Wheeler longs for return to work

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This article was published 31/03/2020 (2041 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Blake Wheeler has quickly discovered how demanding life is when the household is playing at full strength.

The Winnipeg Jets captain said Tuesday being a full-time dad to three youngsters with serious cabin fever has proven to be downright exhausting.

Not that he doesn’t love it, he’s just not used to it.

“We’re full-time teachers, nannies. It’s a full-day job. I’m more tired now than I was a few weeks ago. We’re cooking and cleaning and trying to teach. We’re keeping it together,” said Wheeler, who is housebound in Winnipeg with his wife, Sam, their sons, Louie, 7, and Mase, 2, and daughter, Leni, 4.

“We’re full-time teachers, nannies. It’s a full-day job. I’m more tired now than I was a few weeks ago.” – Blake Wheeler

There are no road trips on the horizon for the playmaking winger while the NHL season is suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and there are few options to escape.

The Wheelers are heeding the advice of medical professionals and are hunkered down to stay healthy. But all that togetherness comes with no shortage of challenges, said the 33-year-old Plymouth, Minn., product.

“(Louie and Leni) pretty much fight all day. There’s not a lot of playing together. It’s a battle. Mase, since he’s been born, didn’t want anything to do with me until like a month ago. Now that I’m here all the time, he’s starting to realize I am his dad. He’s tough, the terrible twos… big personality. So, it’s definitely interesting seeing what my wife, Sam, is dealing with on a daily basis,” Wheeler said.

He joined three other stars from the Central Division, Jamie Benn of the Dallas Stars, Zach Parise of the Minnesota Wild and Gabriel Landeskog of the Colorado Avalanche, for an intriguing and animated 35-minute video conference with reporters.

 

 

The Wheelers have an elaborate gym in their house, the perfect getaway an hour a day.

“We kind of give each other an hour a day. I find half the time I’m just laying on the ground in silence to try and figure things out. Just trying to stay ready just in case you get the call that things are going to come back,” said Wheeler.

The Jets have been grounded since March 12 when the NHL followed the NBA’s lead and hit the pause button on the 2019-20 regular season. The night before, Wheeler scored his 22nd goal of the season and picked up his 43rd assist on a Kyle Connor tally as Winnipeg doubled up on the host Edmonton Oilers 4-2 for its fourth consecutive victory.

The Jets are 37-28-6 and occupy the top wild-card spot in the Western Conference. In hot pursuit prior to the forced hiatus were the Nashville Predators and Vancouver Canucks, both just two points back with a pair of games in hand, while the Wild were three points back with two games in hand.

Wheeler said the squad found its groove right before the league took a break.

“We dealt with a lot this year. Injuries were a big part of that. We were kind of playing short-handed a lot of the year, and I think finally toward the end there we were starting to get healthy. Our goalie was playing out of his mind. (Connor Hellebuyck) gave us a chance to hang in there and stay within striking distance of the wild card. We were starting to string some wins together, so it was nice to have a full lineup and see what type of team we had,” he said.

“I think we were trending in the right direction. I know our March schedule wasn’t heavy (nine games in the final 20 days of the month) but we were going to have some tough games to play and some big games against teams that were either right in front of us or even with us in the standings. Regardless of if we ended up making the playoffs, we gave ourselves an opportunity and we had something to play for. That was exciting.”

After defeating the Oilers, the Jets were rerouted to the Manitoba capital instead of continuing on to Calgary and Vancouver, and teammates went their separate ways but have stayed in touch.

“Just checking in with guys to see how everyone’s doing. You get the odd picture or whatever to break up the day. We tried a team FaceTime at one point and it was a mess, so we haven’t done it again,” Wheeler said. “So far, everyone’s doing pretty good.”

In each of the video conferences arranged by the league, players have had to fess up on which teammate they’d rather or rather not be stuck with during quarantine.

“My next door neighbour in Winnipeg is (Jets defenceman) Luca Sbisa and he’s the man. We’ve kind of over the fence, whether it’s having a beer or whatever, kept each other company a little bit,” Wheeler said, without hesitation. “Least guy? Jack Roslovic. His apartment hasn’t been cleaned and I don’t think he’s cooked in it either. Rosie is the best, I love hanging out with Rosie, but an extended stay might be a little long.

“Kind of a wild card and (Jets centre Mark Scheifele) isn’t going to like this but he could be a tough one, too. Our rooms are pretty close on the road all the time. And whenever I’m going down to get a pre-game snack or bring my suitcase down to the bus, Scheifs is typically in the shower at that time and he’s always blasting High School Musical or Taylor Swift. Just the worst music. So, that could probably get old after a while.”

At the end of the call, the 12-year veteran took time to praise the effort of Manitoba medical professionals and encouraged people to continue social distancing.

“The most important thing, and especially here in Winnipeg where it’s starting to get nicer out. We’ve been locked inside all winter, so you have to fight the urge to get out and do things as you normally would. The people up here have done a really good job of taking this seriously right from the get-go,” Wheeler said.

“Sam and I have some friends that are doctors or in the medical field and the amount of work they have, it’s around the clock. Obviously, we can’t thank them enough for everything they’re doing here.”

 

jason.bell@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @WFPJasonBell