Winnipeg Jets captain Blake Wheeler plays the 1,000th NHL game Sunday night – Winnipeg | The Canadian News

For the second time in as many years, members of the Winnipeg Jets will have the opportunity to celebrate a respected teammate’s 1000th NHL game when Captain Blake Wheeler reaches that coveted milestone Sunday night at Canada Life. Center.

Ahead of a game against the Vancouver Canucks on May 11, nearing the end of the 2020-21 pandemic-shortened season, Paul Stastny became the first member of the Winnipeg Jets 2.0 to be honored for playing 1,000 NHL games. . Unfortunately, due to COVID-19 protocols, that event took place in a nearly empty arena.

The Jets host the Toronto Maple Leafs starting at 7 p.m. and during a media availability session Saturday morning, Wheeler said his special night hasn’t exactly been the most important thing, at least up to this point.

“I think you are so focused only on tomorrow, only on the next day, on the next game. I know that tomorrow, I will certainly try to soak up myself, ”said the 35-year-old right-winger from the Minneapolis suburbs.

“I remember last year it was a great experience to experience that with a teammate. I will enjoy it, without a doubt. It will be one of those games that will be a highlight for sure. But I haven’t had time to take a trip back in time. “

And many of those flashbacks will be somehow connected to Winnipeg, considering Wheeler will have prepared for 756 of those 1,000 games with the Jets by Sunday night. Even more impressive is that the six-foot-five, 225-pound winger has missed just 17 games in that stretch, with 11 of those absences occurring in the past eight and a half months as a result of a concussion and then COVID. -19 protocols.

Wheeler’s pain threshold has become a legend in this market. Earlier in the week, Jets head coach Paul Maurice spoke about the durability of his team’s captain, despite playing anything but a perimeter-style game.

“If you play as hard as he does, in traffic areas, you get hurt,” Maurice said Thursday when asked about Wheeler’s ability to show up for work many nights when others wouldn’t or couldn’t.

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“There are guys who have played a thousand games who could probably play 5,000 games. In style, stay out of traffic. But he has been a player in traffic, at full speed. Every practice. Each game.”

So where does that come from? Wheeler admitted Saturday that he was actually the kid who played a bit by laying around on the ice a lot and getting attention.

“I don’t think my dad liked that very much, so they taught me early that there is a difference between being injured and being injured. If you are going to play this game for a living, you will feel very hurt, ”said the former fifth overall pick in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft of the then Phoenix Coyotes.

“The difference between being able to go out and play and it’s not quite black and white for me. Last year’s concussion was that he had a certain gray area. It was like, ‘I can’t play,’ so it was difficult, but other than that, if I’m upright and I can skate and I don’t feel like I’m hurting the team, then I’m going to play. As long as Paul and the coaches agree with that, they will agree with that, there is not much thought about it. “

Heading into Sunday’s game, Wheeler is still looking for his first goal this season, which would be 280 for this career, and 223 in a Jets uniform after starting his NHL career at the start of the 2008 season. 09 with the Boston. Bruins. So maybe the perfect story would be something like the 14-year veteran who fires the game winner home. But he appreciates your time with this organization, and in this city, for much more than a singular moment,

“It is the first place that lets me be me. In all the places that I went before I was trying to become something that I am not. Being a big guy, you have to hit more, you have to fight more, you have to do this more, you have to do that more. I got to be me and I think people here have embraced the way I play, ”Wheeler explained.

“I try to play hard for our fans every night and that is why I have compromised my career here. This is where I want to be and this is where I want to win. I think it is a relationship that has allowed me to prosper and more than 11 years have passed. It has been an honor to play in front of these people every night. “

And while over the years, Wheeler has formed important partnerships on the ice with the likes of Andrew Ladd and Bryan Little during the early years, and then Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor more recently, there’s no question that his linemate number one is his wife Sam. .

“Being a professional athlete is a glamorous job when it’s good. And it’s not when it’s not so good. That’s when you have people you care about and who care about you, ”said the father of three. “She has been my support system for the last 14 years. We’ve had a lot, we’ve celebrated a lot of successes and when it’s as bad as it gets, I mean, that’s when you need it. That’s when she’s been there for me. I will never be able to return it.

“She sacrificed what she wanted to do with her life to follow me, take care of our children and support me. So no, I can’t really put into words what she means to me, but I try to show her. I try to let you know. Tomorrow will be a good day to try to remind him. “