Todd McLellan On Alternate Captains: "We're An Original Six Team"

The days of the Detroit Red Wings rotating between several different players as alternate captains is officially at an end. 

It was decided that both Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond would be wearing the "A" on their jersey this season.

Red Wings head caoch Todd McLellan referenced his early days in the organization from 2005 through 2008 as an assistant coach under Mike Babcock with how the team operated with more permanent alternate captains. 

"When I got here last year, I knew Larkin was the captain but we had six, seven rotating (alternates) and I didn’t even know who wore them on any given night," McLellan said. "We're Original Six. All my years here there was clear definition of who was going to (wear the A). But that didn’t prevent -  when Nik Kronwall was a younger player or whoever else was around that group. Kris Draper and Kirk Maltby, they didn’t wear A's, but they led.

"That's what we’re going with."

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Red Wings Name Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider Alternate Captains for 2025–26 Season

The upcoming 2025-26 NHL season will also be Dylan Larkin's fifth as team captain, a role that he succeeded Henrik Zetterberg in. 

While only three Red Wings players will be wearing letters, McLellan stressed that all players in their dressing room have leadership capabilities. 

"I don’t have leadership meetings where we bring guys in," he said. "If our staff doesn't have a good handle of what's going on with the team and we need to meet, then shame on us, we're doing a poor job of communicating every day. A lot of the leadership stuff is done that way. We meet individually with players on a regular basis, whether it's casual in the meal room, or it's official in an office. Everybody does it differently.

"C's and A's are important, but at the end of the day it really doesn't matter, it's what you can bring as an individual to provide some sense of leadership."

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