The Edmonton Oilers have, as expected, have stripped Andrew Ference of his captaincy. This was the expectation in no small part because of the fact that Ference has become a bubble player on Edmonton’s blue line.
The announcement on Wednesday revealed that the team will not have a captain at all during the 2015-16 season, but a group of four alternate captains, which will include Ference, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jordan Eberle (who is currently injured) and Taylor Hall.
With Eberle temporarily out of the lineup, coach Todd McLellan took the opportunity to announce that Matt Hendricks will serve as an alternate captain until Eberle is back in the lineup.
With the Oilers in a transitional season where most don’t expect them to be particularly competitive, the decision makes a lot of sense and the team should be able to discover who will be the captain going forward before the start of the next season.
The #Oilers have named four alternate captains: Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins & Andrew Ference. pic.twitter.com/78zOTG2aIY
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) October 7, 2015