Puck daddy on Jonathan Toews

Here is an interesting story on Jonathan Toews being selected captain for the Chicago Blackhawks. While I think the Blackhawks are going to be improved from last season I still think they are like 3rd or 4th in the western conference.

The Jonathan Toews Blackhawks’ captaincy backlash begins
By Greg Wyshynski
Is 64 regular season games a large enough sample to determine if Jonathan Toews, the 20-year-old center for the Chicago Blackhawks, has what it takes to be an NHL captain?

The Blackhawks obviously believe so, making Toews the third-youngest captain in League history last week. And I also believe so, because there's not exactly a Mark Messier on that roster and because his beyond-his-years leadership had been evident since last December, earning praise from a guy like Martin Lapointe -- who knows a thing or two about leaders wearing No. 19.

That there's a backlash against Toews's captaincy isn't so much about Toews as it is about hockey ageism. Do "infant captains" like Toews and Sidney Crosby actually have the ability to repel veteran free agents?
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Otherwise, it's a fair point: Giving Toews the captaincy makes him the Yzerman to Patrick Kane's more flashy Fedorov; the face of the franchise and its most dynamic offensive player. You can't beat establishing those franchise pillars this early in the team's maturation.

But even I'm not cynical enough to believe this is about selling jerseys. Toews was born with a 'C' on his chest, so there's no denying the inevitable.

As for other young superstars getting the captaincy, I think both teams and these players have been very careful about it. Sidney Crosby waited. Alexander Ovechkin said he laughed when a teenage Crosby was named an alternate captain for the Penguins, but both stars have carefully approached the captaincy. (In Ovechkin's case, the matter was complicated by the fact that the real captain of the Capitals was a goalie who couldn't wear the 'C'. He may still wear the 'C' one day soon, if he wants it.)

I don't think a veteran player would be dissuaded from playing with a team if its captain is a newbie. But the way a team handles its captaincy can speak volumes about its direction.

In Columbus, I think it's been handled poorly: It's a young franchise that desperately needed a captain symbolic of its slow maturation as a franchise, and the Blue Jackets had a parade of mercenary veterans until Rick Nash got the gig. What, exactly, does naming Luke Richardson captain say about your franchise in 2003?

In Chicago, it's been handled perfectly. The Blackhawks are ready to climb out of the doldrums and contend in the West with their young guns and new identity. Toews is a critical part of that; there's no reason why he shouldn't also be its public face.
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