IRVINE, Calif. \u2013 After a summer spent locking down the future, many figured the Anaheim Ducks would look to their young stars to fill the vacant captaincy. Instead, they went with a stoic veteran presence, but if the announcement’s reaction at practice is any indication, the Ducks have a leader at the helm.<\/p>\n
Mikael Granlund was named the 10th captain in Anaheim Ducks history on Tuesday, making the 34-year-old the second Finnish captain in franchise history and the ninth Finnish captain in NHL history.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a big honor, obviously, being the captain of this franchise and for these guys,\u201d Granlund said. \u201cI\u2019m really proud of that, and it\u2019s an honor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Granlund follows in the footsteps of fellow countryman and Ducks legend Teemu Selanne, who wore the \u201cC\u201d in 1997-98, and he is just the second active Finnish captain in the NHL, joining Aleksander Barkov of the Florida Panthers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen (Selanne) was playing here, he was the biggest star in Finnish hockey, and everybody was watching him,\u201d Granlund said. \u201cI feel like the whole Finland was cheering for Anaheim Ducks always. It\u2019s obviously a great honor to be a captain of this franchise.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the end of Anaheim\u2019s practice session on Tuesday at Great Park Ice, Ducks coach Joel Quenneville made the announcement to his huddled mass, and Granlund\u2019s teammates charged in for bear hugs and helmet taps.<\/p>\n
\u201cCouldn\u2019t be happier for him,\u201d Ryan Poehling said. \u201cMikael\u2019s such a great guy. Easy guy to be around. He just leads by example on and off the ice. He\u2019s the epitome of what it should be, and he\u2019s a guy that deserves it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Quenneville echoed the Poehling\u2019s sentiment and said it was he and Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek that made the decision, with more credence to Verbeek on the final say.<\/p>\n
With Leo Carlsson signing a five-year deal for league-high money in the summer, Jackson LaCombe locking in for eight years last fall and Cutter Gauthier signing for six years just before training camp, conventional wisdom had any of those three guys pegged to lead a Ducks team that made the jump last season into the future.<\/p>\n
Quenneville said the team has \u201csome younger guys down the road,\u201d and Anaheim will see how that plays out. Carlsson and LaCombe each will be alternate captains again this season along with veterans Alex Killorn and Troy Terry.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think everybody should be pushing to absorb some of that leadership, whether they got a letter or not,\u201d Quenneville said. \u201cThey\u2019re part of the group that we\u2019re gonna rely on. Last year, they took a big bite out of it and got some good exposure for us. We\u2019re encouraging that same type of participation this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
When it comes to leadership style, Granlund said he was just going to be himself, because there is obviously something in how Granlund carries himself that made Quenneville and Verbeek choose him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe way I try to do things, on ice and off the ice, how you prepare for games,\u201d Granlund said. \u201cI think that example, that\u2019s the main thing. I want to try to do things as good as you can. You want to do everything you can for the team and help the guys around you. So, that\u2019s my play. Just being myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
From the NHL to the Finnish national team, Granlund has had plenty of countrymen to look up to, whether it was longtime Minnesota Wild captain Mikko Koivu or Finnish national team captain Ville Peltonen.<\/p>\n
Those Finns set examples for Granlund to follow, which is how he sees himself taking on the \u201cC\u201d in Anaheim.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody leads a different way,\u201d Granlund said, \u201cbut at the same time, all everyone tries to do is do his best for the team, and that\u2019s what I try to do. It\u2019s not about me. It\u2019s about the team, how we can make this team play as good as we can and be successful.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"IRVINE, Calif. \u2013 After a summer spent locking down the future, many figured the Anaheim Ducks would look…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":472478,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,824,165,164,52838,1718,33244,401,2099,1716,823,100,404,1722],"class_list":["post-472477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-ducks","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-captain","tag-cutter-gauthier","tag-finland","tag-hockey","tag-jackson-lacombe","tag-leo-carlsson","tag-mikael-granlund","tag-news","tag-nhl","tag-tst-los-angeles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472477\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/472478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}