Captain Luongo would wear the C, but he can’t
This is pretty much the only logical choice the Canucks could make. Vancouver needed a new guy to wear the C after seven-year captain Markus Naslund bolted for New York, and didn’t really have anyone left that could take over convincingly (read: Trevor Linden).
So the responsibility fell to Roberto Luongo, who can’t wear a letter on his jersey, as per NHL rules. Luongo is also only the fifth goalie in league history to receive the honor.
“I’m ready for that responsibility,” Luongo said. “I feel that last year, even though I didn’t have a letter, I was part of that leadership group.”
Because Luongo can’t have a letter on his jersey, Ryan Kesler, Mattias Ohlund and Willie Mitchell will all wear the A for games. If Luongo was smart, he’d stick a “C” on his helmet.
Here is a nice video about all this from the Canucks site. Mike Gillis credits Ryan Walter with getting this all squared away. It is also important to note, by the way, that this is certainly a move meant to discourage Luongo from hitting the market in two years when his Vancouver deal runs out. It worked on Naslund for as long as the Canucks found him useful.
Luongo is the first goalie to be team captain since 1947-48, when Bill Durnan of the Canadiens rocked the C proudly. Some might remember, and I think I am correct in saying this, that Durnan was the player that held the record for most consecutive shutout minutes before Brian Boucher broke it a few years ago. Durnan also wore two gloves that allowed him to catch the puck because he was ambidextrous. That’s all I know about Bill Durnan.
For the record, the other goalies to captain a team that were not Luongo or Durnan are John Ross Roach of the 1924-25 Toronto St. Pats, George Hainsworth of the 1932-33 Canadiens, and Charlie Gardiner of the 1933-34 Black Hawks.
