The Vancouver Canucks have named their new team captain. For now?
Canucks coach Rick Tocchet says Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson will wear ‘As’ along with JT Miller and Oliver Ekman-Larsson.
— Iain MacIntyre (@imacSportsnet) February 6, 2023
The captain spot will be shared by Quinn Hughes, Elias Pettersson, J.T Miller, and Oliver Ekman-Larsson. The four men will all wear A’s on their jerseys until the organization finds a full time captain.
This move is a interesting one even for the Canucks.
Elias Pettersson seemed to be the clear front runner over the past few days and Patrick Allvin and Rick Tocchet both hinted that Pettersson alone would get the captain spot.
So why did the team not make the decision at this time? It could be because new head coach Rick Tocchet hasn’t had enough time with the team yet to decide who is a leader amongst the group. Maybe if the Canucks wouldn’t have fired their old head coach Bruce Boudreau at the same time as they traded their captain we wouldn’t be having this problem right now.
Regardless, even though Pettersson has been performing phenomenally being a captain also involves how you are as a leader for the team. Rick Tocchet will need time to assess if Pettersson is that guy for the team or not.
Time will tell who Tocchet names as the full time team captain but for now we have to deal with another set back for the Canucks and watch four men from the same team compete against each other for the captain spot.