BUFFALO (LGS) — Lindy Ruff announced today that the Buffalo Sabres have returned to a monthly captain rotating system.

"We let the players decide on a vote on whom their captain would be the first month and they picked Jochen Hecht," said Lindy Ruff during a press conference.

The Sabres coach believes Hecht brings a lot to the table for his team.

"He plays in every situation, he's got a strong voice in the room and he's been through all the battles with us."

Hecht becomes the third European captain in team history. Alexander Mogilny and Miroslav Satan also wore the "C" for the Sabres.

Ruff decided to go back to the month-to-month rotating of captains mainly as a motivational tool to see how his veteran players would respond.

The Sabres have yet to announce who the alternate captains will be but the frontrunners appear to be Toni Lydman, Brian Campbell and Derek Roy.

The head coach also said that Andrew Peters has recovered from his upper-body injury and that Ales Kotalik (knee) is feeling better; however, the Czech winger is still expected to miss both games this weekend.