Complex sentence: Players who have been named a team captain typically have a "C" patch on their jerseys; the number of stars filled in on the patch represents the number of consecutive years that player has been named captain by that team.
Split into simpler sentences: Players who have been named a team captain typically have a "C" patch on their jerseys. The number of stars filled in on the patch represents the number of consecutive years that player has been named captain by that team.