Rod Brind'Amour's face has the bent nose, broken time and again by elbows, pucks and sticks. It has the scar tissue, the evidence of countless games, countless battles in the NHL.

Just look at those eyes -- so wide, so wise, seeing all.

Eric Staal's face is unlined, nearly unmarked, still so youthful in countenance. And yet there's the way he sets his jaw, the way he squares his shoulders.

There's this look in his dark eyes -- confident, intense, almost predatory.

Brind'Amour, 38, is the captain of the Carolina Hurricanes and likely will be until he retires. He wears the "C," designating him the captain, proudly on his chest, as Ron Francis did, as Kevin Dineen did, as Keith Primeau did.

But Eric Staal is coming. Oh, man, is he coming.

"When Roddy moves on to the greener pastures one day, this is going to be Eric's team," veteran winger Ray Whitney said.

In his first three seasons with the Hurricanes, Staal was making his mark in the league. In 2005-06, he was a 100-point scorer in the regular season, then the leading scorer in the Stanley Cup playoffs as the Canes swept to the Cup.

Brind'Amour, in turn, was the quintessential captain. Many believe he should have been the Conn Smythe Trophy winner in 2006, although Canes goalie Cam Ward was a deserving winner.

"Rod is a great leader and has all the respect in the [locker] room," said Francis, the Canes' captain before Brind'Amour and now the team's assistant general manager.

But last season, the Canes lost their leader. Brind'Amour was felled with a severe knee injury in a Feb. 14 game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, knocking him out of the last 22 games.

A 19-year veteran, Brind'Amour was a presence on the ice -- one of the league's best defensive forwards, one of the best on faceoffs, a penalty-killer and steady scorer. He was forceful in the locker room, stern when he had to be. Suddenly, he was gone.

Someone had to lead. At 23, Staal was ready.

"We needed to win games," said Staal, an alternate captain. "I wanted to do as much as I could."

With Brind'Amour out, Staal responded with perhaps the best hockey of his young career, notching 10 goals and 22 assists (32 points) in those 22 games.

"With the injuries we had, we needed that one big horse," Canes coach Peter Laviolette said. "He took control."

But it was more than just the points. Tall in stature at 6 feet 4, he became a bigger man in the locker room.

"He took charge," Whitney said. "I think that was a good boost for the organization, to see he's capable of doing that.

"For one, willing to do it. A lot of young guys don't necessarily want to do that, to be that guy. A lot of guys just want to go play. He took it upon himself to do both -- to not only play exceptionally well down the stretch, but to make the other guys around him better.

"It was nice to see that he was willing to take it on as much as he did. He's our future captain."

But when? One almost could sense the mantle beginning to be passed last season, Brind'Amour to Staal.

"I guess the natural thing is when they kick me out of here, if not sooner, he'll definitely be doing it [captain]," Brind'Amour said. "Who knows? But it's almost better for him to do his thing.

"If you put too much on him right away, who knows how that would work out? ... I think it's just better for him to do what he's been doing."

But there comes a time when the older veteran gives up the "C" to a more accomplished player -- or to a younger, rising star.

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