Philadelphia Flyers Name Alternate Captains For 2019-20

Three Philadelphia Flyers forwards will wear the “A” on their jerseys for the 2019-20 season.

Gearing up for their 2019-20 regular-season opener against the Chicago Blackhawks in Prague, the Philadelphia Flyers have named three Alternate Captains for the new campaign. As you know, Claude Giroux has been the Flyers Captain since 2013 and will be accompanied by three other forwards to serve as the alternates. After gifting Wayne Simmonds, Sean Couturier, and Andrew MacDonald with the ‘A’ last season, the team has named Couturier, Jakub Voracek, and Kevin Hayes as this year’s Alternate Captains.

The former two shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. Couturier shared the role with MacDonald in 2018-19, as he wore the “A” at home games while A-Mac graced the patch on the road. Voracek took the reigns from Simmonds when the former Flyers power forward and current New Jersey Devil (still weird to say) was sent to the Nashville Predators at the Trade Deadline in February. Both of the forwards have suited up in an Orange and Black uniform for a, counting 2019-20 combined 18 years and are certainly among the leaders in the Flyers locker room.

Hayes caught me by a bit of a surprise, though. I’m not downplaying his leadership qualities or anything like that, but he just became apart of the team this past offseason. I expected the alternate captaincy to go to a guy like James van Riemsdyk or Shayne Gostisbehere, who’ve been apart of the Flyers franchise for some time now. I’m not complaining, however. Hayes has been in the NHL long enough to warrant some type of leadership position and will be relied upon to help his fellow Flyers teammates get used to how Head Coach Alain Vigneault wants things done.

All three players deserve the “A” in my mind, and we’ll soon see how each of them and the rest of the team perform when the Flyers 2019-20 campaign kicks off on Friday.