Captain Rick: A Wise Move
How do you make a great player even better? More responsibility.
Rick Nash is wise beyond his hockey years. To be 23 with his talent and enormous future—hard to have a better set up than Nasher. Just one problem. He’s never played for a playoff team, and likely will not this year.
So how do you keep a young, mega-talented player focused and interested in leadership? With a reward. Not to say his $5 million dollar salary isn’t enough, but the “C” on the sweater in hockey circles is as good as gold. With 12 games to go in the season, the timing is perfect.
Nash has earned this. He’s never spoken poorly about the franchise despite its struggles to form a competitive team. He’s been a positive, yet quiet spokesman—an owner’s dream. And when healthy, he’s arguably the most creative goal-scorer in the NHL (Ovechkin might argue that point).
The question now becomes will Nash welcome his new responsibilities. He’ll try. This is, it’s tough to grow into the role of a vocal leader. Essentially a captain is like a player/coach. The guy who represents the players and works as a liaison to the coaches. This is where Nash will need to assert himself. Giving his teammates a good tongue lashing if needed, while being their biggest bench cheerleader.
No two captains are alike, but those leadership qualities are crucial. I believe Nash will make this look as easy as a shootout goal.
