Anders Lee exemplifying captain attributes even with NY Islanders uncertainty

If Anders Lee wanted to spend the last few days before free agency thinking only about Anders Lee, nobody would have blamed him.

After all, the 35-year-old captain is potentially days away from testing the open market for the second time in his NHL career. The New York Islanders are the only organization he's ever known. He's worn the captain's "C" since the 2018-19 season. And after 14 seasons with the franchise, he has every right to be focused on his own future.

Instead, on Friday night, there was Anders Lee doing what Anders Lee has always done.

As the organization celebrated drafting Swedish defenseman Malte Gustafsson with the 13th overall pick, Lee got on the phone with the newest member of the franchise to welcome him to Long Island. It wasn't something he had to do. There was no obligation. But anyone who has followed Lee's career probably wasn't surprised.

"He's an outstanding human being," the Islanders GM Mathieu Darche said following the NHL Draft. "So there's, you know, the decisions we're making on where I'm willing to go, where we're willing to go as a team on a contract and what he wants. That's a business decision. It has nothing to do with the individual."

"He's great. Like I really appreciated what he did."

We'll soon find out if more moments like that will happen over the next 1-2 seasons or if Lee will establish himself in a new role with a new team in a new city. But whatever happens, and whatever your opinions are of Lee the player at this point his career, he has exmplified all the attributes you'd want from a captain and is doing that even now, it what may be his final days in that role.

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