The Winnipeg Jets announced Friday the team will play the 2022-23 season without a captain.
Blake Wheeler, who has spent the past 12 seasons with the franchise, had served as captain of the Jets since 2016.
Jets head coach Rick Bowness explained the reasoning behind the team's decision to restructure their team leadership. Bowness pointed to the desire to grow together as a team and have more people accountable and did not divulge and details on how the conversation went with Blake Wheeler.
"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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Wheeler, 36, posted 17 goals and 60 points in 65 games last season. He is signed through the next two seasons at a cap hit of $8.25 million, the highest on the Jets.
Bowness was hired earlier this off-season after the Jets missed the playoffs last season while playing under interim coach Dave Lowry and Paul Maurice, who resigned in-season.
This isn’t an indictment on Blake Wheeler. Bowness wants other players to share a bigger leadership role. This is about group ownership and not having leadership fall entirely on the shoulders of one player.
"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
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