kraken: Matty Beniers

While the Vegas Golden Knights waited a couple of seasons to name their captain after they joined into the league, the Seattle Kraken came right out of the gate with their captain choice and gave it to Mark Giordano. He proceeded to hold that position for roughly five months before he was dealt to the Toronto Maple Leafs at the 2022 trade deadline. Since then, the position has been vacant.

From what I’ve gathered from the Kraken beat, the next captain will probably go to Beniers when he is ready. He seems to have developed more of a leadership role in the team, and is right now is the “face of the franchise”, especially after his Calder Trophy win in 2022-23. He didn’t have an alternate captain role last season, but the players that did (Jordan Eberle, Yanni Gourde, Adam Larsson and Jaden Schwartz) don’t seem like long-term captain options, so I’d imagine that Beniers slowly gets transitioned into the role and eventually becomes the captain.

Tampa Bay Lightning: Victor Hedman

The Tampa Bay Lightning really know how to destroy relationships with their captains. First, they buyout Vincent Lecavalier (rightfully so, but it’s still a bit awkward to do with a captain). Then, their previous general manager in Steve Yzerman did not select Martin St. Louis to play for Team Canada at the 2014 Olympics, upsetting St. Louis, only for injuries to force Yzerman’s hand to add him to the Olympic team, all resulting in St. Louis requesting a trade. And now, after 10 years of wearing the “C” and two Stanley Cup victories, the Lightning decided that now was the time to be cutthroat with their core and decided that they didn’t want to give any money to Steven Stamkos.

So, once again, the Lightning have an opening for their captaincy. The good news is that, after so much recent success, they have several solid options to give the letter to. Nikita Kucherov is definitely the face of the franchise right now, so he can wear it if they want a more marketable option. Brayden Point is also a quality option for both leadership and talent. Even Ryan McDonagh has captaincy experience with the New York Rangers, although it’d be a bit awkward to name him after trading him and then bringing him back. All that said, it feels like Victor Hedman is the top option here. He’s held the alternate captain role since 2017-18, is now the longest tenured Bolt, and just has that leadership presence about him.

Utah Hockey Club: Clayton Keller

Outside of possibly the Ducks, the Utah Hockey Club was probably the one team that I didn’t really have a strong idea as to who the frontrunner for the captaincy is. They haven’t had a captain since Oliver Ekman-Larsson was traded three seasons ago, so they probably aren’t in a rush to name one soon, but maybe they want to give a player the “C” as another big splash to make now that they’ve moved to Utah. So of course, I had to consult our resident Arizona Coyotes expert Mike Gould, to which he said it would likely go to Clayton Keller or Lawson Crouse. He also pointed out that head coach Andre Tourigny has generally not given out captaincies.

Going off of that, I opted for Keller. I generally lean towards giving the captaincy to a player that is a good mix of strong leadership ability, marketability and overall skill, and right now Keller is the best player on the team and held the alternate captain role for two seasons, the same length as Crouse. Unless they go for an off the board pick like Sean Durzi, it feels like their next captain will be Keller, even if they don’t name one for a few more years.