LAS VEGAS — “They couldn’t have waited a day?” Mark Scheifele joked, breaking the tension. What were the odds that he’d be doing interviews at the NHL Player Media Tour in Vegas just hours after the Winnipeg Jets announced they’d stripped Blake Wheeler of the captaincy? Scheifele barely had time to process the news.
Earlier Friday, the Jets released a statement revealing that Wheeler, their captain since 2016, had been removed from the role.
“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,” new coach Rick Bowness said in the statement. “It is our goal to expand the leadership base within our hockey team.
But if Scheifele’s words Friday were any indication, that “expanded” leadership base didn’t have a say in the decision to strip Wheeler of the "C." Either that, or the Jets don’t consider Scheifele part of that leadership base, as he was pretty much in the dark about the news.
“A shocker to me,” Scheifele said. “Blake told me before I left just to give the heads up. I didn’t get a lot of chance to actually talk to him and dive into how he’s feeling. First and foremost, I want to be there for him. He’s a guy I’ve learned a lot from and he’s still going to be a big leader on our team. The letters really don’t mean anything. He’s a mentor for a lot of our young guys and a lot of us. He works so hard and puts his heart on his sleeve.
In one sense, a change in leadership doesn’t come as a massive surprise given the state of the Jets franchise. Head coach Paul Maurice stepped down in the middle of the 2021-22 season, citing that he didn’t feel he could lead the group anymore. The Jets missed the playoffs and hired Bowness as coach this offseason. So major change in player leadership parallels the changes on the coaching side. On the other hand, the Jets, who largely stood pat this offseason, still fashion themselves as at least a fringe contender and have chosen to push forward with no defined leader. Why now?
At least from Scheifele’s perspective, the answer does not appear to be clear yet.
"Bones’ called me this morning. We haven’t really had that conversation of what the reason behind it is,” Scheifele said. “So I’m excited to have those conversations, understand from an organizational standpoint what the reason is. It’s something we’ll have to think about and talk about and understand. Right now it’s just, be there for everyone, care for each other. It’s a tough thing for ‘Wheels’ to deal with, but he has the support of everyone in the room.
“I want to be there for him, be a friend. He’s still a mentor of mine, a guy I’ve learned a lot from. It gives an opportunity for a lot of other guys to step in and be leaders. It’s not just going to be one guy or two guys or three guys. It’s going to be a whole. It’s going to give a lot of young guys the opportunity to feel like they can step into a leadership role and that’s only going to be better for our team.”
Scheifele and Wheeler each have just two years left on their contracts, so perhaps it’s not a coincidence if they’re on the outside of the leadership group looking in now, unsure of what comes next.
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