Seattle Kraken: Who should be team’s first captain

The Seattle Kraken has a few options to establish their first franchise captain soon.

Now that the Seattle Kraken have drafted their team in the expansion draft, they can think about how they want to manage their roster. One of the decisions on the horizon is when they want to name a captain. Some teams go several seasons without a captain, but the options present for the Kraken bring about the possibility that a captain could be named sooner than later.

The NHL’s most recent expansion team, the Vegas Golden Knights, waited a few seasons for the right candidate to come to town, but Seattle’s best options might already be on the roster.

Mark Giordano

Giordano is the obvious choice to be the first captain in team history. He went from being an undrafted signee of the Calgary Flames to their captain for the past eight seasons. He has played his entire 949-game career to this point for Calgary, and at age 37 has the experience in the league to guide a young team. Despite only having 23 NHL playoff games to his merit, Giordano could have the opportunity to start fresh with the Kraken and mold them into a perennial playoff contender.

The only thing that could stand in the way of Giordano becoming team captain is the looming chance he is traded before the start of the season. He was shopped by the Flames before the expansion draft, but without a deal in place was exposed to the Kraken instead. Reports indicated that he was still an option to be moved by the Kraken, and if that comes to fruition the team could have to look elsewhere for leadership in its inaugural season.