Blake Wheeler leaves Winnipeg as the greatest Jet of all time

Blake Wheeler has been graciously bought out, he’s signed with the New York Rangers, and the next time he suits up in the Canada Life Centre he’ll be wearing the red, white, and blue of the team from the Big Apple.

He leaves as the greatest Jet of all time.

And the sharp, clean enough departure marks the end of an era.

An era that saw the Thrashers franchise go from perennial hopelessness to a Jets franchise that inspired optimism over a run of superb drafting from 2011-2016. An era that was unfortunately never punctuated with a Stanley Cup victory, but rather a Conference Finals appearance as its high water mark. And an era that crashed as hard as it possibly could after a challenging 5 year span from 2019-2023 where Wheeler’s play was good, but not great given his $8.25 million AAV contract.

The team failed to build on that Conference Finals appearance – missing Dustin Byfuglien’s on and off ice contributions desperately – and Wheeler’s locker room presence was questioned and he was eventually stripped of the captaincy.

The Jets in the Wheeler era started climbing a mountain through the 2010s, got a taste of the view in 2018, but eventually found the peak of that mountain to be a marshy bog with absolutely zero meaningful playoff success.

It’s that marshy finish that clouds the recent view, but make no mistake about it.

Up to this point in time, Blake Wheeler is the greatest Jet of all time.

Franchise leader in assists and points, captain at the peak

As Wheeler moves on, it’s important to remember just how good he was in his prime. It’s also worth noting that even as the public opinion of Wheeler declined over his final 3 years, he still put up 160 points over his final 187 games as a Jet. For a 35+ year old forward, that’s pretty damn good. And somewhat surprising base on the prevailing narratives. Like it or not, that is top line production.

Unfortunately, those numbers can’t be stated without noting how it felt as a fan, and it felt like he was glued to the top line and number one power play unit despite lower production while fans were clamoring for a different look and a bigger opportunity for Nik Ehlers. The $8.25 million cap hit won’t help either, though he was probably still worth $5 or $6 million at the time. Not an Oliver Ekman-Larsson sized gap, but an appreciable one nonetheless.

Wheeler departs Winnipeg after accumulating 550 assists and 812 points, making him the franchise leader in both categories. Wheeler was a heckuva play maker in his prime, holding the single season record for assists in a season when he tallied 71 in 2018-19. He was the very best this franchise has ever seen at it, and he’s earned those accolades. This man dedicated 12 years of his life to hockey in Winnipeg, and his name will be littered all over the franchise lists for years to come.

He committed to the city, and he delivered.

He also supplied a boat load of points not just for the standards of the Thrashers/Jets franchise, but across the entire league. In fact, if you take the total points leaguewide for his entire Jets tenure, from 2011-12 to 2022-23, you’ll find Wheeler’s name 10th on that list with 795 points in 874 games. Tenth! He’s immediately above Anze Kopitar, Nathan MacKinnon, and Joe Pavelski, and just below Steven Stamkos, Brad Marchand, and Evgeni Malkin.

It’s pretty decent company.

One thing that stat also subtlety alludes to is his impressive durability. You can’t impact a hockey game in the press box, and from 2011-12 through 2020-21, Wheeler only missed 12 out of 749 hockey games. He was in the lineup 98.3% of the time.

You can only be in the lineup 98.3% of the time and play 897 games to become the franchise leader in that category if you choose to be here. If you believe in the organization and decide to spend the prime of your career and majority of your NHL shelf life there. Wheeler did that. And in a city that not all NHLers are willing to give a fair shake.

Remember, this was a man who was not afraid to exercise his rights as a free agent within the CBA. He was drafted 5th overall by the Phoenix Coyotes back in 2004, and for whatever reason, decided to play out his 4 years post-draft to become a free agent and ultimately sign with the Boston Bruins. He was well aware of and willing to use his rights to direct his future and play for a city and organization he deemed worthy.

And 897 games, 262 goals, 550 assists, and 812 points later, it seems that Winnipeg was deemed worthy.

And Wheeler, a worthy captain.