The Rangers are entering their third consecutive season without a captain.
Head coach David Quinn announced on Wednesday that the team has appointed four deputy captains: Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad, Artemi Panarin and Jacob Trouba. Kreider and Zibanejad both wore the “A” last season, but the departure of Jesper Fast (Hurricanes) and Marc Staal (Red Wings) meant that the Rangers had two vacancies to fill.
Panarin and Trouba are both entering their second season on the Rangers and are key members of the team’s core.
There had been speculation that Kreider or Zibanejad would wear the “C” this season after Quinn said the organization planned to “evaluate that situation” at the start of the training camp. But Kreider said the Rangers, who have not had a captain since Ryan McDonagh was dealt with on the 2018 trade deadline, don’t consider it a big deal to have no captain.
“Maybe not something people want to hear, but I think often [the captaincy] is more for the fan base than anyone else, ”Kreider said on Wednesday during a Zoom call. “At the end of the day, you need a large group of leaders to be successful. I mean there are some guys in our room ready to take on leadership roles. And as I’ve said it before, I think even some of the younger guys, guys who are in their second or third year, there comes a time when they have to lead, either get up and say the right thing in the locker room or lead by example on the ice.
“There cannot be passengers if we want to be successful. You look back on the teams that have been successful in recent years, everyone knows their role, everyone buys and does their job to the best of their ability. Those teams have incredible depth. As long as everyone is pulling in the same direction, I think we’ll be in good shape. ”
Zibanejad has continued to practice with the Rangers after testing positive for COVID-19 at the start of training camp, but his status for Thursday’s season opener against the Islanders was still up on Wednesday.
“We’ll have a clearer picture of what that will be,” Quinn said. “As for minutes, they are only kept during the game. Of course we know he had COVID and everyone reacts to it differently, so it’s definitely going to be a shift-by-shift decision. ”
Quinn announced that rookie Igor Shesterkin would get the first start in the nets of the 2020-21 season. The islanders are expected to start Semyon Varlamov.
The Rangers have officially appointed Morgan Barron, Anthony Bitetto, Colin Blackwell, Libor Hajek, Keith Kinkaid and Matthew Robertson to their taxi crew.