Blue Jackets ready to settle on a captain

The Columbus Blue Jackets don't need to escape into the wilderness this offseason on a team-building excursion - like other teams have chosen to do.

They don't scale a mountaintop, camp under the stars and hold a ceremony at the summit. 

Besides, they were never really the showy type.

But after three seasons without a discernible voice in the room, Blue Jackets players are calling on management to finally make a call on a captain. 

"We're on to that next phase where we know what type of team we are, and I think it's important to have a captain who can exemplify that each and every night. It is a guy you can turn to and know he is going to lead us for a lot of years," Blue Jackets forward Nick Foligno said via Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch.

"I know there is a guy in that (dressing) room that can do that."

The reluctance, though, is understandable. 

Rick Nash was the last man to wear the Blue Jackets' badge, leaving it vacant when he publicly expressed his desire to be dealt, and had his wish granted.

But as the team looks to build on success sought late in their trying year, the feeling heading into a season - one in which they intend to compete - is that it will be necessary to a have a representative keeping communication lines open with management.

"I think you need that guy to look up to, to have a voice, a guy that brings it every night,” Scott Hartnell, a potential candidate said. "(It is) someone who has a real pulse of the dressing room, and there are definitely a few candidates in our room.

"It's obviously not our decision, but hopefully that gets done and that won't be in people's heads and we’ll just move forward."

The Montreal Canadiens and San Jose Sharks are the only other teams without a captain, but there are probably a handful more who wish they had stayed this patient.