Who Will Be the Red Wings’ Next Captain?

The Red Wings have said that they’re planning on waiting to name a new captain until the team’s next management group is named. The elephant in the room (other than Larkin himself) is who will be named as the next captain of a storied Original Six team. Detroit has had only four captains in the last 40 years between Larkin, Henrik Zetterberg , Nicklas Lidstrom, and Steve Yzerman, so this decision looms large.

With a few obvious options and not many others, the mystery isn’t too great, but I think there are a couple of dark horses who could be named captain if the team was willing to go short term on a captaincy instead of how they’ve handled it since Yzerman’s captaincy.

Most Likely

Moritz Seider

Moritz Seider has been Detroit’s best defenseman for five consecutive seasons, ever since he debuted back in the 2021-22 season. Seider was named as an alternate captain for the Red Wings last season and will repeat in that position at least to start this coming season.

Seider’s leadership and competitiveness on the ice has been clear for years and it’s no surprise that he has captained the German national team at the World Championships in each of the past two years. Seider is the favourite to be named the next captain of the Red Wings.

Really Good Chance

Lucas Raymond

Lucas Raymond has also been a massive piece of Detroit’s present and future since debuting in the 2021-22 season, and was named alternate captain last year alongside Seider. I think Seider’s physical play and ability to play massive minutes each night makes him the ideal role model for teammates as a captain, though Raymond has a feistiness that I think would serve him well as a leader. In the end, if Raymond is named captain, I think the Red Wings will be well set up for leadership between him and Seider inevitably wearing an ‘A’.

Dark Horses

Andrew Copp

Andrew Copp is a well-liked teammate and a well-respected player in the NHL. It’s not uncommon for NHL teams to have their captain be someone who plays a bit lower in the lineup, just look at the Winnipeg Jets with Adam Lowry. Copp isn’t a superstar by any definition of the word, but his two-way play and off-ice leadership could theoretically earn him some attention here. However, the Red Wings have essentially been captained by their best player for 40 years so I’m not sure that tradition would break here.

Waiting a Season

I think this is a genuinely worthy option for the Red Wings to take. Detroit has been led by Dylan Larkin since the rebuild first began, and the locker room has been his for better and for worse. I have no doubt that someone could take up the mantle and succeed as captain right away, but there may be merit in taking a pause and seeing how the culture of the team shifts without Larkin at the helm. Besides, there are eight other NHL teams without a captain so it’s not an earth shattering decision by any means.

Maybe someone really comes out of their shell or signs an extension and becomes an option. Maybe it just offers the opportunity for someone like Seider or Raymond to practice leadership without all the pressure of the ‘C’.