Red Wings to name Henrik Zetterberg next captain

Now that the NHL lockout has come to an end, the Detroit Red Wings must name a captain, and that captain, as expected, will be center Henrik Zetterberg. Zetterberg has been the team's alternate captain since the '06-'07 season after Steve Yzerman retired. Now Zetterberg is due to be promoted, once again, thanks to a retirement, this time replacing former captain Nicklas Lidstrom, who announced his retirement on May 31.

Pavel Datsyuk and Niklas Kronwall will continue to be alternate captains and it is currently unclear as to whether or not the team will give a third player that honor.

Zetterberg has spent his entire nine-year career in Detroit. In those nine years, he has scored 252 goals, has 372 assists for 624 points, and he has a career plus/minus score of 144. The Swedish star was the 210th overall selection in the 1999 NHL draft. He was named to the All-Rookie team in 2003, was named to the Second All-Star Team and won the Conn Smythe trophy (given to the player voted as most valuable to their team) in 2008, the same year he helped lead the Red Wings to win the President's Cup and the Stanley Cup.

Now that the lockout is over, Zetterberg's first task as captain will be to help the Red Wings navigate a 48 to 50-game season and go deep into the playoffs after only playing against conference opponents.