Yesterday, it was announced by the Winnipeg Jets that the coaching staff decided to strip Blake Wheeler of the captaincy and enter this coming season without an official “C”. Lots of speculation as to why, especially considering all the rumours of how bad the locker room dynamic has been over the past several seasons.
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.
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) September 16, 2022
Of course, you have to be a good player to be named captain these days. Blake Wheeler can consider himself in good company as far as other previous captains who also lost the “C” and remained with the team. Here’s a quick, more recent history of others who are part of the stripped club.
Patrick Marleau, who was stripped of the C so....
Joe Thornton could be named Captain, only to be stripped of the C eventually as well.
Dustin Brown, who was replaced by Anze Kopitar
Roberto Luongo, who gave up the captaincy himself (reportedly)
Mike Modano, probably because of Mike Babcock
Trevor Linden, who had it stripped in favour of Mark Messier in his short Canucks stint
Brett Hull, who feuded with his coach
Patrik Elias, who was stripped and then offered it back but didn’t want it.
Joe Sakic, when they were still the Nordiques, he went from the captain to an assistant the next year to being given back the C the year after that.
LINKS FROM THE BRANCHES
A fully healthy John Tavares could do wonders for the Leafs | by TLN
NHL media tour: Auston Matthews, Morgan Rielly and 5 most interesting things they said | by The Athletic
Big news for anyone who wants a more reliable way to watch SHL games.
ESPN, part of the Walt Disney Company, has entered a partnership with SHL for the upcoming 2022/23 season🏒 The deal covers 130+ countries reaching and expanding the global audience of the SHL.https://t.co/ft206XWKSs #SHL pic.twitter.com/65t4xK1mDj
— SHL.se (@SHLse) September 16, 2022
I could have sworn this was already settled but hey it only took them several months after Kane already signed with a new team, lost in the playoffs, then signed a new contract with the new team again.
**Breaking News** 🚨 📰
— Kevin Weekes (@KevinWeekes) September 16, 2022
I’m told that a verbal settlement agreement has been reached in Evander Kane’s Grievance Case against the @SanJoseSharks .@espn @NHLNetwork @NHL #HockeyTwitter
Well there’s a crossover I never expected to happen...
— Vsauce (@tweetsauce) September 17, 2022
Have a great weekend everyone!