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VANCOUVER — Ever since the NHL brought in the Durnan rule, netminders have been effectively eliminated as candidates to hold the honour of team captain.
That is, until the Vancouver Canucks showed some real brass on Tuesday and named Roberto Luongo captain – if in title only – for the coming season.
I love the decision, for reasons I'll state in a second. But I think it's appalling Luongo should be denied the right to wear the C because of some archaic league rule.
Luongo is the undisputed leader of the team and has been virtually from the moment he arrived in Vancouver two years ago.
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In a move that breaks with tradition, and the NHL rules, the Vancouver Canucks named Roberto Luongo the team's captain Tuesday, even though the goaltender will not be able to have a C sewn on his uniform.
He's the team's best player. He burns with that rare competitive fire that leaves him smouldering after losses. In the most crucial games, under the most intense pressure, his teammates turn to him for hope and inspiration. When he leads his team onto the ice at the start of games, it is more than symbolic.
I understand why the league doesn't want goalies who are captains skating back and forth from their crease to the penalty box every time there is some discussion with the officials taking place there.
It delays the game. This is why the current bylaw was introduced before the start of the 1948-49 season – the league got fed up with what some said were the game-stalling tactics of Montreal Canadiens goaltender Bill Durnan. I get that.
And if the league thinks it would look strange having a goalie-captain taking a ceremonial faceoff at centre ice before a game, I will give it that too, grudgingly.
But what if a team with a goalie as captain agrees he will play neither of those roles – speak on behalf of the team on the ice nor take ceremonial faceoffs?
Better still, what if the league amends the current bylaw to allow a goalie to be captain and wear the C but not be able to fulfill the traditional on-ice duties of the captain?
Wouldn't that make sense? Then it would be up to the team to decide if that's a fair trade-off or not.
The U.S. National Collegiate Athletic Association allows goalies to be captains and wear the C, and as far as I know that hasn't led to chaos on the ice.
An assistant captain does the negotiating at the penalty box and takes those all-important ceremonial faceoffs, just as Canucks assistant captains Mattias Ohlund and Willie Mitchell will do for their team.
Again, with those perfunctory roles taken care of by others, why can't Luongo wear the C?
Rule 6.1 of the NHL bylaws states: “No playing coach or playing manager or goalkeeper shall be permitted to act as captain or alternate captain.”
And as a result of this bylaw, many goaltenders who would have been worthy candidates to be captains of their team – Martin Brodeur and Patrick Roy to name a couple – have been bypassed.
That's unfair, not to mention idiotic.
How about amending the bylaw? We'll call it Rule 6.1(b), otherwise known as the Luongo rule: “No playing coach or playing manager shall be permitted to act as captain or alternate captain. Any goaltender who is captain shall be prohibited from performing the traditional duties of the captain in the course of the game but will be allowed to wear the C on his jersey.”
I bounced my objection to the current league rule off two hockey people for whom I have enormous respect – former NHL goalie Kelly Hrudey and former NHL coach Pierre McGuire. Both are now acclaimed broadcasters.
“I don't disagree with you,” Hrudey said. “In fact, I agree with you.
“But I'll tell you right now, nobody will care about that. They will say, ‘Gary has a good point' and then they'll move on to something else. It's just not a priority.”
Said McGuire: “I think it's more than a fair question. Maybe your column will spark some debate on the issue. I think it should. As long as the goalies aren't disrupting the flow of the game [acting as a captain], then I don't have a huge problem with it.”
So there you go. Calls and e-mails to senior executives in the NHL went unreturned yesterday. They either don't want to talk about the issue or don't care. My hunch is it's the latter.
The league should review this bylaw. It discriminates in a fundamental way against some of the game's greatest players.
And beyond that, goalie jerseys with a C on them would sell like hotcakes.
