A New Era

Not only was it not a surprise to see Nicklas Lidstrom named captain of the Red Wings tonight, taking over the spot vacated by Steve Yzerman, I found it less odd seeing the “C” on a different player than I thought I would.

Yzerman has been – or had been, now – the leader of this team for litterally as long as I can remember. No one will be able to say that about Lidstrom, getting the captaincy at such a late point in his career.

As everyone seems to be saying, though, Lidstrom was the obvious choice, already in place as a leader of the team, now just elevated to the top spot in that heirarchy.

Part of me wanted to see Henrik Zetterberg take on the captaincy, if nothing else than to try to repeat the long tenure of Yzerman. It’s not Zetterberg’s time, though, I know that and so, too, do the Wings, it would seem.

The new captain is much the same as the old captain. The “C” looks the same on his jersey. With luck, the success of the Nicklas Lidstrom Era will be the same as that of Steve Yzerman’s.