Canucks officially announce leadership group of four rotating alternate captains

The Canucks’ leadership group announcement came down roughly an hour before puck drop on the team’s Monday night tilt with the New Jersey Devils — their first game since trading captain Bo Horvat. Horvat’s alternates this season were JT Miller and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, with Tyler Myers getting an A on his jersey every now and then as well. Elias Pettersson had never worn a letter with the Canucks until Ekman-Larsson was a healthy scratch earlier this season.

Horvat served the 14th captain in Canucks history and was in that role since the beginning of the 2019-20 season until he was traded last week.

When asked about replacing the leadership left behind by Horvat, both Tocchet and general manager Patrik Allvin spoke about needing Pettersson and Hughes to step into that role and lead by example.

“If we’re going to set the bar high here in Vancouver with the Canucks, those two guys have to be involved in the leadership group,” said Tocchet in a recent interview with Sportsnet’s Mike Halford. “They have to you know, every day when they come in, they gotta set the standard, and I’m gonna really lean on those guys… Those guys have been in the league three, four years now. They’re premier players in the league, and I think it’s important that they have a voice and they’re part of this leadership group going forward.”

As we hoped, the Canucks won’t be rushing to name a captain this season, but they are making it clear to everyone inside and outside the locker room that they want Pettersson and Hughes to be the gold standard of what it means to wear a Canucks uniform. And for now, that’s probably the best decision they could possibly make.