The New Jersey Devils unveil their new captain.

The timing of this move may have been pure coincidence, but it worked out quite nicely for the New Jersey Devils.

On Saturday the Devils published a short clip on social media to announce the unveiling of their newest captain, with 22 year old Nico Hischier earning the honors. In the clip Hischier can be seen arriving at his stall in the locker room where he notices the jersey waiting for him, one with the "C" of the captain clearly emblazoned on its chest. 

Here's the clip.

I mentioned the timing of this move because it has now been almost a year since the Devils have last had a captain. Devils defenseman Andy Greene had previously filled that role on the team but he was traded to the New York Islanders in February of 2020, just a little over a year ago from today's announcement. Greene was of course a well established veteran of the National Hockey League, so Hischier will serve as a sharp contrast to that. 

In spite of his relatively young age it comes as no surprise to see Hischier named the team's captain, especially when you factor in that small detail about him being selected 1st overall at the 2017 NHL Entry Draft. When the Devil's used their top pick on him in that draft they signaled their intent to build around this player for many years to come, so giving him the captaincy makes all of the sense in the world.