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Sabres name Jason Pominville team captain with four alternates

Thomas Vanek,  Luke Adam,  Jason Pominville

Buffalo Sabres’ Thomas Vanek (26), of Austria, celebrates with teammates Luke Adam (72) and Jason Pominville (29) after scoring a goal against the Washington Capitals during the second period of an NHL preseason hockey game, Friday, Sept. 30, 2011, in Washington. (AP Photo/Luis M. Alvarez)

AP

If you handicapped who you thought would end up wearing the captain’s “C” in Buffalo this season, where would you have Jason Pominville in your rankings? We didn’t have him as a thought at all when analyzing the vacant captaincy last month but that just goes to show we’re a bunch of jerks hammering stuff out on a keyboard in our mother’s basement.

While Buffalo is kicking off their season in Europe, they announced that Jason Pominville will be the team’s new captain. The Sabres’ previous captain was Craig Rivet last season before Rivet was waived out of town. Helping Pominville shoulder the load and the expectations in Buffalo will be four alternate captains: Thomas Vanek, Drew Stafford, Paul Gaustad, and Derek Roy.

All five players have been with the Sabres their whole career and given what they’re trying to do in Buffalo now with Terry Pegula’s money helping attract new blood, the stakes are higher than ever in Buffalo and the fans are eager to see the Sabres run deep into the playoffs.

Pominville’s best leadership can come to Buffalo by getting back to being a 30-goal threat this season. Five seasons ago, Poinville potted 34 goals. Since then he’s been a steady 20-25 goal per season guy. Getting those goal numbers to jump would go a long way to helping the Sabres succeed. With the crew of forwards Buffalo has, however, scoring shouldn’t be too much of a problem this season.