When Alex Ovechkin became the new captain of the Washington Capitals, it didn't surprise me at all. It's not a new concept to name your best player your captain.
I will never know how good of a captain he is to his teammates or to his coaches, but I feel that if the powers-that-be didn't feel Alex Ovechkin wasn't up to the task, they wouldn't do anything to embarrass him. That's why sometimes you don't know what you get until you have to deal with it, like being an NHL captain.
All NHL captains are players relied upon for many, many things.
Playing on a professional sports team is very much like being a member of a family. We all have one of those, so let's put the captain in the position of oldest brother or sister—one who thinks of everyone else first and themselves last.
Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Mike MacDonald