No Captain in 2023/24

[phill9]

Blackhawks won't name captain 'out of respect' for Jonathan Toews

Sep 19, 2023, 04:00 PM ET
CHICAGO -- The Chicago Blackhawks will not have a captain this season.

General manager Kyle Davidson made the announcement Tuesday. Jonathan Toews captained the team for almost 15 years, but he played his last game with the team in April.

"The only plan right now is to sort of just let it breathe for a year," Davidson said. "We came off such a successful tenure with Jonathan that, a little bit of it is just out of respect for Jonathan, to not fill that spot right away.

"And the other part is not to put that pressure on someone else when you're coming out of a period of such -- call it greatness, right? And you want the next person to be in a position to succeed. And there's no requirement to have a captain, and so we just felt that it was best to leave that, push that decision a little bit."

Davidson said Chicago will have a group of alternate captains. That group will be announced later in training camp, which begins this week.

The rebuilding Blackhawks are looking for progress after finishing last in the Central Division with a 26-49-7 record. Following the awful season, they won the NHL draft lottery and selected Connor Bedard with the No. 1 overall pick.

Veteran defensemen Seth Jones and Connor Murphy are back, and forwards Taylor Hall, Nick Foligno and Corey Perry were added to the roster in the offseason.

As far as the future of the team's captaincy, Davidson said the Blackhawks will "let the chips fall where they may."

"Over the next year, we'll see who emerges, see what the best option is and decide next year if it's appropriate to name someone," he said. "We'll take that as it comes."

All eyes are on Bedard as the Blackhawks head into training camp, but the play of Lukas Reichel also is worth watching. Reichel, who was selected by Chicago with the No. 17 pick in the 2020 draft, had seven goals and eight assists in 23 games last season.

The 21-year-old Reichel has played mostly left wing in the NHL, but Davidson said he will begin camp as a center.

[vadarx]

fantastic news.

[bigbarn27]

Glad KD got out in front of this one. But he always has to throw his own little spin when ever he talks out of respect for JT LMFAO. Sorry he sets off bells and whistle on my BS meter when he talks.

[ebonyraptor]

This seems like the best solution to keeping a potential problem a non-problem. Nice move KD.

[hsbob]

Sept 19, 2023 21:53:09 GMT -6 bigbarn27 said:

Glad KD got out in front of this one. But he always has to throw his own little spin when ever he talks out of respect for JT LMFAO. Sorry he sets off bells and whistle on my BS meter when he talks.

Just not enough respect to want him to be part of the team any longer. Young centers Bedard and Reichel wouldn't benefit from the selke,connie,multipl cup and gold medal winner's presence?  JT was working with Dach and awfully disappointed when he was traded,his offensive and FO struggles were more from being rushed as a severely injured teenager(what a crime!)than anything else IMO. Kirby Dach was at least a reliable defender right from the start. The other young center at the time,Strome,wasn't as good defensively but has improved quite a bit with the Caps. A -4 and won half his draws against #1's an #2's all year and 23/65 of offense got the kid a deserved extension.
Kuznetsov was a -26 and Backstrom was -25 after his return.

[Nikos]

Sept 19, 2023 21:53:09 GMT -6 bigbarn27 said:

Glad KD got out in front of this one. But he always has to throw his own little spin when ever he talks out of respect for JT LMFAO. Sorry he sets off bells and whistle on my BS meter when he talks.

Barn-I watched to the clip, and he was a little uncomfortable in trying to explain or spin like you say. 

[galaxytrash]

Connor Murphy on Blackhawks not naming one captain:

"I thought it made sense... I could tell right after the season that probably would've been the best move. Having legends like Tazer and Kaner absent, it's hard for anyone to fill those shoes. With a lot of different bodies around the team now, it's really important [for us] as a collective group to lead each other."

Seth Jones said Blackhawks not naming one captain was an "in-house decision" that wasn't discussed with the players beforehand.

"It's just kind of a letter on a jersey.... When it comes to the room...we're tight, we’re close together, and we keep the noise on the outside."

x.com/BenPopeCST/status/1704950814517678082?s=20


someone on twitter (not a pundit or expert) said he didn't think the players really cared that much who wore the C...that everyone knew already who the leaders on the team were. i reckon on most teams that could be true.


edit: in the same interview murph was asked what separated kane and toews from the others that warranted them wearing letters. he gave a lot of reasons but imo the best reason was “their ability to excel when things got harder”. well said.