Saluting the Captains

The announcement that Roberto Luongo would be the Captain of the Vancouver Canucks for 2008-09 got me thinking about the current slate of NHL captains. In recent days several teams have announced their new captains (view list of teams/captains here), although three of the NHL's favorites in the Tavares Cup - Atlanta, Florida and Toronto - have yet to annoint a captain for the coming season. The Toronto Maple Leafs are in the unusual position of having an ambivalent captain who seems unable to decide where or even if he will play this season.  The "C" has yet to be stripped from Mats Sundin, despite his failure to commit to the Leafs (or anyone else) for the coming season.  Just like most PeeWee hockey teams, the captain is usually the best player on the team (Crosby, Ovechkin, Iginla, Luongo...), or at least someone who was at one time the best player on the team (Koivu, Arnott, Brind 'Amour?).  Patrick Marleau was also the best player on the Sha...