Edmonton Oilers’ Shawn Horcoff, left, congratulates Fernando Pisani on his goal against the Ottawa Senators during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Edmonton, Alberta, on Tuesday, March 9, 2010. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, John Ulan)
AP
There are a few NHL teams who are still without a captain, but the Edmonton Oilers named their franchise’s 13th captain today. The team decided to name veteran center Shawn Horcoff their captain, according to the team.
The Edmonton Oilers have named Shawn Horcoff as their new captain, making him the 13th player to wear the “C” since the team joined the NHL in 1979.
The 32-year-old centre is entering his 10th NHL season, all with the Oilers. Drafted in the 4th round (99th overall) in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft, the 6'1", 208 pound native of Trail, British Columbia has scored 374 points (133G, 241A) with 417 penalty minutes in 637 career games.
Beyond 37-year-old goalie Nikolai Khabibulin, Horcoff is practically a dinosaur at 32 compared to the young influx of talent coming into this team. He might not be a truly elite player, but he seems pretty useful in all aspects of the game and would be a great fit as a second or third pivot (unfortunately, he’s often playing the role of a No. 1).
Want to know who the other Oilers captains were? Edmonton provided a nice little list.
Horcoff joins Ron Chipperfield (1979-80), Blair MacDonald (1980-81), Lee Fogolin (1980-81 to 1982-1983), Wayne Gretzky (1983-84 to 1987-88), Mark Messier (1988-89 to 1990-91), Kevin Lowe (1991-92), Craig MacTavish (1992-93 to 1993-94), Shayne Corson (1994-95), Kelly Buchberger (1995-96 to 1998-99), Doug Weight (1999-00 to 2000-01), Jason Smith (2001-02 to 2006-07) and Ethan Moreau (2007-08 to 2009-10) in the succession of Oiler captains.
There might be more captaincy-related news as the day goes on, so we’ll pass along word if any other teams hand over the “C.” Could it be the Vancouver Canucks or San Jose Sharks? We’ll let you know.
