Winnipeg Jets strip Blake Wheeler of team captaincy

Blake Wheeler will not serve as team captain of the Winnipeg Jets to start the 2022–23 season.

On Friday, the Jets released a statement from new head coach Rick Bowness announcing a “leadership group restructuring.”

Instead of Wheeler wearing the “C” — as he had done since 2016 — the Jets will deploy a group of assistant captains to begin the year.

“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 to be determined,” Bowness said Friday. “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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3:05 PM · Sep 16, 2022

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Josh Morrissey and Mark Scheifele served as assistant captains under Wheeler during the 2021–22 season, in which the Jets finished 11th in the Western Conference with a 39–32–11 record.

Wheeler, 36, has two years remaining on his contract, which carries an $8.25 million cap hit. The 6’5″ winger scored 17 goals and 60 points in 65 games with the Jets last season.

During Wheeler’s tenure as captain, the Jets advanced to the playoffs three times (plus a berth in the qualifying round in 2020) and advanced past the first round in 2018 and 2021.

Wheeler is the Jets/Atlanta Thrashers franchise’s all-time leader in assists and points. The Jets have only had two captains since relocating from Atlanta in 2011: Andrew Ladd (2011 to 2016) and Wheeler (2016 to 2022).

Scheifele and Wheeler are the only two remaining players who played with the Jets in 2011–12, their first season back in Winnipeg.