‘Things just keep getting weird’: Wheeler on Fleury’s ear tickle

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This article was published 19/05/2018 (2722 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

LAS VEGAS — It’s not the type of question you usually hear in an NHL dressing room.

But inquiring minds certainly wanted to know Friday what Winnipeg Jets captain Blake Wheeler thought about being tickled by Vegas goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. The strange play happened in Game 3 during a scrum around the net.

“Well, I didn’t clean my ears that day, so joke’s on him,” Wheeler said. “I had no idea it happened. At breakfast (Thursday) somebody showed it to me. Like I said, this league’s getting weird. It doesn’t bother me, I thought it was funny.

“Like I said, things just keep getting weird. It is what it is.”

For the record, the fun-loving Fleury said he was just trying to lighten the mood during a tense situation.

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It was illness, not injury, that kept Nikolaj Ehlers out of the lineup for Game 3. And the flashy Winnipeg Jets forward managed to recover enough in time for Friday’s pivotal Game 4.

Ehlers has had a frustrating playoff run so far, which included also missing Game 5 of the Minnesota Wild series due to some kind of illness or injury the team simply referred to as “malaise.”

Ehlers had no goals in 13 playoff games entering play Friday night, and has gone 16 games without scoring dating back to the regular season.

He took his usual spot on a line with Paul Stastny and Patrik Laine.

Rookie Jack Roslovic took Ehlers’ spot in the lineup for Game 3, and remained in the lineup Friday night, skating with Bryan Little and Mathieu Perreault. That pushed Joel Armia to the sidelines as a healthy scratch.

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A U.S. Supreme Court ruling this week has effectively opened the door to betting on sports in all 50 states.

Naturally, that’s led to some speculation about what impact that could have on ultra-secretive coaches who tend to keep injury reports under their vest, especially at this time of year. See Ehlers and his mysterious malaise as an example.

“Those two things aren’t related to me,” said Jets head coach Paul Maurice when asked if he might have to change his approach going forward. “I understand, a little bit, the idea if you’re making odds you’d have a far better opportunity to make better odds if you knew exactly the lineups. Or at least, you would feel that you would.

“Any team at this point in the year has got a list of guys in the room. And you know it, because the series ends and they always come out and say, ‘OK, these four guys are getting surgery.’ The game of hockey, that’s one of the things that’s outstanding, and yes, our doctors are very involved and they have final say on everything, for sure. But, a big chunk of your team is dealing with something.

“Nobody needs to know that — why a guy comes out of the lineup, whether it’s an injury, the coach’s decision, whatever, that directly affects the health of a player, in my opinion.”

But what if the NHL forces their hands to be more forthcoming?

“Right. So the question would become, how exactly would you implement that? They would have full access to our medical records — that’s one way. So your medical records are going to get fairly bland. He’s got a malaise. There’ll be six guys with a malaise,” Maurice said.

“If you’re going to do that, and it’s a rule, you’re going to have to have a way to monitor it. I don’t know the answer to all of it. All I know is I have a responsibility to protect my players, and I’m going to do that.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @mikemcintyrewpg