This is a pretty big mistake. If you can't trade him, there's no point in demoting him until you have an obvious replacement for captain. Question his leadership all you want, but Marleau failed just as badly as captain.
Who knows, maybe this roster will find a way through. They've been earmarked as Cup favorites so many times now only to drop out in the first round that one can only assume there's problems in that locker room. Marleau and Thornton are really just the lightning rods as former captains. Can't imagine a guy like Pavelski can do any bettter...
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