Kraken & Blackhawks Have Forgone Team Captains This Season
Above Photo: Jaden Schwartz (left) and Jordan Eberle, two of the Kraken alternate captains.
Five of the 32 NHL teams have so far declined to name a captain for the 2023-24 season.
Two of those, the Chicago Blackhawks and Seattle Kraken, face off Wednesday at Climate Pledge Arena.
Don't read too much into the fact that all four Western Conference teams without captains - Seattle, Chicago, the Anaheim Ducks and Arizona Coyotes - currently sit below the cutoff line for making the playoffs. (The Philadelphia Flyers are the fifth).
All four Western franchises are in various stages of building their teams, likely biding their time before pinning the "C" on young stars in coming seasons.
For Seattle, that's widely expected to be Calder Trophy winner Matty Beniers, who's already displayed the skills and temperament required of a captain.
Four "A"-Listers With Half-Century Of Experience
But for this season, the Kraken have doled out responsibility in the same way they win hockey games: by committee. Respected veterans Adam Larsson, Yanni Gourde, Jordan Eberle, and Jaden Schwartz all have worn the alternate captain "A."
Between them, Larsson, Gourde, Eberle and Schwartz have 49 seasons of NHL experience under their suspenders. They rotate wearing the "A" designation, since three is the maximum number of lettermen per team in any one game.
Notably, the Kraken "room" has remained tight through bumpy stretches this season. Meanwhile, it's been a tough sophomore season for Beniers. He hasn't played since being boarded by Columbus' Cole Sillinger on Jan. 13.
If Matty Beniers is someday named captain of the Kraken, he'll have more NHL experience to draw upon.Before the injury, Beniers struggled offensively, with six goals and 19 points in 42 games. The added pressure that comes with a captaincy was a burden the 21-year-old center didn't need.
Kraken GM Ron Francis was only one year older when the Hartford Whalers named him captain in 1985. So Francis may have been prescient in delaying the speculated naming of Beniers as captain.
"I'm not sure if at 22 that I was totally ready for it," Francis told ESPN's Ryan Clark.
"You're learning kind of on the job. As a young kid, you're trying to establish yourself in the league and help the team win. There's a lot of other things that go along with being a good captain, and as a young kid, you try to balance that.
"It's not an easy thing at times," Francis said. "But anytime you get to wear a C for an organization, it's very flattering."
