Florida Panthers: Replacements for Jussi Jokinen as assistant captain

Prediction

There are a lot of good candidates to wear the letter A for the Florida Panthers next season, but no easy, obvious choice.  A large part of their decision will depend on how much stock they put on experience. The recent trend for Florida is to favor veteran players as captains and alternates. However, Aaron Ekblad’s youth didn’t prevent him from being named an alternate.

I expect that with the departure of older players and the potential call-ups of new prospects, the young core of the Panthers will soon be seen as the leaders of the team. Many of the captains and alternate captains in the NHL are stars. The player with the most star power on the Panthers is Aleksander Barkov.

Next: Florida Panthers: Jayce Hawryluk is the missing link

He is still young, but he has experience playing with Jaromir Jagr on Florida’s top line. Also, he is good enough to command respect and attention in the locker room. I predict that Aleksander Barkov will replace Jussi Jokinen as the teams next assistant captain.