With Gio gone, Who will be the Flames next captain?
Apologies, CP as I'm not as proficient at making polls. The question we have been speculating on for the past several years is who would replace Gio's captaincy? That question has now become a reality, and it's one I am sure Flames brass is already scratching their head about in the midst of what should be a defining offseason for this franchise.
If it comes from within the organization, my thoughts are either Tkachuk or Backlund. Backlund, a draft pick of the flames from 2007, feels like the most obvious choice for me. I was leaning more towards Tkachuk up until last year. He was never quite the same after the incident with Muzzin. If Tkachuk can rebound, and refocus his efforts on the team, then he could also be a strong candidate.
My buggest criticism of Gio's tenure as captain, in my mind (and this is baseless speculation) was an inability to galvanize the room. He could not push the team past first round mediocrity. Even the one year we advanced to the second round, it was when Gio was injured. Obviously, it would be follly to pin the team's failures solely on the captain's shoulders, but this is a results based business, and under Gio's leadership, we never advanced past the first round. My comparison is of course, 2004, where Iginla in his prime and the stellar play of Kipper led us to the final.
I hope that whoever the flames select, is able to align the team with the "put on your workboots" mentality under Sutter's system to put the team over the hump. Arguably, without Gio, we are now worse on paper. We have also freed up cap space with one of our largest contracts. With that, let's hope that the organization makes the right choice in their next selection. Go Flames Go.
While these are my own personal musings, I would love to hear CPs thoughts on who our next captain should be, and why.
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