O Captain! my Captain!

Eight of the NHL's 30 teams named new captains at the start of the season.  Obviously most NHL Coaches & General Managers correctly recognize that nationality should have no influence on the selection of team captains. 

Five of the 8 new team leaders are Europeans (2 Swedes, 1 Czech, 1 Finn & 1 Slovak), 2 are Canadians and one is US born.  Of the 27 teams with a single captain*, 13 are from Canada, likely the first time in NHL history that Canadians have not represented the majority.

The new team leaders are:

• Zdeno Chara - Boston Bruins
• Brenden Morrow - Dallas Stars
• Nicklas Lidstrom - Detroit Red Wings
• Kimmo Timonen - Nashville Predators
• Patrik Elias - New Jersey Devils
• Peter Forsberg - Philadelphia Flyers
• Tim Taylor - Tampa Bay Lightning
• Chris Clark - Washington Capitals

Mike Modano's replacement (demotion?) as captain of the Stars leaves Chris Clark (Capitals) as the only American captain, although Henrik Zetterberg has said Nicklas Lidstrom "(is) not a Swede. He's an American (because) he's been here so long."

• Oldest captain - Scott Mellanby (June 11, 1966)
• Youngest captain - Patrick Marleau (September 15, 1979)
• Highest paid captain - Jaromir Jagr ($8,360,000)
• Lowest paid captain - Tim Taylor ($750,000)
• Most overpaid captain - Alexei Yashin ($7,600,000)
• Longest serving captain - Joe Sakic (since 1992)
• Tallest captain - Zdeno Chara (6'9")
• Shortest captain - Saku Koivu/Daniel Briere (5'10")
• Team with the most former captains - Dallas Stars (Modano, Lindros, Halpern)
• Calgary's captain - Jerome Iginla, is from Edmonton
• Edmonton's captain - Jason Smith, is from Calgary
• 10 captains are centers, 8 play defence, the rest are wingers
• NHL captain who most looks like a Hobbit (Meriadoc "Merry" Brandybuck from Lord of the Rings - Patrik Elias (see photos below)

*The Penguins have yet to name a successor to Mario Lemieux so no one will wear the "C" this season.  The club has named 4 assistant captains.  Mark Recchi and Sidney Crosby will wear the "A" all year, while John Leclair will be an assistant captain for road games and Sergei Gonchar when the Pens play at home.  The Sabres will continue to share the captaincy between Daniel Briere and Chris Drury.  As they have since Jacques Lemaire took over, the Wild will rotate the captaincy each month. 

Comments

[Piglet]

Why are there no Goalie captains? Is it true that it's because of a rule that doesn't allow the goalie to skate across center ice?

[MT]

Not sure - although I have heard the same story.
NHL rulebook - Rule 14 d: No playing Coach or playing Manager or goalkeeper shall be permitted to act as Captain or Alternate Captain.

Could be that goalies are considered just too flakey for the "C". Can you imagine Belfour or Hasek trying to have a conversation with a ref? Or what about Patrick Roy?

[Piglet]

I guess a goalie can cross center, just can't "participate" in the play?
Rule 31(i) If a goalkeeper participates in the play in any manner when he is beyond the center red line, a minor penalty shall be imposed upon him.

So you can't be the captian if you run the team, but if you own the team then it's fine (Mario)?

I think Parick would have been a great captain, haven't you seen who calm he is when he coaches.....

[Peter W]

Supposedly the "real" (i.e. behind the scenes) captain of the Washington Capitals is Olie Kolzig, but they named Chris Clark because of the rules prohibiting goalies from the spot.

[Z-Morg]

I think they should get rid of that rule. Considering his 15 year contract, talent and respect from his peers Rick DiPietro should be the Islanders captain by the time he is thirty.

[Z-Morg]

by the way I'm more of a baseball than a hockey guy and thus the term captain is likely much more meaningful to me than its is to you (Jeter and Varitek I beleive are baseball's only captains).