Mark Giordano’s departure to Seattle has left a gaping hole in the locker room of the Calgary Flames. A gaping hole that will have to be mended by his predecessor, whomever that may be.
While the Flames are expected to name a new captain eventually, they do not need to rush into anything. Timeline wise, the Flames should take the duration of the season to mull over their options, giving each player a chance to ‘prove themselves,’ and should be ready to announce who will be taking the reins at the start of the 2022-23 season.
As for who will take up the mantle of ‘captain,’ I have settled on four valid candidates. Matthew Tkachuk, Mikael Backlund, Chris Tanev, and my dark horse – Milan Lucic.
All four of these players have been in a leadership role with either the Flames or a previous team (Tanev and Lucic) and have shown potential to be the next captain for the Flames.
Matthew Tkachuk:
Starting off with the fan-favorite and number one choice throughout most of the C of Red, we have Matthew Tkachuk. While Tkachuk is the current face of the franchise, some are not sold on the idea of Tkachuk being the next captain of the Flames. At just 23 years of age, Tkachuk’s maturity and sense of leadership still needs some fine tuning. Albeit, #19 is an invaluable member to the Flames roster, as he is a crafty, gritty, and relentless player who has an insatiable hunger to outperform his opponents. Nonetheless, his intensity does go hand in hand with his recklessness. Which often leaves his team a man short. In his six seasons and 358 games with the Flames, Tkachuk has been suspended on three different occasions and has racked up 363 penalty minutes. Of course, the amount of penalty minutes does not equate to captaincy. If that were the case, Johnny Gaudreau and his Lady Bing would be sharing the team’s captaincy. However, Tkachuk may need a few more seasons of mentoring before he can be trusted with leading his squad. The only other qualm with handing Tkachuk the captaincy is merely his contract status. At the end of the season, Tkachuk will be an RFA and will need to sign a new contract. Depending on the length of Tkachuk’s new contract will also determine the timeline as to when he should be named captain. Tkachuk would need to sign a long-term deal that will allow him to be captain for the foreseeable future. If Tkachuk were to hypothetically sign another bridge deal, the captaincy should go to another candidate, until he matures and signs with the Flames for long-term.
Mikael Backlund:
The second option, and my personal favorite among the four frontrunners, goes to Mikael Backlund. Backlund has been a member of the Flames organization since his draft day – 14 years ago. During his time in the NHL, Backlund has notched 154 goals and 243 assists in 748 games and has also been one of the Flames best defensive forwards in the past decade. Backlund’s defensive zone play has been so impressive that he should have been considered for the Selke several times. Aside from his stat line, Backlund has also been a leader in the Flames locker room for years, having been an assistant captain for the past four seasons. Backlund, who was once a Flames young gun, now fits perfectly into his mentor/role model position.
Call it old school but, there is a shared belief that a player must have a significant tenure with the team (Mark Giordano and the Seattle Kraken excluded), in order to be named captain of a hockey club. The only team Backlund has known is the Flames and making him ‘C’ makes perfect sense.
Chris Tanev:
Another option for the Flames captaincy is Chris Tanev. Tanev, who had a very similar career to Backlund, was no doubt a leader with the Vancouver Canucks before signing with the Flames. In his 10 seasons with the Canucks, Tanev sported an ‘A’ for four of them – learning from arguably the two classiest and sportsmanlike individuals to ever play in the NHL. Henrik and Daniel Sedin. Tanev’s career was also similar to the Flames most recent captain, as both him and Mark Giordano came into the league undrafted. While Tanev would also be a suitable option for the Flames, the only argument is his tenure with the Flames. Some would rather see Mikael Backlund, who spent over a decade with the Flames, wear the ‘C’ before Tanev, who is in his second season with the Flames.
Milan Lucic:
The ‘off-the-board’ pick in the Flames captaincy goes to Milan Lucic. Out of the three other candidates, Lucic has had the longest tenure in the league with 15 seasons and 1019 games under his belt. Lucic has proved to be a leader in each of the four teams (Boston, LA, Edmonton, and Calgary) he has been a member of. While the 231 Ib, Vancouver native, has never been captain for an NHL team, he was named assistant captain in the three years he spent with the Edmonton Oilers. However, the main reason the Flames should consider Lucic is because of his winning mentality. Lucic is one of the only players, aside from Trevor Lewis and Blake Coleman, on the Flames roster who has won a Stanley Cup.
Now, the only concern with Lucic being named captain is his contract duration. After this season, Lucic will only have one more year left on his current contract and will need to sign an extension after the 2022-23 season. If Lucic were to take another contract, it will most likely be for a couple seasons at the most. However, at the ripe age of 34, nobody knows whether Lucic will sign another extension or take his Stanley Cup ring and go riding off into the sunset.
Now, regardless of who takes up the mantle, the Flames organization should be in no rush picking. Let this season be a “prove me” period and let the four candidates duke it out for the captaincy. By opening night of next season, the Flames will have found their 20th captain in franchise history.
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