Blake Wheeler out for regular season with leg injury in major Rangers blow
So the Rangers will finish out the regular season without Blake Wheeler, who was placed on long-term injured reserve on Friday following a hair-raising fall in which his right leg bent in a way it isn’t supposed to.
It turned out to be as bad as it looked, but as The Post’s Larry Brooks first reported, a return during the playoffs hasn’t been entirely ruled out.
That will depend on Wheeler’s recovery timeline and how far the Rangers go in the playoffs, the latter of which will be directly dependent on what Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury does before the March 8 trade deadline now that acquiring a top-six right wing is of the utmost importance.
“He’s been amazing since he’s been here,” head coach Peter Laviolette said of Wheeler after the Rangers concluded their outdoor practice on Friday ahead of their Stadium Series matchup with the Islanders at MetLife Stadium on Sunday. “His presence. He comes in to work every day. Positive. Hardworking. You can see it right before even training camp started that he was in there early.
“He was committed to being a part of this team and making it successful. He did that, both in the room and on the ice. When you lose a veteran player like that with such an impact in the room, that’s tough to replace.”
At 37, Wheeler’s age appeared to catch up with him significantly between his buyout in Winnipeg at the end of last season and the start of his first season in New York.
He naturally never took the form of player he was for the Jets, often struggling to keep up, produce offensively and generally fit in any particular spot in the Rangers’ lineup.
Carrying a cap hit of a mere $800,000, however, Wheeler still had his moments, brought leadership and had an apparent impact on the Rangers’ locker room.
The way Wheeler’s contract was structured, with $300,000 in performance bonuses for reaching 10-, 20- and 30-game marks (per CapFriendly), indicates that the possibility of the former Jets captain getting hurt was on Drury’s mind.
Wheeler ultimately fulfilled all those bonus requirements by playing in 54 games.
It’s of note that Wheeler missed a total of seven games through the first 11 years of his career.
The Rangers won’t get any plan-changing cap relief from placing Wheeler on LTIR, but it is $800,000 more than they would’ve had.
Wheeler, who scored nine goals and dished 12 assists, started 32 games on the right wing of the top line next to Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider.
He also skated on the third line with Vincent Trocheck and Will Cuylle in 10 games, as well as six contests with Jonny Brodzinski in the middle and four with Nick Bonino at center.
During the Rangers’ outdoor practice on Friday, it was Jimmy Vesey who got the call to replace Wheeler on the first line. Laviolette said Vesey would stay on that line for practice on Saturday at MSG Training Center, as well.
“I know that Jimmy has moved up the lineup,” Laviolette said. “I know he’s played in a bunch of different roles in his time in New York. Some of that has been with Mika and Kreids. To me, that’s a fit that we tried [Thursday night against the Canadiens] and it was seamless. I thought they did a really good job.
“They produced, generated offense, scored goals. So that’s something that we’ll leave in place [Saturday] and work again in practice.”
