The ship is sinking in Columbus, and at least one player believes a captain needs to be appointed to help keep things afloat.

The Blue Jackets haven't had a captain since Rick Nash vacated the post in 2012, and newcomer Scott Hartnell suggests it might be time to bring the letter back now that the club finds itself in dire straits.

“They’ve had some success here in the last couple of years doing it by committee,” Hartnell, who joined the team in an offseason trade from Philadelphia, told Aaron Portzline of the Post-Dispatch.

“You look around the room, and there are a lot of guys who bring different things to the table. In tough times like this, it’s nice to look toward somebody, whoever that would be.”

After dropping to 30th place in the NHL standings with a loss on Friday, head coach Todd Richards placed the leadership onus squarely on his own shoulders, while also calling for a measure of communal accountability.

"Part of the leadership and all of that has to start with me, so I don’t look much further than myself," Richards declared. "If things aren’t going right in there … it has to start with me and get to the guys who have command of that room, guys who have a voice in that room. I think we can all do a better job.”

While still a relative newcomer to the team's dressing room, Hartnell would be as good a choice as any to don the C. But for the time being, it appears as though the status quo will be maintained, for better or worse.