First, it’s not a surprise that a team enters the NHL season with no designated captain. What is surprising is when the team’s captain gets stripped of the “C” after six seasons of wearing it.
That’s exactly what we’re getting in Winnipeg with the Jets as Blake Wheeler had the “C” taken off his sweater in favor of using a group alternates heading into 2022-23.
“It is the determination of the coaching staff that we will enter the 2022-23 season without a specific captain but rather a group of assistants still be determined,” said Jets head coach Rick Bowness “It is our goal to expand the leadership base within our hockey team.
“We have high expectations for our core players and we want to provide them with the opportunity to step into those greater leadership roles as a group. “
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Are there layers to this?
Obviously, there are going to be plenty of questions surrounding this move, starting with whether Wheeler somehow fell out of favor with new head coach Rick Bowness. It’s a bold move nonetheless, one that could put a massive wedge between the new coaching staff and one of the team’s leaders whether there’s a “C” on the sweater or not. A wedge that could cause plenty of perhaps unnecessary locker room problems before the puck even drops on the 2022-23 season.
“I’ve been with pretty much the same coaching staff for my entire career, so it does seem like a little bit of a fresh start,” forward Mark Scheifele said last month of the coaching change. “There’s obviously going to be some new ideas, obviously a lot of the same players, but I loved our group of guys. We have a lot of fantastic guys on our team, a lot of guys that I think from talking to them are just as excited as I am about this upcoming season and what it’s going to hold and how things are going to change. I think that’s what everyone kind of wanted, everyone kind of wanted to see a little bit of change.
“We needed to see some new things. We want an idea of where the team’s going and what our team will look like. It will only get more and more interesting as it gets closer to training camp.”
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The Jets are currently scheduled to have a press conference regarding the matter at 1 pm ET/10 am PT.