Earlier this week, the topic of the Vancouver Canucks‘ captaincy was brought back to the forefront. That was because, in a podcast appearance, President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford declared that defenceman Filip Hronek would be on “a very short list” of players to be considered for the Canucks’ captaincy.

“He’s been our best player this year,” Rutherford said on an appearance on 100% Hockey. “He’s a number one defenceman, he’s a heart and soul guy, and as bad a year as the Canucks have had, Filip Hronek has been extremely good. He’s been terrific this year.”

As for the question of if Hronek could be the Canucks’ next captain:

“We haven’t got to that point yet, that will be a discussion in the summer, but in my opinion, he would be on that very short list for sure. He has all the qualities to be a very good captain. What you see on the ice is what you see off the ice, he’s a leader.”

Did you notice the same part of that quote we did? No? This one:

“…he would be on that very short list for sure.”

Okay, so we’ve determined it’s a very short list, but what we’re asking today is: Just how short is that list?

Earlier this month, when rumblings that Hronek was being considered for the captaincy first surfaced, we gave our thoughts on the matter, in the end determining that, while Hronek is seemingly well-liked by his teammates — in particular the younger defencemen who have raved about how much he’s helped them — there’s a lot that goes into being an NHL captain, and that the Canucks might want to hold off before naming a captain.

The most obvious one is the media responsibilities. The Canucks are presumably going to be doing a good amount of losing next year. Does Hronek want the responsibility of coming out and communicating with the fanbase on a nightly basis? Is he the best person for that job? And we haven’t even gotten into the expectation that a captain be involved in their community, donate their time — and in the case of captains like Henrik Sedin — money, and energy to charitable causes. We’re not saying Hronek doesn’t want to do those things or even trying to suggest he’s incapable of them. It’s just illustrating that being named an NHL captain is a big deal, and it’s not a decision to be taken lightly.

Also, it’s worth at least considering how Hronek reacted to Rutherford’s comments. This from Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre:

Anyways, back to the task at hand. We know Hronek is on the list because Rutherford said so, but who else could be on there? Let’s work in reverse.

As it stands, the Canucks have 19 skaters signed for next season.

Elias Pettersson
Brock Boeser
Jake DeBrusk
Evander Kane
Marco Rossi
Conor Garland
Filip Chytil
Nils Höglander
Drew O’Connor
Liam Öhgren
Linus Karlsson
Aatu Räty
Max Sasson
Filip Hronek
Marcus Pettersson
Tyler Myers
Zeev Buium
Tom Willander
Elias Junior Pettersson

Now let’s assume the Canucks want a captain with NHL experience. After all, they didn’t name Bo Horvat captain until after a full season following Henrik Sedin’s retirement, even though Horvat seemed like the obvious successor even while Henrik was still playing. With that in mind, let’s remove anyone with under 250 NHL games from our list. What are we left with?

Elias Pettersson
Brock Boeser
Jake DeBrusk
Evander Kane
Conor Garland
Nils Höglander
Drew O’Connor
Filip Hronek
Marcus Pettersson
Tyler Myers

There are some good veterans and long-time Canucks on this list. Brock Boeser and Tyler Myers’s names, in particular, stand out, and Myers would, in fact, be an almost perfect stop-gap captain for a season or two in the twilight of his career. Unfortunately, he is currently deciding whether or not he’ll waive his no-movement clause to facilitate a trade out of Vancouver after the Canucks got a trade offer they liked, so it’s hard to consider him as a realistic option on the Canucks’ list at this juncture.

Maybe that part matters. Let’s narrow down the list to players who haven’t popped up in any trade rumours this season:

Filip Hronek
Marcus Pettersson

Wow, that is a very short list! The Canucks gave up a first round pick for Marcus Pettersson just last season, and while that trade hasn’t worked out and Pettersson has struggled in Adam Foote’s system, Pettersson has a reputation around the league of being a great teammate, and that certainly counts for something. But is he the right choice for captain right now? No, probably not.

Now, we don’t know for sure that the Canucks’ list is actually that small, or that those two players are the only names on it. What we’re trying to illustrate is that the Canucks are currently a team in flux and in a unique transition period; and if ever there was a time to take a step back and wait before naming a captain, this might be it.

Did we miss anyone? Let us know in the comments section below!

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