Today presents a little bit of a poser, as the Carolina Hurricanes originally came into the NHL in 1979 as the Hartford Whalers as one of four teams from the WHA. They moved to their current home in Raleigh in 1997. So, what does that have to do with the captains? Well, this means a little more work to find captains from both of the team's aliases, so to speak. And being the guy that I am, the history of the captaincy will cover the Hartford (NHL years) and Carolina years.
In the team's early years, the captaincy was a model of inconsistency. Rick Ley was a carryover captain from the WHA days, but only held it for one year in the NHL (1979-80). The next three captains were all one season wonders, with Mike Rogers (1980-81), Dave Keon (1981-82), and Russ Anderson (1982-83) having the C. Mark Johnson was the first player to have the captain's role for more than a season, as his reign went from 1983 to 1985. Stability was found in the form of the Whalers' best player Ron Francis. He held that role from 1985 to 1990, when he was traded to Pittsburgh. He would return to the now-Carolina Hurricanes franchise later in his career, as this blog will note. The 1990-91 season saw the team go without a captain, and the following year, Randy Ladouceur was named captain. From 1992 to 1995, Pat Verbeek was the team captain. He gave way to Brendan Shanahan, whose time in Hartford is likely forgotten by most, though he did lead the team in scoring in 1995-96. He held that role until his trade to Detroit, laeding the way for Kevin Dineen to be the final captain in the Hartford days.
1997 was the beginning of the Carolina days, and Dineen was captain for the inaugural season there. The following season, Keith Primeau was named captain and brought a toughness to the team. However, a holdout cost him the 1999-2000 season, and a new captain was named in his absence in Francis. The returning Francis would hold the captaincy from 1999 until 2004, and like his first run in Hartford, he would be the face of the team's best years (to that point). After the lockout, Rod Brind'Amour would be named captain, and his veteran know-how would pay dividends in 2006, as the Hurricanes wound up hoisting the Stanley Cup that year. He would hold the captain's role until January 2010, when Eric Staal was named captain. Staal holds that role now, and given the contributions of Francis and Brind'Amour (two of the three Hurricanes players to have their number retired), Staal has a lot to live up to, but his ability will speak for him as much as his ability to rally the team.
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