The Chicago Blackhawks should wait before naming a captain

The Chicago Blackhawks just finished one of the most successful bad seasons in NHL history. They came into the season with a goal. They looked like a team that was going to fall short of that goal but a little bit of luck was on their side.

Before it was all said and done, however, Jonathan Toews played his last ever game with the organization. He went out in a big way as you figured he would. It was truly fun to watch him for all these years.

Toews had been the captain of the team for a very long time. How do you replace a legend like that? With tremendous difficulty.

Some teams make it a point to name a captain right away. You’ll never see a team like the Montreal Canadiens start a season without a captain. It is a tradition in some places. Thankfully, that is not a tradition in Chicago.

The Chicago Blackhawks need to be careful about who they give the C.

They need to be very careful with how they handle this. It felt right to name a captain a few weeks ago but it is clear now that they should wait.

Now that they won the 2023 NHL Draft Lottery, they are going to select Connor Bedard as the number one pick in the draft. Based on projections, he could go on to be one of the best players in franchise history.

He has already shown leadership qualities off-the-ice which is why he was the captain of the Regina Pats of the WHL. That is a skill set that should easily transfer to the NHL after a few years. Sometimes, your play demands that you become a leader on the team.

When you think about some of the best players in the league, Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, and Alex Ovechkin amongst many others, a lot of them turn out to be captains in the league Connor Bedard has that in his future.

The Blackhawks need to wait for the right time to do it. That also means not naming someone else less deserving just because they are older. They should run the next season or two without a captain and then make a decision.

We’ve also seen smart teams do that across the league. The New Jersey Devils went a while without a captain and then named their number one overall pick Nico Hischier as the captain in his early 20s. Connor Bedard might have a similar fate.

The only two players on the Hawks roster that could be captain next year are Seth Jones and Connor Murphy.

That could lead to them being captain for too long or not long enough so they should just wait to see if Bedard turns out to be that guy. If he’s not, they have bigger problems than who wears a C on their chest.