[FlamesAddiction]

It's hard for anyone not in the room or around the team to know who has the personality to be a good captain.

Aside from leading by example through hard work and discipline on and off the ice, the captain should also be a student of the game and comfortable being a teacher.

They are the primary liaison on the ice between the players and officials. So they need to be comfortable asking for rule interpretations, as well as be articulate and diplomatic. Being able to communicate effectively is important.

And although anyone on the team can be a good leader, being named captain is a pretty big endorsement from the coaches. It is telling the players that they need to listen to that player when it comes to on and off site behaviour. It's a pretty big position of trust and that player needs to be respected. It doesn't need to be the best player obviously, but it has to be someone who is effective every time they are on the ice.

The captain should also be comfortable checking in on other players, particularly young players, to make sure they are adjusting well as a professionals. They need to be comfortable calling out their peers for anything that is detrimental to the team, whether it is something simple like slacking off, but even more serious things like negative extracurricular activities. And that person needs to be respected and stern enough that others will listen.

They also need to be the face of the team to the public and media, as well as be willing to spend time organizing social events and team building. They also will typically spend more time with young players to work on drills. So there is a time commitment.

Some teams just give it to a player and hope that they grow into it. I don't think that is Sutter's way though. I think he wants a player to show him that he IS the captain, and if he shows that, he gets the C on his jersey.