With veteran forward Justin Williams taking a break from the NHL at the start of the 2019-20 season the Carolina Hurricanes had an opening to fill with their team captain role.
On Sunday, they announced that Jordan Staal will be taking over those responsibilities.
Jaccob Slavin and Jordan Martinook will serve as the team’s alternate captains.
Staal is the longest-tenured member of the Hurricanes roster having been with the team since the start of the 2012-13 season when he was acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins. He has consistently been one of the better defensive forwards in the league and is usually good for close to 20 goals and 45 points offensively. Put all of that together and you’ve got a pretty valuable player that is going to make any team he plays on better.
He was limited to just 50 regular season games during the 2018-19 season, scoring 11 goals.
Even with Williams not returning for the start of the season the Hurricanes are well positioned to be a contender in the Eastern Conference with an outstanding defense and underrated group of forwards.
Related: Justin Williams taking break from hockey
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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.