With Willie Mitchell not returning anytime soon, Jussi Jokinen could be the next to take the captains crest
With everything going on this off season for the Florida Panthers its been tough to keep up with it all. From the front office changes, the jersey changes, the resignings of Aaron Ekblad, Vincent Trocheck and Reilly Smith and acquiring Keith Yandle, James Reimer, Reto Berra, Jason Demers, Colton Sceviour and Jared McCann, its easy to forget about the one burning question that’s left in the Florida Panthers locker room.
Is Willie Mitchell returning?
While I don’t have the answer to that question. I’m not 100% sure anyone does at this point. Its been something I’ve been wondering about since the news broke that Mitchell may have played his last game. While neither the Panthers or Mitchell have confirmed anything, most are operating under the pretense that he will not be a member of the roster going into the 2017 season.
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With Mitchell out of the equation, Dave Bolland being on the injured reserve since December of 2015, and Brian Campbell gone there will most likely be a huge change in the captaincy department of the club. Two alternate captains remain in Derek Mackenzie and Jussi Jokinen. Jonathan Huberdeau donned the alternate captain crest at one point this season one has to expect he will assume that role permanently in the fall. Given this years career high points total, his recent outing at the World Championships where he paired well among two future NHL stars in Aleksander Barkov and Patrick Laine taking home a silver medal. Add those on top of his overall experience in the league and one has to assume the next captain of the Florida Panthers will be Jussi Jokinen.
Ironically, Jussi would not be the first Jokinen to don the crest for the Panthers, as former captain Olli Jokinen (no relation) held the title from 2003-2008. Olli would be the longest serving captain in the teams history. Jussi brings over ten years of experience to the table and with 60 points in 2016, he shows no signs of slowing down. He has shown himself to be a great leader, particularly on the second line alongside Nick Bjugstad and Reilly Smith, two young players who also put up some impressive numbers. Bjugstad lead the team in point in the 2014-2015 season when Jokinen came onto the Panthers roster. Smith found himself having a career high season as well as being a highlight for the club during the 2016 Stanley Cup playoffs
Jokinen would become the 9th Panthers captain in the teams history, joining the likes of Ed Jovanovski, Brian Skrudland, Bryan McCabe, Pavel Bure and Paul Laus in the honor. Jokinen would also have two former team captains from other clubs to help in Jaromir Jagr and Roberto Luongo. Jagr captained the Pittsburgh Penguins, New York Rangers and most recently the 2016 Atlantic Division All-Star team. Luongo unofficially captained the Vancouver Canucks (Willie Mitchell was the official captain) from 2008-2010
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With over 200 million dollars spent this off season, it seems almost foolish to not look at Jokinen as a serious contender to become captain of the Panthers. Jokinen provides the right level of experience and skill to become an effective captain for the 2017 season when other players are either not ready to assume the role or are at the point in their careers where the roles would be too short term to be a reasonable pick . An official announcement from the team should be ready by the time the Panthers leave training camp that will answer all the questions that remain as far as Mitchell and who exactly will take the role of captain.