John Tortorella has expressed time and time again that the Philadelphia Flyers will not have a captain during the 2023-24 season. He doesn’t feel anybody is deserving of the title as the team continues to fester during their revitalized rebuilding efforts. But there still needs to be some version of leadership on the ice, and that comes in the form of wearing the alternate captain’s “A” on the sweater.
Scott Laughton was the sole player to wear a letter last season, donning the “A” for the first time of his career.
The other two most likely candidates to take up leadership roles were veteran forwards Sean Couturier and Cam Atkinson, both of whom missed the entire 2022-23 season with injuries. Now that they’re slated to make their return this season, does it change who may wear a letter this season?
Atkinson and Tortorella spent six seasons together in Columbus. He served as an alternate captain for one season under Torts in 2020-21. Atkinson was sold as the bridge builder between the locker room and their new coach, tasked with convincing his fellow players that the hiring wasn’t as scary at it seemed. While that role may not be as necessary during his second season behind the bench, their past association should keep Atkinson in the good graces of his coach and potentially earning an official leadership role because of it.
Couturier is also an interesting name. Had he not missed the last 22 months with multiple back surgeries, he may very well have been in line to be the next captain after Claude Giroux’s departure. Obviously the state of his body upon his return will tell a bigger story as the the role he’ll take for the remaining seven seasons of his contract, but if he’s good enough to play, say, second line center for a bulk of the campaign, will he be awarded a letter?
Tortorella’s hesitancy to name leaders is a bit odd, but at this point isn’t totally unfounded either. Outside of Couturier and Atkinson there’s not many horses in the race for captaincy roles at the moment. The majority of the roster are either young up-and-comers who Torts refuses to give credibility to, or veteran plug-ins that don’t have a future long-term in Philly.
The only other player that seems like a candidate is Travis Konecny, who Tortorella took a liking to during the 2022-23 season. His name was sprinkled throughout the rumor mill during the summer as trade bait for the rebuilding Flyers, but he was not dealt despite coming off a personal best offensive output. Whether or not he’s in for the long haul remains to be seen, but if they deem him a cornerstone of the rebuild, he could very well earn an “A” if he’s taking that role anyway.
Does Tortorella spread the wealth when it comes to on-ice leadership or is Scott Laughton riding solo once again? The only way to know for sure is to wait and see. He doesn’t seem like a guy who’s going to have half a dozen “A”s wondering around, but with some likely contenders returning from IR maybe he hands out at least one more letter to slightly open the responsibility gate, taking baby steps towards eventually naming the next captain some point down the road.
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
photo credit: nhl.com
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