There will be no captain piloting the Winnipeg Jets for the 2022-23 season. Earlier this morning, the club announced that Blake Wheeler would not be wearing the “C” immediately. The Winnipeg Jets captaincy change was announced this morning in a tweet by Winnipeg Jets PR.
— Winnipeg Jets PR (@WpgJetsPR) September 16, 2022
Winnipeg Jets Captaincy Change Announced
During the off-season, the Jets hired Rick Bowness as their new head coach. Bowness and his coaching staff made the decision collectively. “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.”
Wheeler held his role as team captain for the past six seasons. He helped lead the Jets to the playoffs in five consecutive seasons. However, last season was disappointing for the Jets to finish sixth in the Central Division, eight points out of the final playoff position.
Wheeler and coach Bowness will address the media this afternoon to discuss the captaincy changes.
What This Means For the Future
The Jets will choose to go with only assistant captains, allowing new franchise leaders to step up and eventually take over as the Winnipeg Jets captaincy candidates.
Wheeler placed much of the blame for last season’s woes on himself. “I certainly take the responsibility for where this team sits. Hopefully, we have a locker room full of guys doing the same thing. Like I said, I’ve tried to build this into something we can be proud of, something that can be a championship level every year. And when you fall short of that, you’ve got to take responsibility for it.” Wheeler had said at a pre-game skate near the end of last season.
Shortly after being appointed Jets head coach, Bowness, who coached the Dallas Stars last season, had this to say when speaking of the Jets’ competitiveness last year. “When we played them last year, there was something missing. You could feel it, and you could see it,” said Bowness. “Maybe you can’t always describe it. But when you’re playing against them, and you’re on the bench, you just feel it. There was something missing there. I’m not getting into it because I wasn’t here. It just got derailed a little bit. But if you go back and you look at the roster, how competitive they were for a while, it’s there.
Perhaps the captaincy shake-up will give life to the Jets’ locker room and re-ignite a healthy competitive spirit inside the room.
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