BREAKING: Jordan Stall Announced as Carolina Hurricanes Next Captain

During the Caniac Carnival event at PNC Arena, The Carolina Hurricanes announced Jordan Staal to be the 5th Team Captain in team history.

Prior to the preseason finale against the Washington Capitals, The Carolina Hurricanes announced veteran Jordan Staal as the team’s captain for the 19-20 season. This is not a new honor for Jordan, who was a co-captain with former hurricane Justin Faulk during the 17-18 season and has been an alternate for much of his Hurricanes Tenure.

Staal is undoubtedly a veteran on this club. He has seen the best and worst of this organization and has been the consummate professional in the locker room, on the ice, and when interacting with fans and the media.

Entering his seventh season with the team, Staal was traded after a successful six-year stint in Pittsburgh. Joining his older brother, and former Carolina captain, Eric Staal, the Staal brothers brought plenty of excitement and skill to Caniac’s around the country.

His time with the team has been viewed as a success by most fans. Although he hasn’t turned into the offensive force his brother was during his time with the team, Staal has scored over 40 points four times, and scored over 15 goals four times as well.

What makes Jordan Staal invaluable to this team is not what he puts up in the stat column, but how he plays the game. He is dominant in the faceoff circle, he is excellent at regaining possession, he has size that you can’t teach, and he can maintain defensive pressure against the top forwards in the league.

There will be concerns by many to this decision; after all, Staal is replacing a Carolina legend who just led the franchise to the playoffs for the first time in 10 years; while his first stint as captain was marred with inconsistent production and a lack of team success.

Jaccob Slavin and Jordan Martinook were also announced as the Alternate Captains and should balance out a leadership group in Carolina. All three players are grinders who are more known for their work ethic and attention to detail than their sheer talent and productivity. This should display Head Coach Rod Brind’ Amours emphasis on playing the game the right way.

If Staal can learn from his past failures as Captain, and this group can hold firm to the lessons that Williams imparted to them during his two-year return, than this team should be able to find the rhythm that led them to the Eastern conference Finals one season ago

Question for CC Readers: If you were Rod Brind’ Amour, who would be your choice as Captain?