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Have the Rangers found their future captain?

By Steve Paulus

MONTREAL, QC - NOVEMBER 23: Brendan Lemieux #48 of the New York Rangers celebrates after scoring a goal against the Montreal Canadiens in the NHL game at the Bell Centre on November 23, 2019 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Francois Lacasse/NHLI via Getty Images)
MONTREAL, QC - NOVEMBER 23: Brendan Lemieux #48 of the New York Rangers celebrates after scoring a goal against the Montreal Canadiens in the NHL game at the Bell Centre on November 23, 2019 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Francois Lacasse/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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MONTREAL, QC – NOVEMBER 23: Montreal Canadiens defenceman Mike Reilly (28) and New York Rangers left wing Brendan Lemieux (48) battle for control of the puck during the New York Rangers versus the Montreal Canadiens game on November 23, 2019, at Bell Centre in Montreal, QC (Photo by David Kirouac/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
MONTREAL, QC – NOVEMBER 23: Montreal Canadiens defenceman Mike Reilly (28) and New York Rangers left wing Brendan Lemieux (48) battle for control of the puck during the New York Rangers versus the Montreal Canadiens game on November 23, 2019, at Bell Centre in Montreal, QC (Photo by David Kirouac/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

A future captain?

It’s been a helluva week for Brendan Lemieux.  He played a key role in the win over the Washington Capitals with several grade A chances (he missed) and three hits.  He also took it upon himself to fight one of the toughest players in the NHL in Tom Wilson.  He came out of it with a black eye, but with the Rangers’ pride intact.

In the disaster in Ottawa he took a high stick late in the game when it was out of hand. He lost teeth and was bloodied, but was back on the ice minutes later.


Against Montreal, he earned the Broadway Hat with an outstanding performance .  In the city where his father won a Stanley Cup in 1986 with Claude watching, Lemieux scored two goals on eight shot attempts in 25 hard fought shifts.  He served as a regular penalty killer and scored the game-tying shorthanded goal.

It would be hyperbole to call it a “Messier-like” performance, but if there is one thing that he learned from his father, Lemieux knows the value of hard work and leadership and he exhibited it last night.  He knows what it took for his father to win the Stanley Cup four times with three different teams.   Bear in mind that Brendan was not even born when his father won his first two cups and was all of four years old when he won his last.  Brendan didn’t live through those championship runs, he learned about them from his father.

So, could Brendan Lemieux be a future New York Rangers captain? He checks off an awful lot of the requirements.  Work ethic? Check.  Leadership? Check.  Physical play? Check. Respect from his teammates?  Check. Talent?  Sort of a check. Toughness? Check.  Does he like playing in New York?  Check.

Some would argue that as a 23-year second year player he is too young. Connor McDavid became captain of the Oilers at age 19.  Aleksander Barkov and Bo Horvat are teams captains at age 24.  With a team as young as the Rangers, Brendan Lemieux is older than seven of his teammates. In this case age doesn’t matter

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