Unsustainable
Seth Jarvis is Elite
Took a break for a few days, I think it’s right call for C and As. Staal in the playoffs was a freak, I think it renewed his fire.
I agree with you, and I too have battled with some of that especially over the last couple of years. Maybe he’s better for the job now, and maybe he’ll want to embrace it more. We’ll see.One thing I don't think we've really paid much attention to is mental health. Jordan has had a really rough go of it the last couple years in his personal life, but he does seem to be in a pretty good place at the moment. As somebody who's struggled with depression before, it can really do a number on you. I've also really wondered if getting through struggles of that sort was part of why he went from playing like Victor Rask to playing like a world beater after he came back from injury last year. I don't like to speculate too much on that stuff, but it is a potential factor that I think people should be aware of in sports as in society in general.
If Williams and Brind'Amour think he's the guy, then I respect their judgement. They know him far better than any of us, and they also know the backstory to why he might have struggled with the C before. And he won't need to be the hype guy in the leadership group with Martinook having an A. I do love that they did that- his contribution off the ice is so much more valuable than his contribution on it, and it was very clear that he was a strong leader last year.
You said next year, but it's this year.
I think it's good that Aho didn't get a letter. Share the team duties more evenly, he already got the young face of franchise and 1C stuff to do.
I thought we gave Eric the C a bit early as well.
Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour, in naming Staal captain and Jordan Martinook and Jaccob Slavin alternate captains on Sunday, offered some unexpected insight into the timing of the decision: Things didn’t feel right, and he wanted to empower Staal to take charge and fix it.
It was a moment of possibly unintentional honesty, but the coach was only saying out loud what everyone around the team has been whispering. The three weeks of training camp felt like three months. So many of the new players have been banged up, it’s been hard to integrate them into what’s left of the old group. The Faulk trade speculation hung over the first days of camp like a gas cloud until a deal was finally concluded. The preseason performances were generally limp and uninspired.