New York Rangers forward Blake Wheeler will be available for the Eastern Conference Final against the Florida Panthers. Stan Fischler On Rangers Cup Chances 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. [https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/40179465/rangers-blake-wheeler-ready-capacity-east-finals] ‘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. [https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/40179465/rangers-blake-wheeler-ready-capacity-east-finals] “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 [https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/40179465/rangers-blake-wheeler-ready-capacity-east-finals], 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.
