Some people believe that captains are crucial leaders in NHL locker rooms. Others counter that the captaincy is an overrated honor that mainly drives up a player’s media duties.
Apparently the Carolina Hurricanes believe that captain can be a two-man job.
The team made the strange announcement that Jordan Staal and Justin Faulk will serve as co-captains, while Jeff Skinner gets the “A.” They explained it this way:
Staal will primarily serve as captain at home and Faulk will primarily serve as captain on the road.
/shrug emoticon
This explanation will make eyebrows furrow a little deeper:
Staal will wear C at home, Faulk will wear C on road to start season. Will flip mid-season. One not wearing C will wear A with Skinner.
— Michael Smith (@MichaelSmithNC) October 5, 2017
Weird, right? At least this opened the door for former Hurricanes defenseman (who may or may not still have a clown-like, wonderful crop of red hair) Mike Commodore to swoop in with this fun one.
Faulk + Staal co-captains In Carolina? What does that mean? They switch off wearing "C"? Did Williams get sent to the Jungle or something?
— Mike Commodore (@commie22) October 5, 2017
Yeah, maybe it would have been easier to just use Justin Williams as something of a stopgap captain, but oh well.
Hey, the hockey world is still struggling to decide if the Hurricanes will finally be good in 2017-18. The team might as well embrace the uncertainty by being wishy-washy about naming a captain.
(At least they didn’t make their goalie the unofficial captain, right Roberto Luongo?)