AP
Bill Guerin’s young daughter yelled with delight when a picture of her goal-scoring father appeared on a big television screen. The 36-year-old right winger had nearly the same reaction moments later when he saw the ‘C’ on his brand-new Islanders jersey. Guerin had no idea he had already been chosen by general manager Garth Snow and coach Ted Nolan to be the 11th captain in team history.
Guerin was formally introduced to Long Island on Monday, less than a week after signing a two-year deal with the Islanders. Outside of a four-game, injury fill-in stint in Edmonton, Guerin hasn’t served as an NHL captain.
“I’m a little surprised,” he said, drawing laughter from a banquet room filled with team sponsors, fans and media. “I’m thrilled about it. It’s a tremendous honor. I don’t take this responsibility lightly.”
He donned the team’s blue sweater after his three new teammates Mike Comrie, Ruslan Fedotenko, and Jon Sim — all fellow free-agent acquisitions — stepped up to accept their jerseys from Snow.
Guerin is the latest fresh face of the Islanders, a franchise that still embraces its dynasty days of the 1980s while trying to matter again in the 30-team NHL. New York is looking for Guerin to show the form that led to a 36-goal campaign last season with St. Louis and San Jose, and not the 13-goal output he posted the season before with Dallas.
“I think I’ve been closer to the 30 goals more than 13,” said Guerin, who has hit the mark five times in 14 full NHL seasons. “I think it was just a bad year.”
