Wearing The “C” In The Central Division
There will be a few new names bearing the responsibilities of a captain in the Blackhawks’ division this season.
On Thursday, the Nashville Predators officially named center Mike Fisher their new captain. He replaces Shea Weber, who was traded to Montreal for PK Subban this summer.
Earlier, the St. Louis Blues named defenseman Alex Pietrangelo their new captain. He replaces David Backes, who departed as a free agent this summer.
Winnipeg will also have a new captain. The Jets named Blake Wheeler their captain in August, replacing Andrew Ladd. Ladd was traded to the Blackhawks last year.
Of the six captains in the Central, three were first round picks. The other three were acquired in trades that, in hindsight, were overwhelming wins for their current teams.
Let’s look at how each team acquired the man who will wear the “C” moving forward.
Chicago Blackhawks – Jonathan Toews
Drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks in the 1st round (#3 overall) in the 2006 NHL Draft.
Dallas Stars – Jamie Benn
June 23, 2007 – draft pick rights (5th round – #129 – 2007 NHL Draft) acquired with two additional 5th round picks in the 2007 Draft (Michael Neal and Austin Smith) from the Columbus Blue Jackets for a 4th round pick in the 2007 Draft (Maksim Mayorov).
Nashville Predators – Mike Fisher
Feb. 10, 2011 – acquired from the Ottawa Senators for 1st round pick in the 2011 draft (Stefan Noesen) and 3rd round pick in the 2012 draft (Jarrod Maidens).
St. Louis Blues – Alex Pietrangelo
Drafted by the St. Louis Blues in the 1st round (#4 overall) in the 2008 NHL Draft.
Minnesota Wild – Mikko Koivu
Drafted by the Minnesota Wild in the 1st round (#6 overall) in the 2001 NHL Draft.
Colorado Avalanche – Gabriel Landeskog
Drafted by the Colorado Avalanche in the first round (#2 overall) in 2011.
Winnipeg Jets – Blake Wheeler
Feb. 18, 2011 – acquired by the Atlanta Thrashers with Mark Stuart from the Boston Bruins for Rich Peverley and Boris Valabik.
Forgot about Colorado and Landeskog being a first rounder.
Toews-3rd
Koivu-6th
Landeskog-2nd
Fisher-traded for the pick of Stefan Noesen
Pietrangelo-4th
Benn-129th
Wheeler-5th overall. By Phoenix..signed with Bruins as college ufa traded to thrashers.
Hold on… Doesn’t the “C” stand for classified?
Well done.
D-lete !
Ya, my American cousins have a real dilemma on your hands.
I see Kris Versteeg signed a PTO with the Oilers. I’m thinking they will have a pretty good year this time around, might even make the playoffs.
Man ,.,.i forgot about Tallon and his assembly of a Great 3 rd and 4 th line crew for the 2010 cup Champs . Building great secondary players is a key we are lacking of late . Looking forward to the young bucks fighting and building this team.
I think it comes in waves. We had that loaded 4th and 3rd in 09 and 10 because several guys were on lower caphits/19 and 88 were elc. Then we reloaded with another wave of good young players/pickups, 16, 20, 67, 27. Same thing lower caphits/20 and 86 were elc. Then we reloaded with another wave of good young players/pickups, 15, 72, ?, 51.
Overall every couple of yrs we get to keep the majority of the roster for a few yrs and were not able to keep everyone after that in order to be stacked for a few yrs.
I’ve been really excited watching Kempny play. Has looked impressive on both ends of the ice in both Czech games, particularly running the offense. The only player that looks better for the Czech Republic (besides Plekanec and Voracek) is Michalek. That guy is literally EVERYWHERE. I think I’m secretly rooting for this underdog team.
Which begs the question… would Michalek at half retained be an upgrade for 1lw duty? Or are we resigned to filling that with internally
Kempny has looked great… stick, standing up guys at blue line, skating puck out,
pinching ( although – I know he will eventually get smoked… looks pretty good)… walking the line and shooting
another guy I like in a “forecheck role” #46 – Birner- guy pursues like Frolik used to.
With the addition of Campbell and Kempny, I was really comfortable with our line-up on defense heading into this season. With these comments about Kempny, I am even more encouraged. I really believe this team is going to be a defensive force in the NHL this year. That alone may carry us through to a long playoff run.
If some of the kids surprise to bring some offense to our top line, I do not think a cup is out of the question. As far as I am concerned, I would put two youngsters on the top line with Toews and let them run. Motte and Schmaltz are both listed as centers. I am not sure if they could fill both wings. I definitely don’t want to play guys out of their comfort level positions. We tried that with Dano and others. It is already hard to transition to the NHL game. Compounding that by having younger players play out of their positions is an additional burden.
Hell, put McNeil on the top line right wing and let him play a while. He is listed as a right winger. Dent has always had good things to say about McNeil and said he was ready for the NHL last year. He was a 1st rounder. No knock on Panik, I actually like him, but we are considering him for filling the 1st line void. Why no consider McNeil?
off the hawks site…
Mark McNeill led the team with 25 goals and seems to have established himself as an AHL vet with Rockford. How would you evaluate his season?
Mark continues to get better every year. He had 18 goals in year one, 23 in year two and 25 this year, and the amazing thing is, in both years two and three he missed about a month with an injury due to his willingness to block a shot. He’s a big, strong player who can skate well, he defends well, he’s got some toughness, and he can shoot the puck. He has a knack for scoring goals, and big goals at that. He’s been a great player in Rockford for us these last three years, and again, he’s another guy who I look to see fighting for one of the open spots this year at training camp.