Player Discussion: Blake Wheeler Discussion

[Trinity]

'He's got f------ 11 points in 10 games': Maurice blasts Wheeler's critics

Maurice says, prorated, Wheeler would have 88 points in 80 games, yet he conveniently does not prorate Wheelers plus/minus, which would be minus 77 after 80 games.

 

[Trinity]

I hope Wheeler plays better, I really do. The Jets as a team are better if he does, that much is obvious. But, when he has been playing the way he has been , it brings up questions , and the ticket buyers and fans and media are entitled to ask them. Are they entitled to an answer? Technically no. And TNSE is as closed lipped as they can be.

So, when people in the media and fans start to speculate, because nothing is ever forthcoming from the team, no one should be surprised by this. If Wheeler is hurt, all the team needs to say is Wheeler is working thru some "bumps and bruises" and that's why his game isn't 100%. People will back off. But when his current level of play is not where it should be for someone getting paid $6,500,000 this season in real money and looking at $10,000,000 in real money next season... there will be concern.

And I'm sorry, but being asked to ignore current performance because of past performance ...... This is professional sports and you are only as good as you currently are. Wayne Gretzky was a great player until he no longer was.

And if he's not hurt, and it is father time, we have a problem.

Bang on. When everyone was celebrating Wheelers 5 year extension a couple years ago, I was one of the only posters here criticizing it as a terrible decision, and for the most part I was called a troll on these forums.

 

[surixon]

Maurice getting way to worked up about this. Wheeler is struggling badly on 5 on 5 and the media has a right to ask the questions.

 

[jetsv2]

Maurice getting way to worked up about this. Wheeler is struggling badly on 5 on 5 and the media has a right to ask the questions.

He is getting worked up as a way to draw the attention onto him and away from Wheeler. He has done this with Wheeler and with other players in the past. If he doesn't like the focus being on a player he will punch back at the media in an attempt to draw their attention onto him.

 

[Teemusalami204]

Who was the horseshit back check that put wheeler in that bad position ?

 

[surixon]

He is getting worked up as a way to draw the attention onto him and away from Wheeler. He has done this with Wheeler and with other players in the past. If he doesn't like the focus being on a player he will punch back at the media in an attempt to draw their attention onto him.

Thats fine but a simple somewhat honest answer would likely shut the media up pretty quickly as well.

Also what forward was he throwing under the bus in his answer. Didn't name names but it is clearly one of Stastny/Conner. So it seems he can get angry at other ayers and call them out but not his captain. Ok then, that was one play but we can go through and isolate numerous other instances of him failing to pick up his guy the last number of games.

 

[Jetsfan79]

Maurice getting way to worked up about this. Wheeler is struggling badly on 5 on 5 and the media has a right to ask the questions.

I think he's worked up more so for Wheeler's sake. Probably knows deep down he does not have his A game going . Similar to supporting your goalie during a tough stretch.

 

[WolfHouse]

Also... With some questioning whether Blake Wheeler has lost a step this year, Jets head coach Paul Maurice comes to the defence of his captain, and rips 'horses----' hockey analytics, explaining that it doesn't tell the whole story.

Zone time, baby!

Man, Wheeler sounds like a dick... like the media focuses on him because he's the Captain...

Until this year, I've heard nothing but soft ball questions towards Wheeler - no one really questioned his play until this year when its impossible to ignore - and even these two questions are so lightweight they don't amount to more than 'what's up...'

 

[Teemusalami204]

Maurice is worked up about it because between him sheif and wheeler is the reason our biggest star wanted out.

And without saying it the media is asking. Was keeping wheeler the better choice over laine? How do you force our biggest star out but your slacking on the back check?

There’s a lot more going on then the questions asked

 

[Romang67]

Maurice wouldn't make it a month as a mod on here if he thinks THAT'S people being overly harsh on players.

 

[Eyeseeing]

Bang on. When everyone was celebrating Wheelers 5 year extension a couple years ago, I was one of the only posters here criticizing it as a terrible decision, and for the most part I was called a troll on these forums.

I was totally onboard with getting him extended.
Slow start yes.
Intense yes.
Offensively good , defensively not good
I’m still glad he’s a jet , not so happy Maurice is still the coach though.
I think it’s too chummy between Wheeler and the coach.
That’s a bad situation IMO
Hopefully I hope what is ever ailing him resolves itself.
Father Time is still undefeated.

 

[Jetsfan79]

I don't think there's anything wrong with asking questions. I think the issue is he is getting too much heat for how he is playing considering the team is winning and he's scoring points.. For me personally, I would say the trend with Wheeler is somewhat concerning and something to keep on eye on. That's it. I think where Maurice is coming from (and I would agree) is that this seems to be on the front burner and focused on too much.

If the Jets were in a 10 game winning streak but won 8 of those games by "winning ugly" . Yes it would be valid to point out those problems. But it wouldn't right to say the team doing poorly and big changes need to be made.

If Wheeler's downturn continues and the team starts losing and or his production slides - that when there should be a major focus on everyone including Wheeler.

If the team continues to win, Wheelers poor underlying stats should be a footnote or something to keep an eye - but not a priority concern to the point of Wheelers shortcomings being brought up in every press conference. .

 

[WolfHouse]

Maurice is worked up about it because between him sheif and wheeler is the reason our biggest star wanted out.

And without saying it the media is asking. Was keeping wheeler the better choice over laine? How do you force our biggest star out but your slacking on the back check?

There’s a lot more going on then the questions asked

Murat is one of the few journalists who's actually trying...

 

[SUX2BU]

I was totally onboard with getting him extended.
Slow start yes.
Intense yes.
Offensively good , defensively not good
I’m still glad he’s a jet , not so happy Maurice is still the coach though.
I think it’s too chummy between Wheeler and the coach.
That’s a bad situation IMO
Hopefully I hope what is ever ailing him resolves itself.
Father Time is still undefeated.

Except on the GDTs ......

 

[Trinity]

I don't think there's anything wrong with asking questions. I think the issue is he is getting too much heat for how he is playing considering the team is winning and he scoring points.. For me personally, I would say the trend with Wheeler is somewhat concerning and something to keep on eye on. That's it. I think where Maurice is coming from (and I would agree) is that this seems to be on the front burner and focused on too much.

If the Jets were in a 10 game winning streak but won 8 of those games by "winning ugly" . Yes it would be valid to point out those problems. But it wouldn't right to say the team doing poorly and big changes need to be made.

If Wheeler downturn continues and the team starts losing and or his production slides - that when there should be a major focus on everyone including Wheeler.

If the team continues to win, Wheelers poor underlying stats should be a footnote or something to keep an eye - not a priority concern.

His poor play is highlighted at the moment because essentially TNSE chose Wheeler over Laine. And that decision is looking absolutely terrible at the moment. Imagine not having to deal with Wheeler the next four seasons, and instead allocating his salary towards keeping Laine.

 

[Trinity]

Murat is one of the few journalists who's actually trying...

Yep, where at the opposite end, we have Ken Wiebe with his usual softball questions.

 

[Eyeseeing]

Except on the GDTs ......

Lol that’s an awesome picture ain’t it

 

[SUX2BU]

Lol that’s an awesome picture ain’t it

I literally laughed when I saw it the first time .....

 

[Pickle Rick]

Who was the horseshit back check that put wheeler in that bad position ?

Had to be Connor based on the fact that he performed a horseshit backcheck after losing the puck causing Wheeler to have to decide between half covering two guys or fully covering one guy leaving the other guy wide open. I don't agree with Maurice on a lot, but he was right on this one. Wheeler was in a bad spot because Connor. On a positive note, that means Maurice noticed Connor's horseshit play so he's not as oblivious to it as we may have thought.

 

[Jetsfan79]

His poor play is highlighted at the moment because essentially TNSE chose Wheeler over Laine. And that decision is looking absolutely terrible at the moment. Imagine not having to deal with Wheeler the next four seasons, and instead allocating his salary towards keeping Laine.

Do we know that as fact? Laine himself said he got along with Wheeler. And before you see this was a pollical correct answer, Laine is known for telling it as it is. At worst he would given a "coded" answer when asked about Wheeler. I saw no such indication and he volunteered too much positive feedback for Wheeler being the main cause IMO

 

[WolfHouse]

Yep, where at the opposite end, we have Ken Wiebe with his usual softball questions.

'Blake, which power shake do you feel gives you the greatest boost before a game? Thy're all so yummy.'

'Look Wieber, just back off - the team is doing great and if we want whey or we want goji - why should that even matter. What's wrong with you people'

 

[jepjepjoo]

Bang on. When everyone was celebrating Wheelers 5 year extension a couple years ago, I was one of the only posters here criticizing it as a terrible decision, and for the most part I was called a troll on these forums.

Just checked and I posted 31 times to that thread... 1st out of 31 posts was "horribad contract"

There were others too

 

[Trinity]

Do we know that as fact? Laine himself said he got along with Wheeler. And before you see this was a pollical correct answer, Laine is known for telling it as it is. At worse he would given a "coded" answer when asked about Wheeler. I saw no such indication and he volunteered too much positive feedback for Wheeler being the main cause IMO

I'm speaking purely from a contract and salary cap perspective.

 

[tbcwpg]

I don't think there's anything wrong with asking questions. I think the issue is he is getting too much heat for how he is playing considering the team is winning and he's scoring points.. For me personally, I would say the trend with Wheeler is somewhat concerning and something to keep on eye on. That's it. I think where Maurice is coming from (and I would agree) is that this seems to be on the front burner and focused on too much.

If the Jets were in a 10 game winning streak but won 8 of those games by "winning ugly" . Yes it would be valid to point out those problems. But it wouldn't right to say the team doing poorly and big changes need to be made.

If Wheeler's downturn continues and the team starts losing and or his production slides - that when there should be a major focus on everyone including Wheeler.

If the team continues to win, Wheelers poor underlying stats should be a footnote or something to keep an eye - but not a priority concern to the point of Wheelers shortcomings being brought up in every press conference. .

I agree - even on this board, if you accept it's representative of the Jets fanbase (which I don't necessarily believe, but for the sake of the discussion, sure) - the team has been winning more often than not (7 points in 10 games, 0.6 seconds away from points in 8 games), and the focus has been more on Wheeler's poor start than the team winning. I think Maurice is getting defensive because, A) he knows criticizing the captain in public like that would probably lead to a worse locker room environment (just a guess, but he's in there every day so he'd know), and B) he wants the focus to be on the winning team, which is something most coaches do.

The backcheck he's talking about appears to be Connor, if it was the first goal.

 

[None]

His ice time just needs to be managed better. He's getting older and he was never a well rounded defensive player.
He still has the wheels to skate with anyone in the league, just not for 19-21 minutes a night.

He's just as important to the team as ever, but we don't have the defense core to bail any of our forwards out with any consistency.