The Winnipeg Jets are heading into the new season without a team captain.
The team announced a “restructuring” of its leadership group Friday, and said it will go forward without a captain. Instead, the Jets intend to have a group of alternate captains. Those players are yet to be determined.
Forward Blake Wheeler, an original member of the team since its relocation from Atlanta in 2011, had served as the Jets’ second captain since 2016.
“It is our goal to expand the leadership base within our hockey team,” new head coach Rick Bowness said in a statement.
“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.”
Bowness and Wheeler will speak with media at noon Friday from the Bell MTS Iceplex.
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