After trading Ryan McDonagh at the trade deadline, the New York Rangers are without a captain. Whether or not Alain Vigneault is the coach next year, the coach should not name a replacement.
The Rangers have altered the veteran makeup of their team. In trading, away Rick Nash, Michael Grabner and McDonagh, the team has created a leadership vacuum. The team definitely has leaders in the dressing room, anyone who follows the Rangers knows that this is Henrik Lundqvist’s team. But, being that the NHL does not allow goalies to be captains due to practicality, the league does not want goalies to skate out to center ice to talk with officials, Lundqvist will never be captain.
Part of this rebuild is a transition from the old group of players from the last five years. Just three years ago, the team’s leadership group was Derek Stepan, Dan Girardi, Marc Staal, Martin St. Louis and McDonagh. Only one of those players is still in the organization (Staal) and his time with the team may be winding down. There is a legitimate possibility the team buys out the remaining two years of his contract.
That would leave Mats Zuccarello and Jesper Fast as the players currently on the team that make up the leadership council. These two are amongst the holdovers from the last group of Rangers that went deep in the playoffs. The new group that came in following the 2014 Stanley Cup final, make up the core of the team now. Players like Kevin Hayes, Brady Skjei, Mika Zibanejad and Jimmy Vesey are the future of the NHL level team.
Related Story: Thank you for everything Ryan McDonagh
This is their team now, and it will be up to either Vigneault or a new coach to mold the team around them. Being how disastrous this season went and his poor track record with young players, it’s unlikely that this will be Vigneault’s choice to make.
Mindset
According to Larry Brooks of the New York Post, the team’s management felt they needed a more “inspirational or even confrontational personality,” as captain. The silent, lead by example mentality of Ryan McDonagh was the right mindset for a team of established veterans looking to win a Stanley Cup. All things considered, McDonagh was an effective captain in this realm, he was the clear cut choice for the role when he was named prior to the 2014-2015 season.
There were no real other candidates for the role. Brad Richards had been bought out, St.Louis only had one year left in the league and Rick Nash was a hired gun mercenary. This made McDonagh the man in the dressing room even though he was only 25 years old.
However, when things went off the rails this season, the team seemed absent of a voice. There was no one holding anyone accountable. The head coach was delusional in his post game press conferences and absolving himself of blame. Lundqvist was blaming himself for the terrible defense in front of him. The captain took the blame and said he needed to be better.
Part of trading McDonagh had to be this perception. On top of that, the captain was managing nagging injuries all season long. It is hard to be a leader when you’re not in practice or on the ice.
Starting over
Part of the rebuild for the Rangers has to be establishing a new locker room hierarchy centered around the young guys. Yes, in the interim this is still Lundqvist’s team. But, the goaltender will not be around forever. Realistically, he will finish out his contract that lasts until 2021-2022 season. Zuccarello has two years left on his current contract and could be trade bait going forward.
After these two, the longest tenured player on the team is wing Chris Kreider. There is a reasonable argument that Kreider should be on the leadership council, but he is not captain material.
This means that either the Rangers next captain is either in the minors or not currently in the organization. For the long term health of the locker room, it should remain three or four alternate captains until someone emerges as the clear cut choice the way McDonagh did.
There is an argument to make Zuccarello the captain, however, his status with the team going forward isn’t concrete. If the team were to name him captain and either trade him or let him leave as a free agent they’d just be opening up a new wound.
Next: Was the return for McDonagh fair?
If I had to guess who the next captain will be there are two candidates in my mind. Choice one is the hired mercenary, free agent signing John Tavares. The other candidate, an in-house fix, Lias Andersson. The first round pick was the captain for Sweden in the World Junior Championships and set the internet on fire when he threw his silver medal into the crowd. That’s the kind of guy I want leading my team.