USA coach John Tortorella says Kane is “ready for more responsibility now”.
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The United States has named Joe Pavelski of the San Jose Sharks as its captain for the World Cup of Hockey.
Blackhawks star Patrick Kane has been named a Team USA alternate captain for the upcoming World Cup of Hockey, head coach John Tortorella announced Wednesday.
Beyond the captaincy trio of Pavelski, Kane and Suter, the USA will also have Bruins center David Backes, Ducks center Ryan Kesler, Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh and Wild winger Zach Parise will part of the team’s leadership group.
Pavelski became Sharks captain before last season, helping them reach the Stanley Cup final. There was a lot of speculation regarding the anthems for the World Cup, mostly as a result of the North American team, and the European team being comprised of multiple nations with multiple anthems.
Kaepernick, a quarterback with the San Francisco 49ers, recently sat during the American anthem played at pre-season National Football League games he participated in. Especially for a team that lost its captain this offseason, the fact that the Blues will nearly certainly have to wait until after the last game of the best-of-three final on October 1 for their new captain-Alex Pietrangelo of Team Canada-to arrive is troublesome.
The World Cup of Hockey officially gets underway on September 17 in Toronto. It may be up to guys like Kane, Pavelski and Blake Wheeler to rack up points like insane while still playing defensively responsible hockey to win some games. Unlike during NHL games, national anthems aren’t typically played before the start of global games; they are played after.
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In his previous appearances with Team USA he has skated in 17 games and scored 10 points.
