Blake Wheeler is running out of chances to win a Cup
There are aging players you root against because they have won several Stanley Cups and more than their fair share of awards. Blake Wheeler isn’t one of those players, as he found himself playing for the floundering Atlanta Thrashers not long before his former team, the Boston Bruins, hoisted the Stanley Cup.
Wheeler was part of several impeccable teams after the Thrashers relocated and rebranded themselves as the Winnipeg Jets. And while he once took Second-Team All-Star honors and finished in the top-10 for the Hart Trophy in the past, the Stanley Cup has evaded Wheeler.
This season may be the 37-year-old’s best chance to win the Cup, and that will push him to help put the New York Rangers in the most ideal situation in the playoffs. While it’s true Wheeler’s role in New York isn’t what it was in Winnipeg, he’s still proven himself to be one of the most effective lower-liners in hockey, and it’s something he must parlay in the season’s home stretch.
The motivational aspect is there, so if we see more flashes of who was for a good stretch there one of the best players in hockey, the Rangers will more than benefit when they need production from one of their most experienced skaters.