The Captain resigns his commission

Barring a decision to give back up goaltender Cory Schneider leadership credentials, the Vancouver Canuck's will most likely no longer walk down the path of the unexpected when it comes to an on ice captain for the squad.

Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo, resigned his position as captain of the team on Monday, bringing an end to  concerns that Mike Gillis' unorthodox choice of two years ago couldn't handle the pressure of the leadership role on the team.

When Gillis selected his goaltender as the team captain there was no shortage of suggestions that it was a project destined to prove to be too large a distraction for both Luongo and the team, as they strived to their goal of a Stanley Cup playoff spot in the final round.

As last season moved along it seemed that perhaps those concerns had been rather correct in the foreshadowing of disappointment, by the end of the Canucks playoff run in the spring of 2010, Luongo's captain duties seemed to be more of an anchor on him than they were of a positive nature.

Despite his scaled down activities as captain by that time, the position still seemed to take away from his focus between the pipes a popular topic with Vancouver's ever vociferous fan base and media commentators.

As the Canucks head into their training camp period and pre season games to come, Gillis decided to start things off with a fresh start in the leadership category, accepting Luongo's decision, leaving the decision on a new captain to come later on in camp if not into the start of the regular season.

The selection of a captain will be a tricky proposition for the team, trying to find that one candidate who best exemplifies the direction the team is hoping to go in and reflective of how they approach each and every game.

One of the key names that could be on the short list include is that of Henrik Sedin, who seemingly has gone to the front of the could be list rather quickly. Luongo's decision to relinquish his duties and the office pool as to who will succeed him has made for the majority of the news files from the Canucks camp this week.

Henrik has the qualities of a captain
Henrik Sedin says 'C' would be an honour
Sedin deserves to wear Canucks 'C'
Luongo's position was the only barrier to successful captaincy
Canucks will C that Henrik Sedin replaces Roberto Luongo as captain
Canucks won't rush on naming new captain as Roberto Luongo relinquishes the ‘C’
Luongo relinquishes Canucks' captaincy
Roberto Luongo: ‘It was my decision’ to surrender Canucks’ captaincy