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Tampa Bay to name new captain tonight

Martin St. Louis, Steven Stamkos

Steven Stamkos #91 and Martin St. Louis #26 of the Tampa Bay Lightning look on against the Toronto Maple Leafs at St. Pete Times Forum on January 25, 2011 in Tampa, Florida. (January 24, 2011 - Source: Justin K. Aller/Getty Images North America)

The Lightning will name a replacement captain for Vincent Lecavalier on Tuesday evening at a fan event in St. Petersburg, according to the Tampa Tribune.

The club will also name its alternate captains at the event. Currently, three players serve as alternates -- Eric Brewer, Martin St. Louis and Steve Stamkos -- and it’s believed the latter two are the leading candidates to wear the “C”.

What’s curious is that both Stamkos and St. Louis are saying (publicly, anyway) the other is the more deserving candidate.

“He’s a leader in all regards. Whether it’s leading by example or in the room being vocal, he does it all,’’ Stamkos said of St. Louis. “Some guys are just one or the other, but he does both.”

“I think Steven, the kind of player that he is, the way he plays the game, he plays pretty hard,’’ St. Louis said of Stamkos. “And Steven is a guy that can be vocal. He is developing into a pretty good leader, so on top of that he plays the game at a high level.”

Tampa Bay has had nine different captains (though only eight players wore the “C” -- Lecavalier had two terms) and this will mark the first time since 2008 someone other than Lecavalier will wear it.

Other ex-Lightning captains include Paul Ysebaert, Mikael Renberg, Rob Zamuner, Bill Houlder, Chris Gratton, Dave Andreychuk and Tim Taylor.