Hurricanes to start season without captain

The Carolina Hurricanes will not begin the season with a captain, instead choosing to go with four alternate captains.
Forwards Jordan Staal, Jeff Skinner and Victor Rask and defenseman Justin Faulk will serve as alternates.
The Hurricanes have been without a captain since Eric Staal was traded to the New York Rangers on Feb. 28.

"It's something we spent some time on in the summer talking about," coach Bill Peters told the Hurricanes website on Wednesday. "What we don't want to do is have that letter be a burden. We've got some guys that are great leaders, more than the four that are wearing letters."
Staal (28), Skinner (24), Faulk (24) and Rask (23) are part of the young core of the Hurricanes.
"We've got probably a leadership group that is eight strong," Peters said. "And those guys that aren't wearing the letters are still part of the leadership group and they'll do a fantastic job. It's a young group of leaders that are emerging and it's time for them to take a step and take over."
The Hurricanes open the regular season at the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday at MTS Centre (8 p.m. ET; TSN3, FS-CR).
In addition to the Hurricanes, the Toronto Maple Leafs have not named a captain.