Six NHL teams have captain vacancies heading into 2024-25 season
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With the Toronto Maple Leafs transitioning the captaincy from John Tavares to Auston Matthews officially on Wednesday, there are six NHL teams that don’t have a captain heading into the 2024-25 campaign.
The Anaheim Ducks, Buffalo Sabres, Chicago Blackhawks, Seattle Kraken, Tampa Bay Lightning and Utah Hockey Club all do not currently have a captain, and while some had the captaincy recently vacated, others have gone multiple seasons without one.
The Ducks have not had a captain since Ryan Getzlaf in 2021-22. After his retirement, the team has gone two seasons without naming a replacement. Last season, they had three alternate captains in defenceman Cam Fowler and forwards Adam Henrique and Jakob Silfverberg.
Fowler is the only one of the three still on the roster and is under contract for two more seasons. He has been with the Ducks since being drafted in 2010, skating in 974 career NHL games.
Other potential candidates include winger Troy Terry, who is signed for the next four seasons and at 26, is one of the older core members of the Ducks. At 21, centre Mason McTavish has already worn an ‘A’ at times last season and previously captained Canada on the international stage.
In Buffalo, veteran Kyle Okposo wore the ‘C’ for two seasons before getting dealt at last year’s trade deadline to the Florida Panthers and winning a Stanley Cup. With the Sabres’ core maturing, it’s time for one of those players to have the responsibility.
The Sabres have a number of players signed long term, but Rasmus Dahlin is their most important and after wearing an ‘A’ the last three seasons, the 24-year-old defenceman is the leading candidate to be their next captain.
After 15 seasons with Jonathan Toews as their captain, the Blackhawks didn’t name one last season after parting ways with Toews following the 2022-23 season. Chicago had several different players wear the ‘A’ last season, including Seth Jones, Connor Murphy and Nick Foligno, but the logical successor to Toews as captain is Calder Trophy winner Connor Bedard.
The Kraken are heading into their fourth NHL season and the lone captain they did have, Mark Giordano, lasted less than one season as he was dealt at the 2022 trade deadline to the Maple Leafs. Since then, veterans Jordan Eberle, Adam Larsson, Yanni Gourde and Jaden Schwartz have primarily been their alternate captains as Seattle’s younger core of players continues to grow into being full-time NHLers.
In Tampa Bay, Victor Hedman is the leading favourite to take over as captain after Steven Stamkos departed as a free agent. Stamkos wore the ‘C’ for 10 seasons with the Lightning while Hedman has been an alternate for the past six seasons. Hedman has been a part of the franchise since 2009 and was critical in them winning back-to-back Stanley Cup titles in 2020 and 2021.
The Utah Hockey Club will make its debut this season after making the move from Arizona. Oliver Ekman-Larsson last wore the ‘C’ for the franchise in 2020-21 before he was traded to Vancouver.
As for leading candidates to be the first captain in Utah franchise history, forwards Lawson Crouse and Clayton Keller are the two players on the current roster who served as alternates the past two seasons.