The Edmonton Oilers made an announcement today regarding the captaincy of the team. Defenseman Andrew Ference, the 14th captain in Oilers history since September 2013, has been stripped of his C for the 2015-16 season. Despite the news, Ference is still a part of the leadership group.
Oilers Name Alternate Captains
Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jordan Eberle, and Ference will all serve as alternate captains for this year. Matt Hendricks will wear an A for the time being until Eberle, who suffered a shoulder injury and will miss 4-6 weeks, is cleared to play. It has not been announced who will wear the A at home and on the road.
This move signifies change in the perennial laughingstock of the NHL. With Ference turning 36 this year and the team finally in good hands with GM Peter Chiarelli, a shift in leadership was needed. Ference will still be a valuable part of the leadership group and will help groom one of Eberle, Hall, or Nugent-Hopkins into the new captain. Another theory is sticking with four A’s until Connor McDavid is ready to don the C.
The use of four A’s has been both praised and criticized by many. For example it’s useful if you have two or more players who can fill the role of captain but want to give the players a test run. But it can be confusing as to who the real leader of the team is with four alternate captains.
Two teams have recently gone with this method, the Montreal Canadiens and the San Jose Sharks. The Habs went with Andrei Markov, P.K. Subban, Max Pacioretty, and Tomas Plekanec served as alternates for the 2014-15 season and this summer Pacioretty was announced as the captain and also adding Brendan Gallagher to the leadership group.
The Sharks stripped Joe Thornton of his captaincy in the summer of 2014 and they rolled with Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Joe Pavelski, and Marc-Edouard Vlasic as the alternates. They then announced Pavelski as the new captain and Thornton and Logan Couture as the alternates.
