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Blake Wheeler

Blake Wheeler To Be Out For A While

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Friday’s game against Vancouver got off to a positive start for Jets captain Blake Wheeler as he picked up his first goal of the season.  However, it ended on a much worse note as he left the game early with a lower-body injury and following the game, head coach Paul Maurice told reporters including Sportsnet’s Ken Wiebe that it’s not going to be a short-term issue:

It’s going to be a while. We’ll get him looked at tomorrow. I’m not a doctor, but it’s going to be a while.

We’ll get him healed up, we’ll find other players and we’ll find a way to do it without him.

Winnipeg isn’t scheduled to practice this weekend so a full update with an estimated timeline for Wheeler’s return won’t come until Monday at the earliest.

While the 35-year-old hadn’t scored until last night, he had still been one of their better point producers with his 16 assists leading the team.  Wheeler has still logged heavy minutes – 19:24 per game which is more than a minute higher than last season – which will make replacing him a little more difficult.

The Jets have basically used all of their allowable LTIR for Bryan Little and have still only been able to carry a dozen forwards on the roster, three of which have an AAV at or below the league minimum.  Assuming Wheeler will miss at least 10 games or 24 days, they’ll be able to add him to LTIR which will give them plenty of short-term cap space to recall a replacement forward.  However, trading for one will be out of the question unless he was to be ruled out for the rest of the season as they’d have to get back into cap compliance before being able to activate Wheeler.

Winnipeg only has eight forwards on NHL contracts that aren’t up with the team already.  The most promising of those is winger Cole Perfetti although he won’t be an option for a better part of a month following his loan to Team Canada for the World Juniors yesterday.  Most of their other options are basically only fits for the fourth line so Wheeler’s absence will be a tough one to overcome for a Jets team that is in a very tight battle in the Central Division.

Snapshots: Wheeler, Khudobin, De Haan

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The Winnipeg Jets could get quite the emotional boost tonight, as captain Blake Wheeler is expected to play in his 1,000th career NHL game Sunday at home against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Winnipeg is just 4-5-1 in their last ten games and has fallen out of playoff position in the Western Conference, but they’re carrying some momentum after a chaotic 8-4 win against the New Jersey Devils on Friday. The Leafs, however, enter the game without the services of Mitch Marner for a second straight game and are on the second half of a back-to-back. Saturday night saw them erase a 3-0 second-period deficit against the Minnesota Wild but only took home one point with a 4-3 shootout loss. It’s an important game for the Jets and Wheeler, who’s yet to score a goal this season and has just 10 assists in 18 games. It’s a slow start for the normally consistent Wheeler, who’s had at least 15 goals in every season of his 14-year career. He enters his 1,000th game with 279 goals and 538 assists for 817 points.

Some more snapshots from around the NHL on this Sunday morning:

  • Coming in at No. 5 on The Fourth Period’s Trade Watch List 2021-22 is Dallas Stars goalie Anton Khudobin. Over the weekend, multiple reports appeared suggesting the Stars were actively trying to find a trade partner for the 35-year-old Khudobin. With just a 3-3-1 record and .873 save percentage on the year, he’s quickly becoming the odd man out in a crowded goalie situation in the Lone Star state. Offseason addition Braden Holtby is having somewhat of a renaissance season with a .927 save percentage in 10 starts, while up-and-comer Jake Oettinger has yet to lose this season and has a .951 save percentage in five starts. Oettinger began the season in the AHL but it’s becoming apparent that after a promising rookie campaign last year, he’s simply too good for a third-string role. Khudobin has two seasons left on his contract with a $3.33MM cap hit and has a four-team no-trade list in effect this season, per CapFriendly.
  • Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Calvin de Haan also finds himself on that same Trade Watch List. Listed at No. 7, de Haan has no points in 21 games this season but has been solid defensively on a Blackhawks team that sits in the bottom-ten in the league in goals against. The 30-year-old has oft appeared in trade rumors, and as he’s in the final year of his contract with a $4.55MM cap hit, those won’t be quieting down anytime soon.

Blake Wheeler Clears COVID Protocol

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Oct 27: After ten days away from the team, Wheeler has cleared the protocol and rejoined the Jets at their morning skate today.

Oct 18: The Winnipeg Jets had Blake Wheeler for Saturday night’s game against the San Jose Sharks, but may not have him for tomorrow night’s matchup against the Minnesota Wild. That’s because he’s been placed in the COVID protocol, though no other information was released from the team.

As a reminder, inclusion in the protocol does not mean that a player has tested positive for Coronavirus or even that they have been confirmed as a close contact to another positive person. Included in the NHL’s list of possible reasons for someone being on the COVID Protocol Related Absences list–which actually won’t be released for the first time until tomorrow–are the following:

(1) an initial positive test which remains unconfirmed until confirmatory testing is completed pursuant to the Positive Test Protocol; (2) mandated isolation for symptomatic individuals pursuant to the Positive Test Protocol; (3) required quarantine as a high-risk close contact in accordance with the Positive Test Protocol; (4) isolation based on a confirmed positive test result and/or; (5) quarantine for travel or other reasons as outlined in the COVID-19 Protocol.

In this case, it would be a huge blow for the Jets to lose their captain for any length of time, but especially when they’re off to such a poor start. The team is 0-2 on the year and has scored just four goals, one of them coming from fourth-liner Jansen Harkins. Wheeler himself has registered just three shots on net and one assist through two matches, despite averaging nearly 21 minutes of ice time.

He also happens to be a Minnesota native who hasn’t had the chance to play in his home state for quite some time, thanks to the realigned divisions last season. If he’s held out, it would be an unfortunate outcome not only for Wheeler and the Jets but also many of the fans that were hoping to see him suit up at home. He has not yet been ruled out for tomorrow’s game.

Central Notes: Stars, Jets, Tolvanen, Avalanche

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While the Stars should have John Klingberg back tomorrow, it’s not all good news on the injury front for Dallas.  Matthew DeFranks of the Dallas Morning News mentions that wingers Jason Robertson and Blake Comeau are not expected to play on Monday against Columbus.  Both have been out since the start of the season with upper-body injuries and while they both skated with the Stars at practice today, they evidently haven’t been cleared to play just yet.  Comeau is currently on IR but has been out long enough to be activated whenever he’s able to return.  Dallas has an extra roster spot available right now so no roster move will be needed at that time.

More from the Central Division:

  • While Jets winger Blake Wheeler will be able to rejoin the team as early as Wednesday when he is cleared to get out of isolation following his positive COVID test, Postmedia’s Scott Billeck highlights that there is still some uncertainty surrounding Mark Scheifele’s eventual availability. While he has yielded both positive and negative tests so far, he’ll need negative tests for two straight days before being cleared to return.  Scheifele’s timeline is different than Wheeler’s with him being asymptomatic.
  • Predators winger Eeli Tolvanen left today’s game versus Minnesota due to an upper-body injury, the team announced (Twitter link). The winger had a goal in five games heading into the contest and more information about the injury will be revealed on Tuesday.
  • The Avalanche tried to bring back center Pierre-Edouard Bellemare this summer, the veteran acknowledged to Peter Baugh of The Athletic (subscription link). Colorado offered the 36-year-old a one-year deal but they were limited by their cap constraints.  In the end, Bellemare opted for some extra security, instead signing a two-year contract with Tampa Bay that carries a $1MM AAV.

2021 King Clancy Trophy Nominees Announced

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The NHL has announced the 31 nominees for the King Clancy Memorial Trophy, annually presented to “the player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution in his community.” Last year’s winner was Matt Dumba of the Minnesota Wild.

Each team submits one nominee. This year’s are:

Anaheim: Cam Fowler

Arizona: Oliver Ekman-Larsson

Boston: Charlie Coyle

Buffalo: Jack Eichel

Calgary: Mikael Backlund

Carolina: Jordan Staal

Chicago: Connor Murphy

Colorado: Pierre-Edouard Bellemare

Columbus: Cam Atkinson

Dallas: Esa Lindell

Detroit: Dylan Larkin

Edmonton: Kyle Turris

Florida: Sergei Bobrovsky

Los Angeles: Trevor Moore

Minnesota: Mats Zuccarello

Montreal: Jonathan Drouin

Nashville: Pekka Rinne

New Jersey: P.K. Subban

NY Islanders: Anders Lee

NY Rangers: Chris Kreider

Ottawa: Thomas Chabot

Philadelphia: Scott Laughton

Pittsburgh: Sidney Crosby

San Jose: Kurtis Gabriel

St. Louis: Ryan O’Reilly

Tampa Bay: Alex Killorn

Toronto: John Tavares

Vancouver: Tyler Motte

Vegas: Marc-Andre Fleury

Washington: Garnet Hathaway

Winnipeg: Blake Wheeler

Snapshots: Eichel/Krueger, Sutter, Wheeler, Grzelcyk

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Buffalo Sabres head coach Ralph Krueger isn’t having a good week. The team has lost three straight, including a 3-0 shutout loss to Philadelphia Sunday. When star Jack Eichel went down with an injury and was expected to miss time earlier this week, Krueger told the press, including The Athletic’s John Vogl that Eichel got hurt during warm-ups on Thursday and his injury was not related to the fact that he missed the morning skate that day.

Eichel, who played Sunday, said after Sunday’s game that the injury didn’t happen in warm-ups like Krueger said. Eichel said the injury occurred during Tuesday’s game against New Jersey, contradicting Krueger’s statement three days earlier.

When Vogl asked about his job status, Krueger said he wasn’t worried.

“Absolutely not, John,” said Krueger. “If you do, I don’t know. But I’m not wired that way, just so you know. I’m wired to work on solutions and take responsibility, and I do both right now.”

Not a good sign in Buffalo.

  • Vancouver Canucks center Brandon Sutter is having a solid season in the final year of his five-year, $21.9MM contract. The 32-year-old has scored six goals in 24 games so far this year. Despite being a logical trade chip for the upcoming trade deadline on April 12th, Sutter says he wants to stay with the Canucks past this year, according to The Province’s Ben Kuzma. “You know when your contract is up there’s always going to be speculation and talk,” he said. “For me, I’m just focused on this group and this team. I want to be here and this is where I want to stay. Really no secrets there from me.”
  • Just because the Winnipeg Jets asked defenseman Toby Enstrom to waive his no-movement clause so the team could protect seven forwards, three defensemen and a goalie in the 2017 Vegas expansion draft, don’t expect Winnipeg to do the same with Blake Wheeler this year for the upcoming Seattle expansion draft. The Athletic’s Murat Ates (subscription required) writes that Wheeler would fit the profile of someone the Seattle Kraken would pass on if he were left exposed, considering he’s 35, has three more years at $8.25MM and is no longer a dominant top-line forward (although still a solid top-six player). The scribe notes that the Jets would never ask him to waive his no-movement clause. Winnipeg intends to use Wheeler as well as Mark Scheifele as examples to other Jets’ players that the team will stick with their stars for their entire career.
  • Joe Haggerty of BostonHockeyNow writes the Boston Bruins could see the return of top-four defenseman Matt Grzelcyk soon. The 27-year-old blueliner practiced Saturday, but wasn’t ready to go Sunday against the Rangers. Grzelcyk has been out with a lower-body injury and has missed all but two games since Jan. 21. He has tried to come back twice when he obviously wasn’t ready. Grzelcyk has only appeared in six games this year.

2020 King Clancy Trophy Nominees Announced

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The NHL has announced the 31 nominees for the King Clancy Memorial Trophy, annually presented to “the player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution in his community.” Last year’s winner was Jason Zucker of the Minnesota Wild.

Each team submits one nominee. This year’s are:

Anaheim: Cam Fowler

Arizona: Oliver Ekman-Larsson

Boston: Patrice Bergeron

Buffalo: Jack Eichel

Calgary: Travis Hamonic

Carolina: Jordan Staal

Chicago: Jonathan Toews

Colorado: Gabriel Landeskog

Columbus: Cam Atkinson

Dallas: Tyler Seguin

Detroit: Justin Abdelkader

Edmonton: Leon Draisaitl

Florida: Sergei Bobrovsky

Los Angeles: Trevor Lewis

Minnesota: Matt Dumba

Montreal: Carey Price

Nashville: Pekka Rinne

New Jersey: P.K. Subban

NY Islanders: Matt Martin

NY Rangers: Henrik Lundqvist

Ottawa: Brady Tkachuk

Philadelphia: Kevin Hayes

Pittsburgh: Sidney Crosby

San Jose: Evander Kane

St. Louis: Ryan O’Reilly

Tampa Bay: Alex Killorn

Toronto: Mitch Marner

Vancouver: Alexander Edler

Vegas: Marc-Andre Fleury

Washington: Garnet Hathaway

Winnipeg: Blake Wheeler

Central Notes: Dach, Boqvist, Steen, Wheeler

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It looks like Team Canada may have to go without one of their top forwards on their team after all as Chicago Blackhawks center Kirby Dach will not be joining the team in Czechoslovakia for this month’s World Junior Championships. TSN’s Bob McKenzie reports that the Blackhawks will not be releasing the 18-year-old.

Dach burned, the third overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, has already burned the first year of his entry-level contract and has already scored five goals and 10 points in 26 games with Chicago. The 6-foot-4 center has been a solid mainstay as a bottom-six center as he gets used to playing with adults in the NHL. The only reason the why Team Canada was holding out hope is that Dach seems to have hit a rookie wall as he hasn’t scored a goal in 12 games.

  • The Athletic’s Scott Powers reports that the Blackhawks haven’t yet made a decision on defensman Adam Boqvist, who is also a candidate to be loaned to Sweden for the World Junior Championships. The eighth overall selection in 2018, Boqvist is a different story as he has appeared in eight games so far and has not burned his entry-level contract yet. The team must decide on whether to keep him on their roster and burn that first year of his contract or whether to send him to the WJC and then perhaps let him develop more in the AHL for the remainder of the year. The team will announce their decision after they have come to one.
  • The St. Louis Blues are expected to get a much-needed addition as the team announced they are expecting forward Alex Steen to return to the lineup tonight. Steen has been out since Nov. 6 with a high ankle sprain and has missed 16 straight games, but should add some depth to the bottom-six. The 35-year-old has yet to score a goal in 17 games with the Blues this season, but should add some experience and defensive acumen to the St. Louis’ lineup.
  • Despite rumors that Winnipeg Jets forward Blake Wheeler was injured after missing practice Saturday, The Athletic’s Murat Ates reports that the Jets forward will play Sunday against the Philadelphia Flyers. The 33-year-old has eight goals and 23 points this season for the Jets.

 

Central Notes: Blues’ Defense, Perreault, Girard, Makar

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The St. Louis Blues have had quite a bit going right for them and while much of the team’s success could easily be handed to goaltender Jordan Binnington, one key reason the team won both games in Winnipeg is the play of their top defensive pair, Colton Parayko and Jay Bouwmeester, according to The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford (subscription required).

The pair are being used to stop the Jets’ top line of Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor and Blake Wheeler and have played more than 25 minutes matched up against that line in 5-on-5 play. Wheeler does have one goal on four shots in that span, but both Scheifele and Connor have each tallied just two shots combined in those situations.

“Fairly well,” Bouwmeester said when asked how the Blues have defended the group. “We had some breakdowns, and they had some chances. There were some odd-man rushes and things like that. They’ve got skilled guys and guys who don’t need a lot of room to get good chances. Bottom line is I think whoever’s going to control the puck and control the play is going to control what they give up.”

  • Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Sun reports that there will be just one change in the Winnipeg Jets’ lineup for Sunday’s Game 3 in St. Louis against the Blues. The Jets will bring Mathieu Perreault back into the lineup after the veteran missed Game 2 with an undisclosed injury and Par Lindholm will become a healthy scratch. Perreault hadn’t missed a game this season until Friday. “We’re going to need more of that (secondary scoring) if we want to have any kind of chance of coming back in this series,” said Perreault. “Whoever I’m playing with today, our line, the third and fourth line, we’ve got to find a way to make sure we don’t get scored on, and then chip in a goal here and there to try and help the team win.”
  • A.J. Haefele of BSN Denver reports that Colorado Avalanche defenseman Samuel Girard is still being evaluated after leaving Saturday night’s game against Calgary in overtime after taking a hit from Sam Bennett. However, the scribe reports that he is a possibility to play. Girard played 22:05 of ice time in Game 2 and would be a huge loss if he wasn’t able to go.
  • Mike Chambers of the Denver Post reports that recently signed defenseman Cale Makar is expected to be at the team’s morning practice Saturday and could get into the lineup immediately. Dater adds that he gets the impression that Makar will be in the lineup even though head coach Jared Bednar has not made any announcements. The team’s first-rounder in 2017 will have to be protected for the Seattle expansion draft if he even plays one playoff game this season. However, it looks as if the Avalanche are willing to do that.

Snapshots: Three Stars, Rule Changes, Percy

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The NHL has released their three stars for last week, and familiar names occupy each spot. Marc-Andre Fleury is in the top spot after going 3-0 with two shutouts for the Vegas Golden Knights. Fleury allowed just one goal on 77 shots and is now carrying a .911 save percentage on the year. While that number is down from last season, Fleury leads the league with 32 wins and eight shutouts while also having played the most minutes of any goaltender. The Golden Knights are leaning heavily on their starter, a strategy that will be tested when the playoffs roll around.

Blake Wheeler and Sidney Crosby were awarded second and third respectively, each scoring eight points in three games. Wheeler’s performance was capped by a four-goal game against the Columbus Blue Jackets yesterday, giving him 80 points on the season. Crosby, who has 83 this year is actually on pace to record his best offensive season since 2009-10 and crack the 100-point mark for the sixth time in his career.

  • The GM meetings began this week in Florida, and Frank Seravalli of TSN examines ten potential rule changes that the group will be discussing. These include things like changing standings tiebreaker rules, changing how much a player can be fined for certain incidents, and perhaps even forcing players to wear helmets during warm-ups. It doesn’t sound like any huge changes will come out of this week’s discussions, but there might be a few tweaks.
  • The AHL trade deadline passed today with very little fanfare, but not for Stuart Percy. The former top prospect was traded from the Belleville Senators to the Providence Bruins in exchange for Austin Fyten. Percy, originally selected in the first round eight years ago, has just 12 NHL games under his belt and is currently on a minor league contract.

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