... At least for now. That's the word Alexander Ovechkin gave to the Canadian Press this afternoon at a press event in Toronto:
"This year I'm not ready because my English isn't good enough," the Russian superstar told The Canadian Press in an interview Tuesday.He was quick to add that he's more than ready to be a leader, but feels a captain has to be able to communicate his feelings with teammates.
"If I need to say something to the team . . . it's hard," said Ovechkin. "The captain is very important, you must be a leader all the time."
Last year's team captain, Jeff Halpern, left to sign a free agent contract with Dallas. JP, thinks Chris Clark is probably the next logical choice, but for the most part you'd think your captain has to be someone who is piling up serious ice time, or piled it up sometime earlier in his career earning the respect of the refs. Clark, though he had a career year with the Caps in 2005-06, only averaged about 15 minutes a game, less than 10 other skaters on the team.
I think it would be perfectly acceptable to split the responsibility between two or even three players. In this case, I think both Clark and Jamie Heward should wear an 'A' next season, leaving the 'C' vacant for whenever Ovechkin and the coaching staff think he's ready.
Ideally I’d like to see the team rotate its captaincy the way the Wild and Sabres (I believe) have done in the recent past. But forced to plunk a buck down on who the one guy would/should be, I’d place my wager on Clark.
My thinking is that a) the extension the team signed Clark to runs through next season, making the timing perfect for a hand-over to AO at that time while also showing that the team really likes Clark (and clearly not just for his on-ice skill, no offense to him), and b) he doesn’t look like the caveman from the Geico ads like Heward.
As for ice time, Clark did only average 15:24 last year, but in 2002-03, Captain Konowalchuk only averaged 16:42 of ice. That same year uber-captain Dave Neanderchuk only saw 16:26 of ice. So I’m not sure that argument really matters.
At the end of the day there’s one guy who leads this team on and off the ice, and that’s Olie Kolzig. There’s one guy who in the future will lead this team on and off the ice, and that’s AO. So who they slap the “C” on for a year or two right now is largely ceremonial, so why not pass it around as a reward to guys like Clark, Heward, Clymer, Sutherby, etc. and see how they respond?
Clark, as much as I might like him and his game, doesn’t have anywhere near the reputation that either Kono or Andreychuk did. Andreychuk had been in the league forever, is a Hall of Fame-caliber player and knew how to handle the refs; Kono was a Caps draftee who came up through the system, developed a league-wide reputation for toughness, and spent time on what was arguably the team’s most important line (with Halpern and Dhalen) before the arrival of Jagr.
If Clark had been battling for 20+ minutes per game last season, I might think differently.
Don’t get me wrong, I like Clark’s game, and I think he ought to be rewarded. I just don’t like the idea of awarding the ‘C’ when we know all along that it’s going to be Ovechkin’s sooner rather than later.
2 or 3 ‘A’s is the way to go. Clark, Heward, and if you like, Zubrus. But keep the ‘C’ in deep freeze until Alex is ready to step up.
We all know who the real leader of the Caps is now (Kolzig) and who it will be in the future (Ovechkin). So basically we can agree that between now and when AO’s “ready to step up” is just filler. I guess you place a little more importance on the symbolism of the “C” than I do. Fair enough.
As for Kono, you’ll recall that in his first year as captain he shared the duties with Brendan Witt, so he was far from an obvious choice to lead.
Interestingly, Tim Taylor (a Caps draftee, btw) was just named Tampa’s captain. His average ice time last season? Just under 12.5 minutes.
Once again, you’re missing my point. If Clark had been a 20 min+ workhorse on this Caps club in 2005, I’d give him the ‘C’ in a heartbeat. And as you can see, while Taylor only averaged 12 min.+ last year, he’s put in his time, both in the regular season and the playoffs.
Chris Clark: 6 years in the NHL., 356 GP, 26 Playoff Games.
Tim Taylor: 12 years in the NHL, 675 GP, 2 Stanley Cup Rings, 83 Playoff Games.
Taylor is a name and a face that every ref knows.
One last point: There’s one thing we can’t know from the outside, and that’s respect factor in the locker room. For all I know, Clark could be just the guy to get on his teammates to get them to produce.
That’s really the bottom line – we can throw names around and speculate all we want and it doesn’t add up to anything b/c we’re not “in the room” (which is what I took Kara Yorio to task for two months ago when she said AO should be given the “C”).
And Clark was within a whisker of making that Cup total 1-1 (Taylor sure was instrumental in his first Cup win too, playing in all of two playoff games).
I know, I know, that’s not your point…