An exciting/frightening newspiece coming out of TSN today:
The Vancouver Canucks have a new captain and his name is.. Roberto Luongo.
Luongo, who is in the third year of a four-year deal with the Canucks, was named to the post on Tuesday along with alternates captains Willie Mitchell, Mattias Ohlund, Ryan Kesler.
By league rule, the Canucks goaltender cannot wear the ‘C’, but he can be named captain. Mitchell will be designated as the person who will deal with officials on a nightly basis.
As the longest serving Canuck, Mattias Ohlund will deal with any ceremonial aspects of the position such as faceoffs.
The decision comes in the face of weeks’ worth of speculation on the part of Canucks’ fans. The clear choice seemed to be Willie Mitchell, although, as Mike points out, the Canucks aren’t so good when it comes to the conventional lately.
So, they went unconventional. Very unconventional.
A team that has been building around the crease now is entirely in the crease! That must be a first!
I don’t deny that Luongo’s a good choice as the captain. He’s been their leader for the last two years, and filled the void nicely as Markus Naslund stopped being such a fine media presence. But is there much use in the decision, from a pragmatic perspective? Is it a bold move made simply to show their love for Louie?
No, I think that there’s a certain component here that is designed to attract fan attention in a year where little is present to get excited over. It’s also possibly a demonstration of their desire to get Luongo’s contract extended, since he’s an RFA after next year. That portion of the move smacks of desperation, which is never nice to see in one’s favorite team.
Still, there’s something wonderful about the decision. My favorite part is actually the splitting up of the roles. Louie can be the locker room leader. Mitchell can rough up the refs. Ohlund can do the ceremonial faceoffs. What this really suggests to me is a team effort, which is a nice move for a team generally lacking in flashy stars.
Hopefully it also helps to keep the one star we have in town!
(Thanks to James Mirtle)
5 Comments
September 30, 2008 at 5:01 pm
I’m pretty sure Louie has 2 years left on his contract, and then he’ll be a UFA.
September 30, 2008 at 5:49 pm
You may be right… I was thinking this was his fourth year with the team, not his third. It seems like we’ve been relying on him forever lol.
I’ll change that in the post for the time being. Thanks!
September 30, 2008 at 6:55 pm
Complete desperation, and complete retardation. What happens in the games when he sits? Is he just going to skate off the bench to deal with the refs?
September 30, 2008 at 9:22 pm
According to the TSN report, they’re divvying up the responsibilities interestingly: Luongo gets to be the team leader. Mitchell gets to discuss things with the ref, and Ohlund gets to take the ceremonial faceoffs. There’s no fear of Luongo being unable to talk to the ref due to sitting a game. In fact, that would be a violation of league rules… a goalie’s not allowed to be the one to talk to the ref because it would disrupt the flow of the game.
Nope, in this case, Luongo’s appointment is clearly more symbolic than anything else, as far as on-ice duties go. So there’s no need to worry about those 2 games a year where he doesn’t play!
October 2, 2008 at 7:54 am
Fascinating. It makes sense only if Luongo is inspirational in the locker room.