Three days to go before their first game of the season, and the Devils still haven’t named a captain. But that could change as early as today, with the long-awaited arrival of Ilya Kovalchuk to training camp.
“We’ve had some good discussions and are pretty close [to naming a captain],” coach Pete DeBoer said after a lengthy practice session yesterday.
“I think we’ve got a lot of candidates in our room. Kovy is definitely one of them. Whoever we decide is going to wear the ‘C’ in my mind, that room is filled with leaders. He’s a great player. He is a good team guy.”
The Devils are in need of a new captain because of the departure of Zach Parise, who wore the ‘C’ on his sweater for the past two seasons before signing with the Wild over the summer. Kovalchuk, who returned from Russia yesterday, will participate today when the Devils play a scrimmage with Albany. Kovalchuk was captain of the Thrashers in 2009-10.
Prior to Parise, Jamie Langenbrunner was captain from 2007-11. And before that, it was current Devils winger Patrik Elias in 2006-07. But Elias said there’s no big hurry in naming a captain because of the leadership the team has.
“Not really,” Elias said. “I think that there are a lot of guys who always take pride in having a good veteran group here and a lot of the guys are in their own way, leaders. It’s not always about one or two guys to make a decision here, it’s a team.”
Part of the reason many of the Devils are not concerned is because they only lost three players from last year’s conference-winning team. Yes, Parise was among them (in addition to wingers Alexei Ponikarovsky and Petr Sykora), but the core of this team has been together for a while and many of the veterans — including both goaltenders — have emerged as leaders.
“Even last year, guys that had the C’s and A’s on them were a small part of the leadership group, including the [Martin] Brodeurs of the world and the [Johan] Hedbergs and on and on,” DeBoer said.
Last year, Kovalchuk and Elias were the alternate captains for the Devils, which is why both are strong candidates to become captain. Elias is entering his 17th season with the club, while Kovalchuk is entering the third year of his 15-year deal.Another option, which had been discussed in the past, could have been naming Brodeur, the franchise player for two decades, captain. While it is rare, it is not unheard of for a goalie to be captain. Several years ago, Roberto Luongo was the Canucks captain for two seasons (2008-2010), but it’s not something Brodeur, the 20-year veteran, wants.
“Nope. I talk to you guys enough, I don’t need to be a captain on top of that,” Brodeur joked, before getting serious.
“I think it matters for the guy that is going to get it. It’s a great honor to become a captain of an organization. I think there’s a lot of great candidates that could wear the ‘C’ for our team. But like in the past, I think the ‘C’ is something that is worn by the guy, but I think the leadership comes through the whole locker room at the same time when you have an experienced team.”
One option could be David Clarkson, who enters his seventh season with the Devils. He is coming off of a 30-goal season and always sticks up for his teammates on the ice, but like many of his teammates said it’s just a letter.
“I don’t think about it at all. It’s always an honor whoever they decide to [name captain], to always have a letter on your jersey, but at the end of the day … you’ve always got to play your way and lead by example,” Clarkson said.
* Single game tickets for all home games go on sale to the public tonight at 7:00 at the Prudential Center box office or on ticketmaster.com. … Stephen Gionta received stitches during practice after catching a stick to his lip.