After suffering a gruesome leg injury in February, Blake Wheeler worked hard to make a full recovery and now will be available for the Eastern Conference Final.
New York Rangers forward Blake Wheeler will be available for the Eastern Conference Final against the Florida Panthers.
Wheeler suffered a gruesome leg injury on Feb. 15, which kept him out for the reminder of the regular season.
The 37-year-old returned to practice a few weeks ago and ultimately shed his non-contact jersey on Monday.
“I think once you get rid of the red jersey, and the fact they take me off of the injured reserve, I think that's been my goal the whole time since I got hurt: to be an option and be available again. And that's where we're at,” Wheeler said via ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski. ‘It's going to be in the coach's hands from there, but I'm ready in any capacity I can to help out.”
Despite the odds not necessarily being in his favor to make a full recovery this season, Wheeler never gave up and worked hard to make a return for the playoffs even possible.
“I knew that the team was going to have to do some winning,” Wheeler said via Wyshynski. “I knew that there was going to have to be things that went in my favor to have a chance to come back, but if you have any other mindset, you got no chance.”
According to Wyshynski, Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette said that Wheeler “is going to do everything he can to make himself a possibility” for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final.
In 54 games this season, Wheeler had nine goals, 12 assists and 21 points while averaging 12:43 minutes of ice time.