Have the Rangers found their future captain?

When the New York Rangers completed their improbable comeback win over the Montreal Canadiens, one intriguing possiblity became apparent.  Did the future captain of the team played a key role in the win?

Of course, we are talking about Brendan Lemieux.  He was a catalyst in the Rangers comeback win, not just by scoring two goals, but by playing hard, killing penalties and showing great leadership.

If you have doubts about that, Just listen to him:

The New York Rangers haven’t had a team captain since they traded Ryan McDonagh to the Tampa Bay Lightning.  Since his departure there has been a round robin of alternate captains with no clear successor.

Coming into the season the consensus was that it would be Mika Zibanejad, but the soft spoken Swede was not the choice. Chris Kreider‘s contractual status keeps him from being a contender. In the meantime, the team carries on with a void in leadership, a trait that has become an issue on occasion.

Here’s the official definition of a team captain per the NHL Rule 6.1: “One Captain shall be appointed by each team, and he alone shall have the privilege of discussing with the Referee any questions relating to interpretation of rules which may arise during the progress of a game.”

But a team captain is much more than that.  He is the leader on the ice and in the locker room,  spokesman for the team and the link between the players and the coaches.   A good captain can lift a moribund team to higher levels and provide inspiration to his peers.

The Rangers were lucky to have the greatest captain of all time in Mark Messier.  Whether it was glare or a hard check or fulfilling a guarantee with a playoff hat trick, there is no doubt that the 1994 Stanley Cup championship would have never happened without Messier.

It’s a key piece that is missing from the Rangers, the youngest team in the NHL.

Why it can’t happen

It’s easy for observers to speculate on what is best for a team.  While Brendan Lemieux can check off a lot of the characteristics of a captain in our eyes, what goes on behind the closed doors of a locker room is something none of us know.

It’s up to the coaches to determine who the right candidate is to provide that leadership and if they feel that Lemieux is not the right fit, it is not going to happen.  While he played spectacularly last night, he also was the culprit when the Rangers took their too many me on the ice penalty, jumping into play when he shouldn’t have.

Perhaps putting the “A” on his uniform a few times could serve as a test to see how he responds.  His father served as an Alternate Captain for the Coyotes and the Avalanche so it runs in the family.

What could be an even bigger hurdle for Lemieux is his future with the team.  As a restricted free agent last summer, he signed a qualifying offer of $950k.   That deal expires next summer and he will be an RFA again, but this time with arbitration rights.  If he keeps playing this way, he may price himself out of the Rangers’ budget.  Then again, if the team wants to lock him in, there is nothing to stop them from signing him before he hits the RFA marketplace.

The good news is the coach likes him.  After the game when asked about his play, Quinn said ” I’d like to give him another black eye for that too many men on the ice, but he played too well so I won’t do that.  Listen, I’ve talked about him a lot, I love him as a player, he’s a great kid, he works hard, he’s everything you want in a hockey player and I’m happy for him that he got rewarded statistically.”

If that wasn’t enough of a rousing endorsement, listen to what Quinn said about what it takes to be a winner:

“There’s a lot of things that goes into winning.  Talent obviously, would be one of them, but you better have resolve, you better have mental toughness, you better have conditioning, you better have leadership, you better fight through adversity.  And we showed all of that tonight.”

All of those characteristics sound an awful lot like Brendan Lemieux.   Let’s see what happens.