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Florida Panthers don’t feel the need to have a captain to start the year

Tampa Bay Lightning v Florida Panthers

SUNRISE, FL - SEPTEMBER 24: Goaltender Mathieu Garon #32 of the Tampa Bay Lightning makes a pad save on a shot by Stephen Weiss #9 of the Florida Panthers on September 24, 2011 at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida. (Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images)

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Being a captain in the NHL is a special designation that requires that player to be the face of the team and lead the way on and off the ice. Since the Florida Panthers are basically a brand new team after their offseason of madness, it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that they’re going without a captain to start the year.

Instead of going with one team captain, they’re going with four guys wearing the alternate captain’s “A” on their sweater. Panthers lifer Stephen Weiss, one time former Panther Ed Jovanovski, and new Panthers Brian Campbell and Tomas Kopecky will all wear the “A” this season leading us to wonder... Kopecky?

All right so the Panthers’ makeover this summer basically meant something like this was going to happen. Stephen Weiss and David Booth being the two “faces” of the team weren’t able to do much for their cases for wearing the “C” but at the least, Weiss maintains his status. Coach Kevin Dineen doing things his way means he wants to see who out of that bunch steps up and takes control of the room. The smart money would be on Weiss or Jovanovski to be those guys.