Winnipeg Jets – Who will be the future captain?

The Winnipeg Jets have had two captains since making a return to the ‘Peg. Andrew Ladd and Blake Wheeler have both proudly worn the “C”. It was an obvious decision to award it to Wheeler, as he’s an experienced veteran who cares to help out in the community.

I can’t say anything bad about Wheeler, he’s a great player, and a great guy. He’s one of the best players in the league, but he’s so unbelievably underrated it’s not even funny. Wheeler was clearly a good decision, but he’s already 31 and eventually every player ends up retiring or moving on from his team. I’m not suggesting that he’s retiring, just that he’s not a 25 year old kid anymore. The Jets still have a bunch of years, but eventually we will have to think about who will take over from Wheeler as our next captain.

When would the change happen?

I’m honestly not sure when the Jets would consider changing the captain. There are a few possible situations that could happen.

First, Wheeler could either just retire and they would just wait for him to hang up the skates before handing off the C to another player. If Wheeler remains a Jet for the rest of his days, I’d say we’ll have him for eight more years. There would be a few pros and cons to this situation. The pros would be that you’re keeping him happy, and not stripping him of the C. It’s also good because you can have an old guy who’s been around since the beginning showing the young guys what it’s like to be part of the Winnipeg Jets. A con would be that you are never giving a currently younger guy like Mark Scheifele a chance to captain for a bunch of years.

Our next possibility is taking away the C respectfully and passing on the duties to a younger guy. If this happened, it would likely be in maybe three or four years. If they did this, I almost think they’d just just give it to one of the assistants and make Wheeler an assistant.

Who could be our next captain?

Mark Scheifele

Mark Scheifele is the first guy that would come to mind to become our next captain. He’s a leader, a very skilled player and like Wheeler, he takes part in the community. He makes Winnipeg a better place. He would make a solid captain, and since he already is involved in the Jets leadership, it wouldn’t be too hard for him to make a transition.

Patrik Laine

Lots of people may argue with this, but you have to consider what Laine could bring as a captain. If Wheeler was getting old and Laine was a bona fide superstar it could be a consideration. Laine is like a mini Ovechkin and is putting up the right amount of points to progress that way. He isn’t quite there yet though, but I think he will be eventually. Ovi is the captain of his team, and Laine could follow his same steps. He is also far younger than Mark Scheifele. Laine could be awarded the C  because he will be able to lead the team for much longer than Scheifele.

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Final thoughts

I think Wheeler is a great captain for the Winnipeg Jets but when he’s washed up, Scheifele will be the best choice. However Laine is younger and is like Ovechkin which could favour him over anyone else.