Poll: Who Could Replace Toews As Captain?

Shaw wouldn’t be my first, second, or third choice as team captain… but my god he would be a fun captain for interviews. FCC beware. Photoshop by Joe Kremel of BlackhawkUp.com

During these tough times in the off-season my mind begins to wander.  Today I was wondering who would be the next best fit for captain if Toews decided he wanted to retire or pull a Kovalchuk and play in the KHL.  I left out goalies from the equation due to the added amount of stress it adds to them, and the fact that they aren’t going to be the ones coming out to center ice to argue with the officials.  Here’s the breakdown of the choices.

Older Gents – Hossa, Keith, & Sharp:  Let’s start by stating the obvious, one of these things are not like the others.  Hossa isn’t a vocal player, and while he might be looked up to, he isn’t the guy that wants the spotlight.  While I would love to see Hossa lead the Hawks to a cup, and while he’s qualified for the job, he’s ill-suited for the “C”.  Both Keith and Sharp are excellent choices to become captain.  The media would probably kill to have Sharp as the captain so they could bring in some extra female readers/viewers.  At the same time, they would love to rile up Keith to get some nice one liners that they could blow out of proportion.  The vet core players are the easiest players to look at for captaincy.  You know what you’re going to get from these guys night in and night out.  All three vets are stars and the youth coming up would have no problem looking up to them.

Prime Timers – Kane, Seabrook, & Hjalmarsson:  Kane had a different attitude last season which definitely helped sway me to believe he could handle the responsibilities of being captain.  He loves to talk and tends to say the right things in media scrums.  His natural offensive talent makes him an easy sell from a NHL product standpoint as well.  Seabs was revealed as a key component in the locker room and on the ice for the Hawks.  I guess you could say he was the glue at times.  His locker room pep talks and the well-documented, on-ice words of advice for Toews have really pushed his name way up on my list.  Hjalmarsson is the odd man out in this category.  He’s much like Hossa when it comes to staying out of the spot light.  Also like Hossa, he is a dependable player that seems to be a rock, he would have no problem getting the respect of the team.  The best part would be the all new IKEA commercials that might spawn from it.

The Youth Movement – Saad, Leddy, & Shaw (lol):  I tossed Shaw on here as more of the idea of it rather than it actually being a possibility.  Shaw would probably be one of the most fun players you could put in that position.  It would be pure anarchy and chaos.  I wonder how many fines from the FCC it would take before they implemented a five second delay on the player interviews.  Saad might have a case if the Hawks were blowing up the team and going into a youth movement like they did with Toews.  Like most, I’m not completely sold on Saad being a stand out star.  He seems to have a high ceiling, and his attitude towards the game seems to be ideal.  If the team’s situation were different, I could see Saad as a solid young captain.  Leddy seems to be another one of those bad fit players.  He’s not exactly a quiet, stay out of the spotlight kind of guy, but he isn’t as outspoken as someone like Kane.  He does have a bit of flare to his game which would make him a fun captain.

So what do you think?