Colorado Avalanche Name Milan Hejduk the Team's Third Captain

Since the Colorado Avalanche have moved to Denver from Quebec City, they have had only two captains.

Joe Sakic was captain for several years until his retirement, followed up by a brief stint by Adam Foote as team captain.

Today the Colorado Avalanche named Milan Hejduk the third captain of the Colorado Avalanche franchise, ending a period of three rotating A's that seem to leave the Avalanche rather aimless.

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“Milan is a player who leads by example both on and off the ice,” said Avalanche Head Coach Joe Sacco to NHL.com. “He is a product of this organization and won a Stanley Cup with this franchise. He is well respected among his teammates and we feel he deserves this opportunity and responsibility.”

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Hejduk makes an obvious choice for the captain of this team for the exact reasons that Joe Sacco mentioned.

He's been with the organization for a long time, he is respected by all of his teammates, and has the experience of winning a Stanley Cup.

Avalanche fans have been clamoring for a captain, especially since the season seems to have taken a turn for the worse at the moment, so that the team would have somebody to rally around other than coach Joe Sacco.

Naming Hejduk the captain at this point makes me think a couple of things.

First, congratulations to Hejduk. A lifetime Avalanche that has dedicated his heart and soul to this team and city. He absolutely deserves the honor of being named captain of this team.

Second, Hejduk really seemed like the most obvious choice for the team, so why did it take the organization so long to name him captain.

In previous articles on this topic, I had mentioned that the coaching staff seemed to be hoping to find a leader for the future of this team. To see somebody really step up and be that new captain that was going to stay captain for a long time.

Sacco has been known for sending messaged to his team during his time as Avalanche coach, and it seems he may be sending a kind of unintentional message on this one.

All of the things that Sacco said in his quote were true about Hejduk at the start of the year as well, so why didn't you name him captain then?

In waiting this long, it almost seems like Joe Sacco has said to his team, "None of have shown that you are enough of a leader to be captain, so we're just going to go with the obvious choice."

It's hard to bungle up naming a team captain, but it almost seems like Sacco may have done that.

It is definitely not my intention to take anything away from Hejduk. As I've said, he's a fantastic player who absolutely deserves to be named captain of the Avalanche, I just wish that Sacco had done it right at the start of the year rather than make us all wait for the obvious choice.