Assistant Captains are supposed to be players that mesh well with the Captain, garner the same respect, and if the Captain is not available for whatever reason can seamlessly take over with little to no drop off. With the retirement and departure of Teemu Selanne and Saku Koivu there are some vacancies at assistant captain for the Anaheim Ducks. One of those vacancies needs to be given to Andrew Cogliano without a doubt. He is the perfect fit for an “A” for numerous reasons:
Level of Play:
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Cogliano epitomizes the word toughness. In his 7 season NHL career Cogs has never missed a single game. He has taken his share of hits and knocks and he just keeps going. This is a great aspect to reward showing how much Cogliano wants it game in and game out. This is even more of an achievement where Cogliano isn’t the biggest guy. At only 5’10” 188 pounds he is significantly undersized compared to today’s NHL players but that doesn’t change the way he plays. Cogliano is always mixing it up and in first on the fore-check. If you need any convincing look no further than Cogliano’s game winning goal of Game 2 vs. the Stars this post-season. On the PK Cogliano gets in on the fore-check, strips the puck away from Jordy Benn, makes a couple moves in the corner to find Getzlaf high in the zone, slides to the circle as the Stars converge upon Getzlaf, and gets a return pass that he neatly puts short side top shelf. That play epitomizes everything that Cogliano is. He brings it 100% from puck drop to the final buzzer. He isn’t satisfied with losing and does everything in his power to win and help out his team. I can’t even recall a game since he’s been in Anaheim that I have been upset at his play or his compete level. It is one of the highest I’ve seen in the NHL and it would do young players well to try and best emulate that level of competiveness. Cogliano has also seemed to regain his scoring touch so he is showing his hard work doesn’t go to just killing penalties or creating offensive zone time. It leads to putting the puck in the net too. Those are qualities you want in your assistant captain and ones you want young guys on the team to understand.
Off-Ice Personality:
You want the leaders of your team to be able to show the same leadership they do on the ice off the ice. That means being able to say the right things in front of cameras and respond at wins and losses. To be able to say what you want honestly while not pinning blame on individuals. Hockey is a team sport so when you win everyone wins, when you lose everyone loses. It is really easy to be in front of the camera when the wins are piling up but when rough points in the season hit you need someone to answer tough questions. Cogliano is great at that. During a low point this regular season for the Ducks, a 7-2 loss in Calgary Cogliano was interviewed by LA Times writer Lance Pugmire. His response to the game was “Every guy in the room should be completely embarrassed of how they played tonight, To start one of the biggest road trips, to have a division rival chasing you down and have a ton on the line … no one played at all. It’s unexplainable.” “We have guys who know how to play. We did it all year, been in first place for a long time. We have Olympic champions, guys that have won Stanley Cups, young guys who’ve played great all year. To do this is not right.” Those responses show how fired up and upset Cogliano is and shows the whole team is responsible not one person. That fire and passion along with showing that every single person is accountable is exactly how you would expect a leader of team to respond. During his exit interview following the Game 7 loss this post-season, Cogliano was asked how he feels about playing against the Kings next season. His response was, “I feel much more confident against them this year than I did my first year and second year here, I feel like now we’re right there with them, I don’t feel that anyone has any doubt that we can beat them any given night.” That is the kind of confidence you want from a leader. It shows that even though loss was tough they are taking a step in the right direction and shows the true confidence he has in this team.
Cogliano exudes the confidence and tenacity you want on and off the ice. He is a guy you want the young guys in the room to look up to and replicate his work ethic. He puts the puck in the net and is going to outwork anyone else on the ice. He is going to get fired up about wins and call the team out to be better during losses. He hates when the team doesn’t show up and plays below the level he knows they are all capable of. If that doesn’t describe a leader I don’t know what does. Cogliano is going to be a leader with or without being named an assistant captain but he deserves to have an “A” on his jersey.
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