How do you pick a captain?

Posted by Richard Pollock in Atlanta Thrashers,Florida Panthers,Los Angeles Kings,New York Rangers,Philadelphia Flyers,Tampa Bay Lightning,Toronto Maple Leafs,Vancouver Canucks on August 21, 2008 — 2 Comments

From James Mirtle:

Here’s the question of the day: How do you pick a captain?

Do you go with age and experience? Youth? A forward or a defenceman? A North American or a European? Grit or finesse?

If we assume Joe Sakic’s coming back in Colorado and Mats Sundin’s headed for parts unknown, there are eight NHL clubs searching for a captain in training camp this year: Atlanta, Florida, Los Angeles, the Rangers, Philadelphia, Tampa Bay, Toronto and Vancouver.

Read the entire entry here.

Mirtle poses an interesting question and really the answer is quite subjective.

For the 8 teams that Mirtle lists, here is who my choices would be for captains:

Atlanta: Ilya Kovalchuk

Florida: Cory Stillman

Los Angeles: Derek Armstrong

New York Rangers: Chris Drury

Philadelphia: Mike Richards

Tampa Bay: Vinny Lecavalier

Toronto: Jamal Mayers

Vancouver: Willie Mitchell