The opening night roster for the Brandon Wheat Kings is getting closer and closer to taking shape, and some decisions have effectively already been made as the roster has been whittled down. There are, however, still a few things up in the air and once of them is the team’s captaincy.
With two exhibition games left to go, the Wheat Kings have plenty of candidates for the captaincy. Most of the team is returning veterans, especially up front, so there will be several voices of experience.
“It’s something we put a lot of thought into,” said head coach and GM Marty Murray. “We have a small group of guys we feel could be capable of leading the way here but some of them haven’t even played in preseason yet. We’ll get to it. We have a strong returning leadership group from last year. We’ll see how the next week unfolds.”
Defenseman Quinn Mantei and forward Caleb Hadland, are among those who wore the A as alternate captains last season who’ve come back for another round. In some ways, Murray said the abundance of candidates makes his job both easier and more difficult.
“Brett (Hyland) wore the C at the end of the year last year and that’s a big responsibility,” he said. “There are guys that have put in the work and been good soldiers for us that have the potential to do it. We’ll sort it out here as we move forward, but just because one guy is wearing a C or an A or even if you’re not wearing a letter, we need leadership from everyone on the team.”
Hyland was a long-serving Wheat King, and there are plenty of those on this year’s squad. But one of his assistants was Jayden Wiens, who only joined the team just before the season began. Hard work, leadership, and good play in all three zones will play a big role, and may trump something like seniority with the team.
“We want guys that play hard,” Murray said. “The best compliment I can give a player is you know what you’re going to get from him every night. From a leadership standpoint, we want guys who are going to be consistent night in and night out.”
Murray added the team has rotated the telltale A of an alternate captain around different players through the preseason so far and they’ll continue that pattern on Friday and Saturday against the Regina Pats.
