Winnipeg Jets players name suddenly appearing in trade rumors
Many hockey analysts had the Winnipeg Jets primed to make a long postseason run before the season started. They ended up not only finishing eight points short of the postseason, they were also in the conversation among the most disappointing teams. This Summer seems like it will be a complete culture change in Winnipeg.
Hockey Insider Frank Seravalli has Captain Blake Wheeler debuting on his Trade Bait Board. The Minnesota native, has two years left on his five year deal he signed on September 4th, 2018 with an AAV of 8.25 million.
Wheeler had 17 goals and 60 points in 65 games but was an ugly -15 in plus minus.
At 35 years of age watching Wheeler on the ice you can tell he has lost a step or two. Father Time catches up to us all.
The real problem for him was that he was misused by the Jets' coaching staff. Paul Maurice continued to bang the drums of the Mark Scheifele � Wheeler combination and tried to give them first-line responsibilities in terms of ice-time and power-play duties when it was evident the leadership core of the team and offensive responsibilities were evolving over to the Kyle Connor � Pierre-Luc Dubois duo.
Unable to handle the heavy minutes and duties that he was a few years ago, Wheeler was better off when he was finally moved away from Scheifele, and put on a line with Nikolaj Ehlers and Paul Stastny.
Wheeler surged with Stastny and Ehlers, scoring seven goals in the final 12 games of the season, seemingly injecting new life into his older legs. He was one of the better Jets forwards in the second half of the year and showed the consistency that was missing in the first half.
Wheeler has complete control over his destination until July 1, when his full «no-move» clause converts into a five-team list to which he'd accept a trade. The early sense is Wheeler may be willing to consider a proposed destination that also is not on his list, if it's a proper fit for his family and career. Will his cap hit of $8,250,000 for the next two seasons for a soon to be 36 year old be hard to move?
Time will reveal the answer but it certainly feels like change is coming in Winnipeg.
| POLL | ||
Which Core Member of the Jets has the highest chance of being moved this off-season? | ||
| Blake Wheeler | 153 | 37.9 % |
| Mark Scheifele | 158 | 39.1 % |
| Nikolaj Ehlers | 34 | 8.4 % |
| Pierre-Luc Dubois | 59 | 14.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
