Head Coach Jon Cooper remarks about the Tampa Bay Lightning captaincy

With the trade of Martin St. Louis to the New York Rangers, the Tampa Bay Lightning have seen the team captaincy vacated for the second time in a year by way of transaction. Vincent Lecavalier's compliance buyout last summer was the previous action (which took place last summer).

So what now? The Bolts have three assistants in good standing at this point (Steven Stamkos, Matt Carle, Nate Thompson) and the incoming former team captain for the Rangers in Ryan Callahan.

head coach Jon Cooper touched on things in comments to the press today:

When Jon Cooper was asked about the captaincy, he said it would not be addressed today, hinted it might be tomorrow, but no guarantee

— Erik Erlendsson (@erlendssonTBO) March 6, 2014

Does this mean a team captain will be named at all as the season winds down?  Not necessarily; it is possible to go forward with only assistant captains for the club.

From a fan perspective, though, all focus is on the returning #91; he does continue the line of succession that goes back to Dave Andreychuk, having been groomed under St. Louis, and Lecavalier.

Whatever the case, going forward, someone does need to step up and actually lead if they wear the "C"; it has appeared vacated in the most recent games by St. Louis,, and the result has been a disjointed effort by the Lightning on the road.

Who will be the next team captain for the Tampa Bay Lightning?