The Winnipeg Jets sit comfortably among the NHL's top teams as the best regular season in franchise history nears its end. Even the locker room of a Stanley Cup contender can become an intense, emotional powder keg this time of year, though, and apparently someone lit the fuse.
Jets captain Blake Wheeler was asked to leave practice Saturday after he was involved in a skirmish with teammate Ben Chiarot, according to reporters' accounts from the scene.
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#NHLJets captain Blake Wheeler is sent off the ice by HC Paul Maurice after dropping his gloves and going after Ben Chiarot
— Ken Wiebe (@WiebeSunSports) March 24, 2018
Blake Wheeler and Ben Chiarot just fought with each other here at practice. Appears that Wheeler took a slap shot at Chiarot. Looks like Scheifele cross-checked Chiarot and then Wheeler stepped in and began throwing punches at Chiarot. #NHLJets
— Scott Billeck (@ScottBilleck) March 24, 2018
It was a strange sequence during a special teams drill. Chiarot and Mark Scheifele were exchanging cross-checks in front. Then wheeler got involved.
— Ken Wiebe (@WiebeSunSports) March 24, 2018
A scrap breaks out at Jets practice. No kidding. Blake Wheeler in the middle of it, looked like he was going after Ben Chairot. Scheifele in there too. Wheeler heads to room, welt near left eye.
— Mark Spector (@SportsnetSpec) March 24, 2018
Chiarot, with a cut on the bridge of his nose, downplayed the incident afterward, chalking it up to "boys being boys." Mark Scheifele was an "innocent bystander" trying to break things up, he said: "Everything's all good. Just an intense practice."
🎥 Ben Chiarot speaks on the intensity in today’s practice, the team’s versatility this season, and more. pic.twitter.com/PEBgRF5uVq
— Winnipeg Jets (@NHLJets) March 24, 2018
Jets coach Paul Maurice saw it as a positive. In fact, he wouldn't mind more sessions just like it and went on to talk about a fight's place in a hockey practice.
"It's not an instinct you don't understand," he said. "There's a whole set of reprocussions: It's five minutes in a game, buy each other dinner in a practice and it's jail time in real life, so everybody understands. I get the question: How do you explain it to your kids? Well, there are rules for different things. You don't bring a keg to church. There are just things where you are changes repercussions."
🎥 Head Coach Paul Maurice on the intensity at Saturday's practice, the win over Anaheim, injury updates and more pic.twitter.com/MMauulDFV9
— Winnipeg Jets (@NHLJets) March 24, 2018
Tension was high in Winnipeg before the season began, when Wheeler famously issued a playoffs-or-bust decree to his teammates following years of underachievement. The Jets met their captain's challenge and those heightened expectations head on: A 3-2 overtime win against the Ducks on Friday secured the first 100-point season in franchise history, dating to its dismal days in Atlanta.
One would expect positive vibes in practice the day after such a milestone, but anything short of a long playoff run would be a disappointment for one of the NHL's deepest, most dangerous rosters. They head into Sunday's clash with the Central-leading Predators in second place, six points short of the best record in the NHL.
To outsiders, the Jets seemingly maintain one of the loosest, free-thinking locker rooms in the NHL, a tone set by Wheeler and Maurice. But all bets are off come playoff time.
