Wheeler would wear the ‘C’ with pride

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/04/2016 (3462 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

HE’S been the de facto captain since the day Andrew Ladd made his exit. And, if asked, Blake Wheeler would love to see the letter ‘C’ stitched onto the front of his Winnipeg Jets jersey.

“Obviously everyone wants to wear the ‘C’,” said Wheeler Monday morning, as the Jets met with the media on locker clean-out day. “There’s a lot of pride that comes with that. Given the opportunity I would respect that and wear it with pride. That being said, there’s going to be a lot of conversations had internally to try and find out who the best fit is for the organization.”

Wheeler has worn an alternate captain’s letter for a couple of seasons. But even before Ladd was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks he has been seen as the team’s conscience, a player who wore his emotions on his sleeve and pushed to improve his game.

He is coming off a season in which he set a career high in points with 78 (26 goals and 52 assists) and his play down the stretch on a line with Mark Scheifele and Nikolaj Ehlers was one of the few silver linings in a season gone bad. He was also praised almost daily by coach Paul Maurice for his work instilling a level of expectation down the stretch when the Jets had tumbled out of the playoff picture.

Wheeler’s name has been most prominent when the captaincy discussion is broached, along with Mark Scheifele, Dustin Byfuglien and Bryan Little.

“We’ve had a lot of guys step up,” said Wheeler. “Our leadership’s been pretty strong. Even when Laddy was here I think myself and Stuie (Mark Stuart) and Chris Thorburn and Buff amongst other guys have taken the reins and tried to fill the void. When Laddy was traded I think everyone stepped up a little bit and had to take on a little bit more than they did before to show some of the young guys what it looks like every single day.

“The last 20 or so games could have fallen off the rails pretty quick.”

That’s one of the few salvageable aspects of the Jets’ finish to the 2015-16 season: they were 6-2-2 in their last 10, 4-0-1 in their last five, when there was absolutely diddly at stake. And it could have been much worse if not for the focus of the vets in the room.

Lots of leaders

“No matter who wears it, we have quite a few leaders in that room that are capable of accepting that role,” said Little. “There’s obviously different personalities in the room, but any one of those choices is going to be a good choice. For us, it doesn’t really matter whose got the letters on. I thought our young guys really stepped up and showed their leadership this year. We’re probably going to have a young team again next year and so everyone is going to have to step up.

“To be a captain of an NHL team is a pretty big deal, especially in a place like Winnipeg,” added Little, when asked if he’d be interested in wearing the C. “I think anyone would be happy and proud to be the captain here.”

But only one will be the face of the franchise. Maurice said Monday the decision not to name a replacement to Ladd immediately was partly because it is that important.

“I’m fine with everybody having an opinion on this. It’s fine,” he said. “But the process isn’t done yet and we’re still going to go through it. There are always things to consider that maybe, when you are outside of a team environment, that you don’t consider.

“We’ve got some good candidates here. It’s not always just about what’s best for the team, sometimes it’s what’s best for the man. You have to take that into account, too. It’s not whether a guy can do it, you don’t want to change people. There’s a bigger weight that gets put on with that ‘C’ and you don’t want personalities changing because of it.

“The men that we’ll talk to about being the captain of the team, they need to know what’s expected of them on a daily basis,” he added. “But also things that they maybe they hadn’t thought of. We’re in a Canadian city. We’re in a small-community Canadian city so there’s different responsibilities that come with that and they need to be comfortable with all that’s asked of them. So we need to take our time going through that with them and then make a decision.”

ed.tait@freepress.mb.caTwitter: WFPEdTait