Sean Couturier was a natural fit as Flyers’ captain

The Philadelphia Flyers have their leader on the ice.

On Wednesday, the team named Sean Couturier the 20th captain in franchise history, becoming the first captain in nearly two years.

There are many key reasons the team chose Couturier to wear the ‘C’. He is in the 12th season of his NHL career, all with the Flyers. He is fifth in games played in franchise history (771), and fits the team’s identity of being a hard-working player, while producing on the offensive end. During his time in Philly, the Phoenix, Arizona native has scored 191 goals and 302 assists, including 22 points in 39 playoff games.

He is the first captain since Claude Giroux was traded to the Florida Panthers during the 2021-22 season. The Flyers originally stated that they were going to play this season without a captain again.

On Thursday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Colby Cohen and Tyler Yaremchuk talk about why Courturier was an easy choice to be the team’s new captain.

Tyler Yaremchuk: He is very obviously their captain.

Colby Cohen: The only reason why they didn’t do this sooner…Danny Briere and Keith Jones, and remember, Danny Briere was his teammate…I think they needed to make sure Sean Couturier was still a high-end player. They wanted to make sure that the injury wasn’t going to be some career-ending type of injury. They wanted to make sure he could be an elite center in the NHL, and he’s proven that he can do it night-in, and night-out.

He’s probably on a team-friendly contract right now, he’s got a number of years left on his deal. Look, he’s been the de-facto captain in that dressing room for a long time, so I don’t think it was a matter of “if,” it was a matter of “when.”

You can watch the full segment, and the entire episode here…