The Montreal Canadiens technically have a captain in the person of Shea Weber. However, since the news that Weber’s career is almost over, Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton revealed shortly after their hiring that there would be a new captain for the 2022-23 season.
The appointment of a captain is always a big problem. Moreso with a franchise as legendary as the Montreal Canadiens. Even despite the current Stanley Cup drought which will officially mark 29 years in June, there is still a distinct honor and responsibility when you wear the “C” on your jersey.
Guy Carbonneau, captain of the 1993 Stanley Cup winning team and captain of the Canadiens between the 1989-90 season (when he was co-captain with Chris Chelios) and the 1993-94 season. Before him, there were only 2 seasons as a captain who did not enter the Hockey Hall of Fame. It would be Billy Coutu in 1925-26 and Walt Buswell.
Guy Carbonneau of the Montreal Canadiens. Mandatory Credit: Robert Laberge/Allsport
After Carbonneau came Kirk Muller, Mike Keane, Pierre Turgeon, Vincent Damphousse, Saku Koivu, Brian Gionta, Max Pacioretty and Shea Weber. Turgeon has the highest chance of finally entering the revered Hall while Damphousse has a worthy resume. Besides, maybe Shea Weber can cringe.
Vincent Damphousse was on the last episode of L’Antichambre on RDS and the one who captained the Canadiens for three seasons says so despite the long list of candidates to become captain which includes Brendan Gallagher, Joel Edmundson, Josh Anderson and even Ben Chiarot. he re-signs, Nick Suzuki is the easy choice to don the “C”.
Damphousse has a good argument for wanting to appoint Suzuki as the next captain. The players respect him, he’s a hard worker, he plays great both ways and doesn’t shy away from the mic, even though his interviews are often robotic but that’s how most players are “programmed” to anyway.
The only negative I could find when naming Suzuki is its age. The London, Ont., native turns 23 in August, which, if we’re being honest, is awfully young to be captain of an NHL team.
Nick Suzuki of the Montreal Canadiens (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
That being said, there has been a trend of appointing young stars as captains. Connor McDavid was named captain at 19. Crosby was 20 years old. Jack Eichel was 22 when he was named captain of the Sabres. Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog was 20 years old. Dylan Larkin of the Red Wings had 20. Nico Hischier of the Devils had 19. And so on.
So no, age wouldn’t necessarily play against NHL standards. However, it can be argued that he can learn from someone with more experience. Brendan Gallagher’s name is the one that appears at the top of the list.
If we are to be stuck with Gallagher for the next 5 years, we might as well exploit one of his best assets and that is his leadership. Even if he wears that hit weight cap if $6.5 million, even if he never scores 30 goals again, having Gallagher as captain and in the entourage of the team as a whole can only help. not only motivated the troops, but also helped in the development of Nick Suzuki’s leadership.
Brendan Gallagher of the Montreal Canadiens (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
If he were to stay until the end of his contract, then Gallagher would be 35 years old and Suzuki 28 years old. Gally would probably retire by then and Suzuki would take over.
I’ve always disagreed that the best player should be the captain of the team. No offense to the Edmonton Oilers and/or any Connor McDavid fan, but as talented as he is and despite his ridiculous stats, he’s a terrible captain.
Canadians have a habit of not naming the best player, but the good player. In their glory days they had legends like Henri Richard, Yvan Cournoyer, Serge Savard and Bob Gainey as captains and they weren’t the best players on the team.
Suzuki’s time will come. I just think it’s Gallagher’s time first.
