Right wing Jarome Iginla will be wearing an 'A' as an alternate captain this season starting with Thursday night at the Xcel Energy Center when the Avalanche open regular-season play against the Minnesota Wild.
"It's a great honor, it's a privilege, especially with this young group of guys," Iginla said Wednesday after practice. "It's going to be fun and I look forward to trying to help where I can. I'm excited about it."
Coach Patrick Roy asked Iginla, 37, if he was interested in the role before training camp. Iginla, who served as Calgary Flames captain for parts of nine seasons, wanted to wait on his decision until he became acquainted with his new teammates after signing as a free agent from Boston on July 1.
"We said we'd revisit it after training camp after I got the chance to get to know the guys," Iginla said. "We talked (Tuesday) and he said the opportunity was there. It was more a chance to get to know the guys. Training camp, that's usually what it's for. As you get older it's still an honor and privilege, but you also realize that with this group of young guys there's so much more to team leadership than just C's and A's. There's lots of young guys that lead on this team. It's going to be fun with the group and to be part of the leadership group."
Iginla joins captain Gabriel Landeskog and alternate captain Cody McLeod in an official leadership capacity. Landeskog said Iginla can be a calming influence when it's necessary to talk to the referees.
"He's been around so long, certainly he knows that part of talking to the referees is building a relationship and knowing the guys," Landeskog said. "That's certainly going to help. Sometimes I get a little fired up and it might help to have him go over instead of me whenever he's on the ice. Cody can get fired up as well. Iggy's been there, he knows a lot of the guys and they respect him."
Roy said Iginla's experience was the main factor.
"He's certainly going to help our younger guys," Roy said. "As much as possible we try not talking to the refs."
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Is there any extra incentive for the Avalanche in their home-and-home series with the Wild -- the teams meet again Saturday night at the Pepsi Center -- following last year's seven-game playoff loss in the first round?
"You don't really have to think about it," center Matt Duchene said. "There's some leftover animosity for sure from us towards them and them towards us. It should make for an exciting home and home to start. They're a great team and we have a lot of respect for them. At the same time, we don't like them too much and want to beat them."
Said Iginla: "I wasn't part of the Minnesota playoffs last year, but when you play in the playoffs the rivalry always ratchets up a notch. It's going to be fun to be a part of that. I think it's pretty cool to have a home-and-home against them to open the season and get things fired up quickly."
The Avalanche had 2-0 and 3-2 series leads, lost defenseman Tyson Barrie to a season-ending knee injury on a hit by Matt Cooke in Game 3, and Colorado squandered a 4-3 lead late in the third period in Game 7 and lost 5-4 in overtime.
"We had our chance," Roy said. "We were up late in the third period and they tied the game and they won the game. They played as well as we did, but it's a new chapter tomorrow. We're all anxious to see the puck drop and we're excited about this new challenge. I like the way we've been practicing, the guys look sharp.
"I learned so much from last year. I think our players are coming in with the same mindset. I like the way we practiced the last three days. The partnership is very important to us and we exchanged a lot (of ideas) on how we want to play in the neutral zone, forecheck, D-zone coverage, offensively as well. The guys are very involved. I like to have their input."
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How the Avalanche lineup will look Thursday:
FORWARDS Alex Tanguay-Matt Duchene-Jarome Iginla Gabriel Landeskog-Ryan O'Reilly-Nathan MacKinnon Jamie McGinn-Daniel Briere-Max Talbot Cody McLeod-Marc-Andre Cliche-Dennis Everberg
DEFENSEMEN Brad Stuart-Erik Johnson Nick Holden-Tyson Barrie Jan Hejda-Nate Guenin
GOALIES Semyon Varlamov Reto Berra
Roy said defensemen Zach Redmond and Ryan Wilson would be scratched. So will center Jesse Winchester, who is recovering from a concussion and hasn't been skating. Forwards Patrick Bordeleau (back surgery) and John Mitchell (migraines) were placed on injured reserve. Mitchell skated in practice Wednesday while wearing a red non-contact jersey.