Ottawa Senators head coach Travis Green is hardly feeling any sense of urgency to fill the team’s captaincy void.
Green made that much clear during his pre-camp presser on Wednesday, leaving little room for doubt as to the team’s direction moving forward.
"We want to see our team together again... it's not something that we need to rush into, but it's definitely something that we're talking about and and we'll let you know when when we know."
While there are a handful of viable candidates, it also makes sense that the team takes its time in deciding who will follow in the footsteps of the departed Brady Tkachuk.
Two natural candidates emerge among defensemen Jake Sanderson and Thomas Chabot. While they’ll certainly get plenty of consideration, the bottom line is that there is no real need to slap the “C” on anyone right now.
If the organization decides by the end of camp, that would be fantastic. And if it doesn’t, playing an entire season without a captain wouldn’t be the end of the world, either.
The key thing to keep in mind here is that rushing to name a team captain for the sake of it isn’t always the right way to go.
But I will say this: If the Senators wanted to go ahead and get it over with, there’s nothing wrong with choosing Chabot at this juncture.
Player’s citizenship won’t matter when it comes to choosing next Senators captain
One of the issues that has come up as part of the Senators’ captaincy debate is the next leader’s citizenship.
In other words, will it matter if the player chosen is American, Canadian or otherwise.
That debate has gained significant traction as the rash of American-born players requesting trades out of Canadian teams has been noticeable.
Tkachuk was one of them. Connor Hellebuyck is another. In fact, things have gotten so untenable for Hellebuyck in Winnipeg that he’s even failed to report to camp.
If that situation does play a factor in deciding the Sens’ next captain, it would preclude someone like Sanderson.
But then again, the former fifth-overall pick has pledged his allegiance to the Senators. As such, there wouldn’t need to be any significant concern regarding his viability as the next captain.
When reporters asked Green about his take, he bluntly replied, “No.”
That’s the way it should be.
There is no reason to discriminate a player based on what a previous member has said or done. Tkachuk’s desire to leave Ottawa was a personal thing. It wasn’t a reflection of wanting out of the Nation’s Capital. It’s evident that Tkachuk wanted to leave, and, well, he did everything in his power to make that happen.
Moving forward, it does seem like the Senators will be naming a captain this season. But the organization is right to tread carefully. The last thing anyone on the team wants is to feel that the team’s brass somehow made the call off the cuff.
Whoever wears the “C”, irrespective of their passport, should be a worthy representative of the Senators’ franchise and colors.
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