The Calgary Flames are going into their second straight season without a captain.
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Head coach Darryl Sutter declined to name anyone at the start of the 2022-2023 season who hopes to count on a group of executives to lead this team. He added that taking on such responsibilities in a Canadian ice hockey market is not easy.
“It is not necessary to name one. There is no one more striking than the other, Sutter launched, whose comments were interpreted by Postmedia on Tuesday.
“It’s very, very difficult to captain a hockey team in Canada. It’s very different from a sunny place that isn’t necessarily a big hockey market. That builds up a lot of pressure.”
However, the Alberta team’s instructor left a clue, leaving room for speculation as to which player might ultimately receive that honor.
“It has to be a guy between 23 and 29 in that age group,” he added, while praising the outstanding qualities of striker Mikael Backlund and defender Christopher Tanev.
The latest player to wear the “C” on his jersey for the Flames is none other than defenseman Mark Giordano, 2020-2021. However, he was selected in the Seattle Kraken expansion draft and is now part of the Toronto Maple Leafs organization.
Last season, the Flames had three alternate captains, namely Backlund, Sean Monahan and Matthew Tkachuk. The latter two will play for a different formation, namely the Montreal Canadiens and Florida Panthers respectively, after a particularly busy offseason in Calgary.
Meanwhile, the Flames signed defenseman Michael Stone on Tuesday to a two-way, one-year, $750,000 deal.