Luongo is by far the team's best player and a natural choice for leader. As I've thought about who on the Canucks roster could be the captain that could really take the team on his shoulders and carry them to new heights, I was drawing a black-hole sized blank. Like no body came to mind. Ryan Kesler is an answer, but not for another couple years. Luongo is by far the best choice.
Luongo's captaincy rubs against the grain slightly. NHL rule book rule 6.1 says: "No playing coach or playing manager or goalkeeper shall be permitted to act as captain or alternate captain." The underlying reason is they don't want the goalie constantly leaving the crease to talk to the officials, stuff like that. The Canucks work around this by letting Luongo serve as captain more in the spirit of the law rather than the letter. He will serve as the undisputed leader of the team, but will not officially wear a "C". The Canucks will compensate for this by having three alternate captains: Ryan Kesler, Willie Mitchell, and Mattias Ohlund.
A great move by the Canucks. Kesler, Mitchell and Ohlund can more than handle on-ice issues and Luongo can serve as the type of leader the Canucks need. He gives 100% every night, and his quiet but diligent example should really help the young, thin Canucks team who will need more than a little inspiration just to be competitive each night.
I know Luongo's probably the last guy on the planet who cares about this, but why not let goalies where the "C"? Not wanting them to cause additional time-outs to come talk to the refs is a stupid reason. Just let them wear it if they are the leaders of the team. Why not?
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