Captain Staal nets a hat trick

So, uh, apparently Staal should have been made captain earlier. Because, in his first night as captain, he tallied a hat trick in the Canes 5-2 win over the Thrashers.

Three of the Canes goals came on the powerplay, and watching the highlights I can say that the Canes completely dominated the Thrashers on their goals. The Thrashers looked absolutely horrible, and I think I'll attribute the Canes' prowess more to Atlanta playing poorly than anything else. But, man, it was nice to see all of this offense by the Canes.

Hopefully this captaincy post will motivate Staal beyond just the first game. There's been flashes this year, but Staal has really had a down year comparatively. Perhaps the "C" on the jersey will motivate him to play like this every night?

Or every afternoon, in the case of today's game against the Flyers. 1pm puck drop, so you can be certain I won't listen to any of it because I have ACC basketball tickets for 1:30. But hopefully the Canes will continue playing better than they had been in the past.

Rod Brind'Amour is no longer captain (!)

Yes, you read the title correctly. Rod Brind'Amour has been stripped of his captaincy, which has been given to Eric Staal.

Okay, we all knew this was going to happen eventually due to Brind'Amour's reduced capacity with the team - but I'm startled that it has happened during this season. If you needed to reboot the team, why didn't you do it earlier in the season, when there was still a glimmer of the playoffs? Since Rod has lasted this long as captain of a crappy team, why end it now?

I think it needed to happen, but again, I think the timing is very odd. I suppose this is the signal that we should begin looking forward to the next season.

UPDATED: An article at the Canes site pretty much reinforces the above. Apparently Rod could have vetoed the move if he wanted to, but Rutherford thought the timing was appropriate because the Canes want to move towards their newer, brighter, younger (and hopefully winning) future.