8/15/18 | Quinn said that a captain "emerges" and that the Rangers don't want to "put a burden on somebody" that isn't ready for the role. (NHL.com)
Quinn said that it will take care of itself and that someone will either separate themselves from the pack and show that they should be captain, "or it won't."(NHL.com)
8/13/17 | David Quinn said that talk about who will be the next Rangers captain is "on the back-burner" and he wants to wait until the team is assembled. (MSG)
Quinn said that "you can't force" something like picking a captain and that he believes in "letting the team decide if it should have one." (MSG)
The Rangers have not had a captain since trading Ryan McDonagh last year at the trade deadline.
At the end of last season the Rangers had Marc Staal, Mats Zuccarello keep their "A"s and rotated the third one between Chris Kreider, Jesper Fast, and Mika Zibanejad.
Adam Rotter: The last few times the Rangers had a new captain the choice was pretty obvious. Chris Drury was brought in to be a leader and was an easy choice to replace Jaromir Jagr. When Drury had to step away, Ryan Callahan was right there to step up and when Callahan was traded, Ryan McDonagh had just finished a tremendous playoff run and seemed ready to ascend to another level. Chris Kreider, Mats Zuccarello and Marc Staal are all qualified to wear the "C" but none, with the possible exception of Kreider, are long-term answers.
Staal has had a letter on his jersey for the past two coaches and while his role has diminished, he could be the best stop-gap option until one of the young Rangers is ready to step in. Chris Kreider and Mats Zuccarello are both hard workers, lead by example and have returned from major injuries to excel. There is also Kevin Shattenkirk but I think he would probably get an "A" before he gets the "C."
