Islanders name Guerin new captain

[Kingdog819]

UNIONDALE, N.Y. (CP) - The New York Islanders named veteran Bill Guerin as their team captain Monday.

Guerin, a 15-year NHL veteran, signed a two-year deal with the Islanders last week. He becomes the 11th captain in team history.

''This is an absolute honour and a responsibility I will not take lightly,'' Guerin said in a statement. ''Coming to a team with such a rich tradition and history is special in itself, but wearing the `C' is something much greater.

''I'll do everything I can to make the Islanders organization and our fans proud.''

General manager Garth Snow said the decision was an easy one for him and head coach Ted Nolan to reach.

''Bill is the epitome of what being a captain stands for, so this was an easy choice,'' Snow said. ''Ted and I discussed it at length over the weekend and felt it was a fairly easy decision.''

Guerin, 36, had 36 goals with 20 assists in 77 games last season with both the St. Louis Blues and San Jose Sharks. Guerin has 364 goals and 355 assists in 1,026 career NHL games.

[duda.radek]

Why not?

[Snipes19]

As I posted in another thread, this isn't a bad move by the Isles.
IMO they only have 3 players on their roster that are worthy of being a captain, and they are Guerin, Sillinger, and Witt (so expect Sillinger and Witt to be wearing the 'A's' next year for the Isles) ...

And considering that their last captain was Alexei Yashin, this is definitely an improvement in the leadership category. You can't argue with that.

[DaveBrown69]

Who didn't see this coming?

[blackngold]

great choice... and the only choice

[Isles4life]

I wish they'd waited a little longer to make it seem less like a term of the contract.

[bustoff]

Good choice for the Isles.

[intricateproces]

I know its stupid to name a captain before the season starts,the B's did it with Chara, but at least they waited through training camp

[PotvinSucks]

If you didn't see this one coming, get a gun and shoot yourself