Should goalies be allowed to be NHL Captains?

[jml87]

FWIW, I think the rule is kind of silly, considering any captain could complain about everything and delay the game.

But I also think it's a bad idea to have a goalie become the captain, for multiple reasons:
- He is very rarely on the bench. When you need your captain to step up, be a leader, and speak up, the goalie is far removed mentally from the team. His focus is on stopping the pucks.
- He can never criticize the team play without sounding like he's deflecting blame. Thus, nobody is held accountable from a player-leadership standpoint
- There are times when the backup plays instead, and the captain is left sitting on the bench. Do you just give the letter to someone else then? Because the backup can't step on the ice.

1) That's not totally true. Like last night for instance, the announcers mentioned that Giguere came over to the bench during a timeout and hyped up his team and told them to get going after the first momentum swing for the Kings, I think in the 2nd period. And it worked for a little while to get them up 4-2. Fell apart after that but they still listened to him and it was the goalie speaking up. Plus, even Quick is always talking to his defense during games and he always talks about how important they are to his play. So he isn't really just in his own goalie mind the entire game.

2) Do the forwards not listen to defenders because they play a different position? Would the goalie not listen to forwards? Everyone can sound like they are deflecting blame when they speak up. Like I said above, Giguere was the one to talk up his team last night and they listened to him. I guarantee if Quick said something in the locker room, it would hold the same weight of guys like Brown, Kopi, etc. Cause they are all brothers working towards the same goal when they are a team. Goalies aren't just experts on being goalies, they know how the other positions work enough to talk to their team.

3) This is the only one I can see as a problem. But this is mostly because I believe the captain's main job has been dwindled down to being media spokesperson after games and it's kinda hard to talk about a game you weren't a part of. I assume it would be like if the captain were out with an injury and they'd just go with the Alternates for that game.

But really, while I don't think Quick should be captain, there are probably goalies that are best suited to become captains for their teams based on their leadership abilities. There really shouldn't be a rule stopping it. Everyone talks to the refs at this point. Hell, the refs have to go to the bench to explain their calls to the coach. How would that delay the game any further? He takes longer to skate back to his crease? Uh, ok.