Detroit Hockey Now’s Max Smith ponders the shape of the Red Wings’ potential leadership group when and/or if Dylan Larkin leaves the team. I believe that Smith’s “guesstimate” as to who will wear the next alternate captain’s “A” is spot-on:
With the Red Wings a month away from the start of training camp, one of the biggest questions remaining on the roster is how the team’s on-ice leadership group will shake out. Mo Seider appears to be the heir apparent to the Red Wings captaincy with current captain Dylan Larkin’s trade request hanging over the franchise like a dark cloud.
Seider has proven himself, in the words of head coach Todd McLellan, ‘to be the heartbeat of this team’ and ‘a true diesel engine’ who the Red Wings should follow the example of. That’s probably why McLellan got rid of the team’s rotating alternate captain system and put the ‘A’ on Seider’s chest after coming to the team two years ago.
Now, with Larkin on the way out the door and Seider stepping up, the Red Wings next leadership group will be quite different than it was at this time last year. Lucas Raymond and Alex DeBrincat are the most obvious options for the postion, especially with Patrick Kane’s exit.
Continued; Seider makes a whole lot of sense as captain, and I’d suggest that the final “A” would be a toss-up between DeBrincat and a veteran like Ben Chiarot, with DeBrincat earning the nod as a “carrot” with which to entrench him as a Red Wing.
