When Connor Bedard made his season debut earlier this week he not only restored some hope to the Chicago Blackhawks season, he also became the eighth player to serve as a new full-time captain for his club.
That’s a full quarter of the league that debuted a new ‘C’ bearer for the 2026-27 campaign. The last time we saw more new full-time captains was 2010-11, when 10 players began a captaincy tenure.
Captains come in different forms — some are young, some are old, some are superstars and some are still more worker bee than sniper — but one constant throughout the league is the undeniable prestige that comes from filling that role for your squad.
With that in mind — and with so many new designated top leaders around the NHL — we thought it prudent to use this week’s Power Rankings as a captain check for all 32 squads.
1. Carolina Hurricanes (6-1-1) Jordan Staal is now so closely identified with the Carolina franchise that you almost have to stretch to remember he had an entire huge first career chapter in Pittsburgh, where he won the Cup, played in another final and was traded before his 24th birthday. Unfortunately, we just learned the reigning Conn Smythe Trophy winner will be out a month or two with a calf strain.
2. Edmonton Oilers (5-0-1) Seventeen points in six games out of the gate is crazy, even for Connor McDavid. With one more scoring title, McDavid would move past Mario Lemieux and Gordie Howe on the all-time list with seven. At that point, tying Wayne Gretzky’s all-time mark of 10 would seem very doable.
3. Vegas Golden Knights (6-2-0) When he’s not injured, Mark Stone seems to be getting better with age. The 34-year-old remains a possession god and last year he posted the best points/60 minutes of his career at 3.8.
4. Utah Mammoth (5-2-0) Long before people were losing their minds over unproven NHLers — and, in some cases, barely NHLers — inking enormous contract extensions, Clayton Keller signed an eight-year extension with the Arizona Coyotes that carried a cap hit of just over $7 million. Then-Coyotes GM John Chayka raised a lot of eyebrows by offering that pact, but — six-plus years into the deal — it’s safe to say betting on Keller was a great move.
5. Colorado Avalanche (4-2-1) Be honest, you thought we were going to talk about Nathan MacKinnon here, right? Gabriel Landeskog was named captain of the Avs in 2012 before his 20th birthday. At the time, he was the youngest captain in NHL history, until Connor McDavid bumped him by just 20 days in 2016. Landeskog is the third-longest-serving captain in the league.
6. Minnesota Wild (4-2-1) On a team with some serious star power, 37-year-old defenceman Jared Spurgeon still plays over 20 minutes a night while wearing the ‘C.’
7. Boston Bruins (5-2-0) Boston played without a captain last season, but named David Pastrnak its guy ahead of this year. The 30-year-old star is in search of his fifth consecutive 100-point season.
8. Ottawa Senators (5-2-0) Boy, it sure seems like everybody turned the page quickly and embraced Thomas Chabot being the captain of the Sens following the end of the Brady Tkachuk era.
9. Winnipeg Jets (4-1-1) Adam Lowry is a 3C wearing the ‘C.’ The 33-year-old still sets the tone in Winnipeg.
10. Tampa Bay Lightning (4-2-0) Kudos to Victor Hedman for speaking up about his mental health struggles last season, when he took a leave from the squad. The Bolts have scaled back the big man’s ice time so far, as they try to keep the future Hall of Famer healthy and effective.
11. Anaheim Ducks (4-2-0) It feels disrespectful to call new Ducks captain Mikael Granlund a placeholder — the guy’s had an awesome career — but it does seem like one of the Ducks’ young bucks will be wearing the ‘C’ in the next couple of seasons.
12. Dallas Stars (3-3-1) Jamie Benn, the fourth-longest serving captain in the NHL, is playing on his second consecutive low-cost, one-year deal. At 37, you wonder how many seasons Benn — a career Star and fifth-round pick turned scoring champ — has left in The Big D.
13. New York Rangers (6-2-0) The Rangers really wasted no time naming J.T. Miller captain of the squad after they repatriated him from the Vancouver Canucks less than two years ago. Miller is overseeing an interesting time in Broadway, as the Blueshirts try to get back on their feet without a major rebuild.
14. Washington Capitals (4-3-0) Quick, who was Washington’s captain before Alex Ovechkin in 2010? Go to the front of the line and collect a gold star if you said Chris Clark. Who succeeds Ovie after this season? Has to be Tom Wilson, right?
15. Florida Panthers (3-2-2) You may feel a certain way about the Florida Panthers, but how can you not feel bad for the brutal injury luck Aleksander Barkov has had over the past couple of years? Fans everywhere are being denied his two-way brilliance in the late prime of his career.
16. Montreal Canadiens (3-3-1) Nick Suzuki trails only Brent Burns in terms of most consecutive games played by an active player (Suzuki is at 544, while Burns is way up there at 1,014.). The Habs captain does it all for his squad.
17. Seattle Kraken (5-2-0) Jordan Eberle inked a two-year extension last spring to stay in Seattle and he — along with his team — is off to a terrific start with six points in seven outings.
18. Buffalo Sabres (3-3-1) Anybody who spent even a minute in the Sabres dressing room last season could tell how much it meant to all of them — but especially Rasmus Dahlin — to finally be on a playoff-calibre team. If the Sabres make another big push this year, you know the 26-year-old Swede will be in the middle of it.
19. Toronto Maple Leafs (3-3-1) Toronto’s season has brought some ups and downs, but Buds backers must be thrilled to see Auston Matthews moving around — and producing — like his old self so far.
20. New York Islanders (3-3-0) Bo Horvat is thriving in his first season as the Isles captain, notching four goals and seven points in six games to start the year. Horvat is the only captain in the league who also wore the ‘C’ for another team, as he previously filled the role in Vancouver.
21. St. Louis Blues (3-2-1) After a couple seasons marked by trade speculation, St. Louis locked it down with Robert Thomas by naming him the captain ahead of this year. Thomas, mind you, is minus-2 with just two assists on the season.
22. Pittsburgh Penguins (3-3-1) Sidney Crosby, already the longest-tenured captain in NHL history at 20 seasons, could conceivably end up wearing the ‘C’ in Pittsburgh for a quarter-century. Unreal.
23. New Jesey Devils (3-3-0) Nico Hischier inked a big off-season extension to stay in Jersey. Now the team must live up to the promise of a talented roster.
24. Nashville Predators (2-2-2) Nashville has shown itself to be a tough out so far, but it sure feels like there’s going to be some turnover in Tennessee in the next couple years. Could Roman Josi, the Preds captain for nearly 10 years now, have a final chapter somewhere else it if made sense for both the player and franchise?
25. San Jose Sharks (3-3-0) The least-surprising development of the off-season was Macklin Celebrini being named captain of the Sharks.
26. Columbus Blue Jackets (2-3-0) With Boone Jenner leaving the organization as a UFA, Columbus is without a captain this year. If, by chance, there’s a press conference to announce a Zach Werenski extension next summer, they’ll likely just give him the ‘C’ the same day.
27. Chicago Blackhawks (2-5-0) What a great development for both the Hawks and NHL fans in general to see Connor Bedard returning to the lineup ahead of schedule earlier this week. Let’s see if the new captain takes off immediately.
28. Detroit Red Wings (1-3-2) Credit Dylan Larkin for taking his medicine in the aftermath of his trade request and having the ‘C’ removed from his sweater. Who’s the next Wings captain; Moritz Seider or the native son who just inked a massive extension to stay in Michigan, Alex DeBrincat?
29. Los Angeles Kings (0-3-2) Drew Doughty was probably like an unofficial co-captain to Anze Kopitar for numerous seasons before the latter hung ’em up. Unfortunately, the Kings are winless in the Doughty era.
30. Vancouver Canucks (2-6-0) The Canucks are taking a breather while they rebuild and you could see them going even another year without naming a captain.
31. Philadelphia Flyers (0-5-3) You lean on your captain in tough times, so Sean Couturier better come through on and off the ice for the Flyers.
32. Calgary Flames (1-5-0) It sure seems like 37-year-old Mikael Backlund has no interest in playing anywhere else and his steadying presence will be a valued entity for the Flames through a painful rebuild.
