Oh Captain, My Captain

His “definitely wants to be here” attitude and play on the ice might warrant him a look, no? I can’t say much definitely about his leadership abilities, but it seems like he’s taken a few of the younger players under his wing. I would look forward to Mighty Captain Moulson’s twitter exchanges with Grabs40, anyway.

This is a huge statement about Weight and the general leadership of this team. For 2.5 years it’s been ABSENT.
I think you have it just about right… but if I’m the coach (“yabba dabba doo”, TMC) this is my plan right now.
As soon as the season is over Mark Steit is named captain. He is at the draft table, and helping to make the phone calls. My two A’s at the beginning of the season are Kyle and Andy. If Mark doesn’t extend, then one of those two will be strides ahead of others for the job.
Future look from the here and now:

Kyle still has shown zero mean in his game. I’m not gonna say that’s totally horrible, but captains stand up for their teammates… I don’t think we’re gonna see that from Kyle any time soon.

Andy has shown EVERYTHING he needs to, to be a strong captain. Maybe his brightest moment was being the only PERSON (coach, player, GM, owner) who has been able to get DP to stop overplaying hte puck.

Josh has two years to show he is the player I think he can be. the player we saw for the first six games this year was captain material. The player we saw since he’s been a center again…capt material… but he has to do it for the next two years… and be strong about it…. Josh needs to IMPOSE HIS WILL… that shows confidence, and that’s what players coming up behind him will follow. It’s there, where I think he is way ahead of Kyle and needs to catch up to Andy. He just needs to be THAT JOSH consistently for the next two seasons. I really think he can be.

The only other candidates I could see is Anders Lee or Nino… but they’re not even here yet and when they do arrive they will have their plates full… but I do think down the road they will be in this conversation… check back in 2016.

I swear that’s a brand new face shot for MacDonald that wasn’t there when I wrote this originally. How could anyone think that was an improvement?

HAHA.
I agree with JP. I like Kyle, but don’t think he deserves the C, and I thought A-Mac helped the greatly when he returned from injury this year. Plus he’s my favorite player.

But in the end, Marc deserves it and will probably get it. And he seems to have the most experience.

[/discussion]

The captain is important (don’t get me wrong). I just feel that these are issues that in a lot of ways decide themselves. Slowly but surely, a Captain and Associate captains will develop out of this group.

There seems to be an obsession with naming someone now to be the next Denis Potvin. Just let it happen. Inside that room there is a group of players and they decide who is their leader on and off the ice.

The greatest teams/dynansty have always just been groups of like 5-10 leaders nd the team leads itself with great character throughout.

There are a lot of good candidiates listed above. For next season…I would guess that Streit gets the C. He is the elder statesman on the team and he is a really good player with a ton of on-ice responsibility and experience as a captain with the Swiss Team.

That being said, JT is the Franchise Player, The Face of the Rebuild. He is the Guy that has the most experience in dealing with and succeeding under extreme expectations so he would be an excellent Captain for this group down the road.

Bailey on the other hand has displayed “Captain-Like” unselfishness….. i.e. Getting demoted and resposnding like a true pro, dropping the gloves in defense of teammates like he did last night, he has played every position on this team except for Goalie for God’s sake and has never made one excuse. He Kills penalties, mans the point on the PP, has unselfish skills and was drafetd with a reputation for leadership

Okposo has been a popular guy as well as A-Mac & Frans.

Most Importantly, the pieces are there. It is just a matter of time and this team will come together and start winning.

*I’m sure I will be crucified for saying this…..but if he ever does get back to being a regular full-time Goalie again. I think DiPietro would be OK as a an “A”. RDP is a good guy and he has worked hard to get back. Obviously, he has had his issues but i think that….

My list in order:
1. Streit-because of his play, importance, and respectability. Leads by example really well, language barrier may hurt a little and isn’t the most emotional guy. But his stats, resume, age, and respectability make him ideal.
2. Okposo-very vocal, . But extremely unlucky in games. Okposto should have been at least a 20goal scorer last year and a repeat 25goal/65-70pts player throughout his career once he fully matures. Your ideal captain, but still young. Just wish he’d play with a bit more of a physical edge. But idealistic is the key word.
3. Bailey-Captain material. We obviously see the making of a very good defensive forward, we can only hope the offense comes along too. We can deal with him becoming another nielsen, but if he stays vocal, comes to his teammates time and time again when the oppurtunity arises and continues to escalate his physical play, he has captain material all over him except offensively. Going to be interesting to see his progression, but he’s still young and very promising.
4. A-mac-injury questions, but his heart and play speak for itself. Easily deserves an A and future consideration for a C, but too early imo.
5. Tavares-Who wouldn’t want their future franchise elite player to be their captain. We know he will likely get an A in the future no question, but does he deserve the C? Definitely not yet, but his work ethic off the ice is 2nd to none, and it seems his game lacks fire from time to time because of our bad season. That isn’t a bad thing though, if a 2nd year player doesn’t always play with fire and still can put up a 30goal/70pts season with pap and moulson on his line(and with a injury ridden team that lacks defense), he is going to be something very special in the future. Not sure he’ll ever be vocal enough to earn a c, but if he ever did become more vocal, his play and stats and determination once he peaks would be hard to ignore him as captain material.

For the Islanders, Mark Streit would be the ideal captain for next season. I think with his experience and leadership both on and off the ice, he would be the right choice for captain. I also agree with the idea of rotating the “A” for next season. I think some teams (I’m thinking the Islanders have done this in the past, but I’m convinced I saw this from the Buffalo Sabres first) have awarded the “A” for a month as a gesture towards players who have worked hard for the “A” in the previous month.

He is deserving of the captaincy because of how experienced, skilled, and respected he is. Let him serve as a mentor for the young players like Hamonic, Tavares, Okposo, Bailey, Grabner, and anyone to join the team next year.

For the future after Mark Streit, Travis Hamonic is looking to be captain material. He’s already a leader and a good defenseman at the age of 20. He’s also willing to drop the gloves in defense of any of his teammates which is what being a captain is about.

…..we need to see whether he’s going to be back for certain; the fact that there hasn’t really been any public notices (aside from his skating a Iceworks not long ago) is giving me reservations – and they may be unfounded but, given the tumultuous nature of this campaign, I would think that he and Snow would really want to provide some reassurance that next season will be far different (as it may be anyhow, by all indications) with him back in the lineup…..

As for Kyle, we’ve had this conversation more than once before about him as captain and as I said on those occasions, he still really needs to step up his game (removed from his injury this season) and be MUCH more demonstrative of his commitment to defending his teammates on the ice…..the sentimental choice for me is Andy, for SO many reasons; not sure if we can say just yet that he’s ‘injury-prone’ as his time in the NHL HAS been so comparatively brief – but there’s NO questioning his inclination towards leadership – that said, hell, I wouldn’t have been surprised to see a vote for Mr. Haley in this thread after Friday night’s display!

Which brings up a very interesting question that I don’t believe has been asked previously: why wasn’t Bobby Nystrom ever captain?

:)

Seriously though, Streit would be the choice- if the organization were to make one.
But remember, the Isles players chose their own captain- which is really how it should be IMO.
These things should happen naturally.
Id be fine with whoever the guy in that room pick- because they know better than all of us.