Kelowna Rockets forward Max Graham has been named the 29th captain in the team's history.

"We're excited and pleased to have Max Graham as our captain for the 2024-25 season," said Rockets President and General Manager Bruce Hamilton. "He is a fearless leader who leads by example."

The 20-year-old New Jersey Devils prospect has been an assistant captain for the last two seasons with the Rockets.

"It's definitely a big honour. I've played here for four seasons now and I'm from Kelowna too," Graham said. "To be able to be honoured as a captain for your hometown team and a team that you've been with for so long is definitely a great feeling."

I think we've got a great group in this room and I'm really excited to be named their captain. But we've got so many different leaders in that room with and without letters, so I think they're going to make my job pretty easy this year and I'm definitely looking forward to it."

Growing up in Kelowna, Graham never imagined he'd ever captain the team he grew up watching.

"Truthfully, I'd never even imagined that I could even play for this team one day, let alone be named captain," said Graham. "It's definitely unreal. I get lots of my family members coming out to every game and this is my last season here. I know we're off to a pretty slow start, but I think we're going to have that turned around really quickly here. Definitely not something that I ever thought would happen, but now that it has, it's awesome."

Graham said the first people he's telling are his family.

"I think they'll be pretty proud of what they've been able to raise as a son. So, they'll be the first two people I tell and then probably tell my sister ... she's away in Minnesota playing hockey right now and my grandparents will be pretty excited too."

Graham added he's the type of person to leads by example, plays physical and sticks up for his teammates. Additionally, being an assistant captain for the last two years has helped him be a more vocal leader in the locker room.

"Being there for each other and holding people accountable if that needs to happen and pumping people up and trying to give them more confidence if I see that they're struggling a little bit," said Graham. "That's something that I have been working on and I think being an older guy now, that part of me has come a long way. Obviously, I can still continue to get better at it and I'm going to work every day to get better at it this year, but I think it's something that I've really improved on and that's I guess another leadership quality that I have."

The Rockets also named their assistant captains - Andrew Cristall, Tij Iginla, and Caden Price.

"That's obviously a pretty good core, both for our team and in this league," Cristall said. "We've got to be the guys pushing the load every night and kind of showing the younger players how to play and then what to do on the ice and hopefully that leads to more wins. It's a pretty good group for sure."

Cristall, who just returned to the team from training camp with the Washington Capitals, is also excited for Graham to be the team captain.

"Yeah, it's awesome. He's a guy you like to go to war with because he'll do anything for his teammates," said Cristall. "Whether it's getting physical, protecting his teammates, putting up points ... he can kind of do it all. He's a really good leader and we're happy to have him."

Graham will first wear the 'C' on his jersey when the Rockets host the Portland Winterhawks on 'Pink the Rink' night at Prospera Place on Friday, Oct. 11. Proceeds from the game will go towards Canadian Cancer Night. Puck drop is at 7:05 p.m. and tickets are still available at selectyourtickets.com.