By Jordan Long
The Winnipeg Jets are keeping forward and captain Blake Wheeler. Wheeler’s original deal was going to expire at the end of the upcoming season. Rather than wait until the year was up to negotiate a new contract, the Jets agreed to a 5-year $41.25 million extension.
Wheeler has been with the Jets the previous 7 years. Last year was a career year for him scoring 23 goals and adding 68 assists for 91 points. The assists were tied for the most in the NHL with Claude Giroux of the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Jets knew how valuable Wheeler is on offense. He uses his speed to skate around the defense, creating scoring chances. If he isn’t able to score, Wheeler finds his teammates close to the net for easy goals.
On the power play, he sets up in front of the goaltender to try to screen him from seeing the puck. Wheeler also tips the puck in for goals. He can also feed his teammates for them to score on the man advantage. Wheeler scored 6 goals but had an impressive 34 power play assists.
With his scoring ability the Jets made the postseason. Winnipeg advanced all the way to the Western Conference Finals only to be knocked out by the Las Vegas Golden Knights in 5 games. In the playoffs Wheeler kept up his play, scoring 3 goals while adding 18 assists.
Winnipeg knew they wanted him to stay in a Jets’ uniform. This extension allows Wheeler to stay with Winnipeg and possibly retire there. The deal will end in 2024 when Wheeler is 37 years old.
The Jets are overpaying for him. $8.25 million is his average salary, a lot of money to pay Wheeler. This contract is worth it if Wheeler keeps up his scoring ability.
The difficulty might be when they try to bring in free agents. His salary cap hit may not allow the Jets to sign “high profile” players. That might end up hurting the Jets in the long run especially since they want to win a Cup. Time will only tell but hopefully Wheeler can bring a championship to the city.
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