Inglourious Captain – David Backes Named Blues Team Captain For 2011-2012 And Beyond
You won't see Backes without a letter on his chest next season. Rightfully so.
It indeed is an “Inglourious” day in St. Louis Blues history.
Some would say this announcement was several years in the making, but the seemingly inevitable became reality this morning as Blues general manager Doug Armstrong and head coach Davis Payne announced that David Backes has been appointed as the 20th Captain in club history.
Named Alternate Captains for the 2011-2012 season were Barret Jackman, Jamie Langenbrunner, Andy McDonald and Alex Steen.
The immediate comparison that comes to mind with this announcement is Brian Sutter, who in 1979 was named Blues Captain at the tender age of 23. Sutter held the post until his premature retirement as a player in 1988 due to injuries. Backes, currently 27, has been seemingly groomed for the Captaincy almost since his arrival to the big club during the 2006-2007 season, and it appears this move has been made with the future of the club in mind.
It would have made sense for club management to appoint Jackman as Captain as the longest-tenured Blue Note, a move that very few fans would have taken a big issue with. However, with “SIR JAXX” in a contract year, it did not seem to fit the club’s Modus Operandi to give the C to him.
It would have also made sense to appoint the Captaincy to one of a variety of other veterans on the club, including McDonald and Steen – who have been with the club for several seasons – or one of a variety of newly-acquired veterans such as Langenbrunner, Jason Arnott or Scott Nichol.
A groundswell has also been in force to eventually appoint Alex Pietrangelo as Team Captain, but today’s news may eventually signal that the team felt he was not ready for such an appointment at this time. To boot, Pietrangelo was not even named one of the Alternates, which was perhaps the biggest shocker in today’s Captaincy announcement.
This seems to be the direction most Blues fans were not only expecting the club to go with the Captaincy role, but HOPING the club would do as well. The leadership Backes shows on the ice is obvious seemingly with every shift he takes, and candid quotes in the press room and clubhouse show a man who is not afraid to be critical when criticism is needed of his teammates. It just seemed apparent that it was time for Backes to assume the role he was appointed to this morning, and this reporter agrees with the appointment that was made official by the club this morning.
A release on today’s announcement from the club is available here.
