Islanders Name Captains for 2016-17

In a bit of season-opening housekeeping, the New York Islanders formally announced their alternate captains for 2016-17.

Offseason free agent signing Andrew Ladd receives an “A” as full-time alternate with Captain For Life John Tavares. Travis Hamonic and Cal Clutterbuck were also named alternates, and they will truly “alternate” to supply the second “A” with Ladd.

Hamonic was already an alternating alternate last season, but the departure of Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo made room for more.

While the other picks are no surprise, Clutterbuck is an interesting choice — if only because he consistently draws the ire of opponents and occasionally the suspicions of the officiating crew. He was once fined for repeated “embellishment” offenses, so it will be interesting to see his interactions with referees in an official capacity.

But he’s smart, quite accomplished at turning the other cheek after getting under an opponent’s skin, and certainly does all the other gritty “lunchpail” activities that teams often seek in their captaincy crew.

That goes for all three of them, of course. You certainly never have to doubt whether any of these players have shown up ready to play. But, you know, “everyone’s a leader” and “we have 20 captains in this room” and all that.