Flames veteran leader stripped of his captaincy

The Calgary Flames opened up their 2023-24 training camp this morning and astute Flames fans noticed something very interesting from the team's promotional photoshoot.

Veteran forward Mikael Backlund, who has been an assistant captain for the Flames for awhile now, is in the final year of his contract and there are significant rumors that he could be signing elsewhere next offseason. If that's the case, it makes sense for the Flames to remove him from their leadership group and to give the "A" to someone who will be around for the long haul.

The thing is...

Backlund himself has said how badly he wants to stay in Calgary and how much the Flames' captaincy would mean to him. Here's a guy who has come out publicly and said he wants to wear the "C", so maybe this is just the Flames way of hiding a captain's announcement for the time being? Just take his photo without any letters on his jersey and then Photoshop an "A" or a "C" on there later? I wouldn't be surprised.

Still, today's photo of Backlund has certainly caused a stir within the Flames fan community. What do you think? Will Backlund be named the team's next captain or will he be removed from the team's leadership group entirely?