Edmonton Oilers name Leon Draisaitl and Darnell Nurse as alternate captains

Today, the @Edmonton Oilers announced changes to their leadership group as both @Leon Draisaitl and @Darnell Nurse will join @Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Adam Larsson as assistant captains for the upcoming year.

With @Milan Lucic making his way down the road to Calgary, I was wondering whether or not the Oilers would name another assistant captain to fill in Lucic’s spot in the rotation, and today we got the answer to that very question. This season, rather than having a rotating cast of three assistant captains, the team has elected to go with four players wearing ‘A’s presumably with a home and away type of deployment, though, admittedly, I’m just guessing.

While we don’t yet know who will wear the ‘A’ when or how often, it makes perfect sense for the team to include Draisaitl and Nurse amongst the team’s leadership group. In them, we’re talking about two players that will are expected to fill major roles with the team this season and in the future, and it’s not exactly surprising to see them get chosen for the gig. With @Connor McDavid entering his fourth year as team captain, the Edmonton Oilers’ leadership group will now consist of a younger group of core players, which is something that makes perfect sense given the team’s current makeup.