Despite a good group of veteran leaders on the Habs (Gorges, Prust, Plekanec, Markov, Moen, etc.) I think the clear choice is Subban.
Quite simply, the Habs havent had a player of Subban's calibre in quite some time, and when you have someone THAT good, you give him the C and let the rest sort itself out later. Stamkos will take over the C when St Louis is done, Giroux took the C in Philly, Ovechkin got the C despite possibly not knowing how to speak the native language of most of his teammates. On top of being our best player, PK is also the Habs' most intense/driven one. He may get in players' faces from time to time, but i like that aspect of his game and with the C you can bet that players will be slower to dismiss him.
In my experience playing competitive hockey, unless the best player on your team had serious character issues (or the coach's son played for your team), he got the C. Sure off ice leadership is important, but your best player needs to be your leader on the ice, and all the intangibles in the world won't help unless you back it up with skill. Maybe it's just me, but i used to hate getting "tips" from scrubs and guys who were making the same mistakes and worse than i was. When a guy who is clearly better than you gives you advice, you usually tend to listen.
Subban says ALL the right things to the media about the team, despite what l'antichambre says. He is personable and seems like an incredibly thoughtful kid (thinking of the jersey he had signed for his friend's sick dad as an example). He's a fiery competitor, he seems to elevate his game when the rest of the team looks sluggish and never takes a night or day off. I haven't even mentioned his legendary workout habits either.
Simply put, PK should be one of the faces of this franchise for years and years to come. Give him the C, make this his team, give him the long term contract and then move on to other problems.
I realize that i am very much in the minority, but i consider PK's character an asset rather than a liability, and i always have. The kid is cocky no doubt, but everything ive ever seen about him shows me he's grounded, has a good head on his shoulders, cares about his teammates and the success of the team and appears well liked by the people who know him.
He's Montreal's next captain in my mind.
