Blake Wheeler shocked by sudden Winnipeg Jets announcement
Rick Bowness was hired as the Winnipeg Jets head coach during the off-season and is already shaking things up.
Bowness had his media day on July 4th with the team, where there was talk of retirement back in 2018, but his passion for winning came first.
In a devastating move for Blake Wheeler, Bowness stripped Wheeler of the Jets Captaincy.
Instead, the Jets will start the 2022-2023 season with multiple, alternate captains. Bowness is already putting his foot down in Winnipeg, despite only being back for a little over two months.
Bowness once coached the Winnipeg Jets back in 1988-1989, his first NHL coaching position. His first run in Winnipeg was a miserable, 8-17-3 record and since then his longest tenure has been 4 years in Ottawa.
Mark Schiefle and Blake Wheeler were both surprised by the decision by Bowness and it appears the team will be rallying around Wheeler, as there's been no reasoning given.
In January of 2021, it was reported to Finnish media by Patrik Laine that Wheeler and Schiefle were responsible for the toxic atmosphere and constant bullying of the Finnish forward.
Patrik Laine was mistreated by forwards Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler and Paul Maurice was "too weak to defy them".
Is this Bowness putting his foot down to force a cultural change in the locker room, as a result of past reports of Wheeler abusing his captaincy?
Wheeler did end up taking responsibility for this, so to say it didn't happen would be a lie, which would really make the entire team complicit as well.
So really is it that stunning that Bowness, despite his lack of consensus would remove Wheeler's C?
| POLL | ||
Do you agree with the Jets Decision? | ||
| Yes | 26 | 41.9 % |
| No | 17 | 27.4 % |
| It�s about time | 19 | 30.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
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