Blake Wheeler could register his first point as a Ranger against his former club.
Blake Wheeler returns to Winnipeg tonight, the city he played in for 12 seasons and helped captain the team to a Western Conference Finals appearance in 2018.
The 37-year-old right winger has now skated in 8 games as a New York Ranger, making a salary jump from 8.5 million per year to a league minimum 800k deal.
He currently averages 11:38 of TOI, with zeroes across the stat sheet and a -3 rating.
His contract jump is a hall pass. Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrick Kane were worlds better when they arrived in New York, but the trade value and expectations for those two had fans wanting godly levels of production. That is not the case for Wheeler.
Wheeler registered 7 points and 2 goals on the Jets first-line 8 games into last season.
Mollie Walker reported that he is skating on the second powerplay unit today, a move to unlock his scoring potential.
The former Jets captain has a chance to get his name on the scorecard in his return to Winnipeg tonight. Could you script it any better?
If he can't convert, the pointless streak will extend to 9 games.