Brown named USA alternate captain

In what wasn’t exactly a surprise, Kings captain Dustin Brown was named as an alternate captain for the United States men’s national team that will compete at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. The rest of the team’s elevated leadership group will include a pair of skaters with the Minnesota Wild as Zach Parise was named captain and Ryan Suter was named the second alternate captain.

Brown was an alternate captain of the United States team that finished with a silver medal in the 2010 Winter Olympics and had previously captained the USA squad at the 2009 IIHF World Championships.

St. Louis Blues captain David Backes and New York Rangers captain Ryan Callahan were also considered to be amongst the players under consideration for the team’s captaincy.

Pittsburgh Penguins coach Dan Bylsma, who will also coach the United States in Sochi, spoke on Brown’s leadership following yesterday’s morning skate.

“The leadership is a big part of Dustin Brown’s game and how he plays I think,” Bylsma said. “How does that translate to a short tournament? I hope in five or six games over there – for people that are talking about that stuff after the game – in a six or seven game tournament, hopefully he has a chance to do that in four of those games.”

Bruce Bennett / Getty Images Sport

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