The Blackhawks won’t name a team captain for the 2023-24 season, instead letting a group of alternate captains comprise their leadership group while they figure out a long-term plan.

General manager Kyle Davidson, during a news conference Tuesday preceding the start of training camp, said the decision was made partly out of respect to Jonathan Toews — the team’s captain for the last 15 years — and partly to not rush the decision.

“The only plan right now is to sort of just let it breathe for a year,” Davidson said. “[We want] not to put that pressure on someone else when you’re coming out of a period of such greatness. And you want the next person to be in a position to succeed. And there’s no requirement to have a captain.”

There certainly is no requirement. In fact, NHL teams not naming captains has become something of a league-wide trend due to the evolving expectation that a captain be the face of the franchise. Six other teams (Ducks, Coyotes, Bruins, Flames, Flyers and Kraken) also currently have a vacant captaincy.

The alternate captains will be determined later in training camp, for which on-ice sessions begin Thursday, but Seth Jones and Connor Murphy are sure bets considering they each wore an “A” last season. Tyler Johnson, Nick Foligno, Corey Perry and Jarred Tinordi are viable candidates to join the group.

Of course, the logical assumption from the decision is that the Hawks hope Connor Bedard will grow quickly into a leader, allowing him to hopefully take over the captaincy in a year or two.

“Having a coach like Luke [Richardson, who] can fill a leadership role, is very nice,” Davidson added. “But in the end, the players have to have their own leaders and establish that. That’s the runway we’re giving them...to figure out who those next leaders or leader will be.”

This story will be updated.