The title alone will surely generate a certain level of resentment toward Chris Drury’s “highlight” of the 2023 offseason. But to be fair in our 2024 Blake Wheeler report card, we need to step back and look at the bigger picture. Signed as a third-line player, Wheeler played most of the season as a miscast top-six player. Yet he still posted a respectable 9-12-21 in 54 games before a leg injury cost him the rest of the season and perhaps the rest of his career.
Wheeler was slated to start the season playing on a third scoring line with Will Cuylle and Vincent Trocheck. It was clear from the start that Wheeler was at least a step too slow for the Rangers’ style of play, but both Cuylle and Trocheck were able to carry the weight while Wheeler held his own. He wasn’t expected to carry a line, just provide additional scoring opportunities down low.
Unfortunately, Filip Chytil’s injury messed things up. Then Kaapo Kakko was taken out of the first line because he just didn’t mesh with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider despite solid possession numbers. Those possession numbers looked good on the surface, but there was a severe lack of offensive driving, so Wheeler was brought in. The line was objectively worse overall, but it was a little more offensive at the expense of excellent defense.
Wheeler was never destined to be a three-zone, two-way player at this point in his career. He was signed as a bargain-basement prospect who wanted one last shot. Had the Rangers kept Wheeler on the third line, we would likely be having a different conversation today. That’s just not how the season went, and Wheeler was one of many miscasts throughout the season.
It’s probably unfair to judge Wheeler based on his nearly full season as the Rangers’ 1RW, as he was never meant to play that role. Yet he played it, and now we have to be a little more subjective than we’d like in giving his season a “grade.”
Wheeler didn’t play in the postseason, and it’s fair to say he would have been inferior against teams that played much faster, like Carolina and Florida, but there probably wouldn’t have been much of a net difference between him and Jack Roslovic in the same role.
Wheeler did everything he could. For $800,000, his performance was fine for the salary. It was a low-risk, high-reward contract that just didn’t work out. He was respectable at best.
