Wheeler, Scheifele aim to shine with stars
Jets among eight teams with two or more representatives at NHL’s mid-season showcase event
WINNIPEG — Blake Wheeler and Mark Scheifele will be the Winnipeg Jets’ representatives at this year’s NHL all-star game in San Jose.
Wheeler is Winnipeg’s top point-getter with six goals and 44 assists in 39 games.
He ranked third in the NHL for assists going into the New Year and his 50 points had him tied for eighth in league scoring.
Wheeler, the Jets captain, will be headed to his second straight all-star game.
It’s the first all-star recognition for Scheifele, tied for 11th overall with 49 points, including 22 goals.
Passed over for the event was Winnipeg’s top goal scorer, Patrik Laine, who burned through November with 18 goals in 12 games, but has cooled off since.
Laine’s 24 goals has him tied for fourth in the league.
The Jets are one of eight teams with multiple players selected for the Jan. 26 game, the others being the host Sharks (three players), Washington, Tampa Bay, Toronto, Colorado, Nashville and Columbus (two each).
OLD MAN WHEELER
After scoring his first goal in 10 games in Edmonton, Wheeler in a between-periods TV interview joked about how even the “old man” can find the net once in a while.
With just six goals in 39 games, Wheeler is scoring at the lowest rate of his 11-year career. His previous low through his first 39 games is seven goals. He did it twice: in his first year in Winnipeg in 2011-12 and way back with Boston in 2009-10.
No. 26 is on pace for around 13 goals, which would be the lowest goal total of his career, his previous low being 17 in 2011-12.
Of course, when you’re dishing it off to players like Scheifele and Laine and are on pace for a career-high 92 assists, it flies under the radar.
As opponents continue trying to nullify Scheifele and Laine on the power play, Wheeler will likely start shooting more and we’ll see if the “old man” (he’s 32) still has his range.
EXTRA WORK PAYS OFF
There was nothing surprising about how Brendan Lemieux scored his second goal of the game — on a midair deflection of a point shot — in the Jets’ 4-3 win in Edmonton on New Year’s Eve.
Lemieux spends an unusual amount of time on tip drills and has developed an uncanny knack for it.
While down on the farm with the Manitoba Moose, he’d stay on the ice long after practice, trying to get his stick on shot after shot, connecting on a high percentage of them.
“He’s got a really good stick for tips,” Wheeler said postgame in Edmonton.
Lemieux’s winning goal, redirecting Joe Morrow’s midair shot with the shaft of his stick, marked the first time he’s pulled the trick in the NHL.
It was also the first game-winner of Lemieux’s young career, coming in his first two-goal game, and the first goals that meant something. Players value them all, but not all goals are created equal.
Lemieux’s first NHL tally, which came early last season, was the seventh Jets goal in a 7-1 romp over Pittsburgh. His second, in late November this season, was his team’s last
goal in an 8-4 win in St. Louis.
In Edmonton, Lemieux first scored an ugly one, making it 2-1 Jets midway through the second. His second one was the difference in the game.
LIKE FATHER ...
We’ve already seen how Lemieux has adopted his dad’s ability to get under the opponent’s skin. It seems he’s even inherited the knack for getting under a teammate’s skin.
At a practice a couple of weeks ago, Lemieux so annoyed Scheifele, bumping into him on one play, getting his stick up into Scheifele’s jersey on another, Scheifele yanked the stick from his hand and whirled it up over the glass and into the seats.
But if he can duplicate his dad Claude’s ability to come through in the clutch, driven by a willingness to do whatever it takes to win, then we’ll look back at that blockbuster Evander Kane trade through yet another lens.