Wheeler one of four Jets hoping to return on Friday

WINNIPEG -Pierre-Luc Dubois had to catch himself.
He had been asked about four players - Nikolaj Ehlers, Cole Perfetti, Blake Wheeler, and Nate Schmidt - being full participants in line rushes, power play drills, and five-on-five play at Thursday's 45-minute skate and mistakenly called them "new players."
Of course, neither of those players are new, but it was a glimpse into just how long the Winnipeg Jets have been dealing with numerous players being out of the line-up with injury.
"Obviously, this is more what it was supposed to look like at the start of the year, but throughout the year every team goes through challenges, injuries, and all those things," said Dubois. "Now with the guys coming back in, we just want to build in the right direction."
This was the first time Wheeler had been a full participant in practice after wearing a non-contact jersey for the last couple sessions.

"It's never easy to watch," he said. "Obviously with the amount of injuries we've had it's been tough, but the guys have done an incredible job battling every day and keeping us a float and keeping us in a great position so hats off to everyone for all the work they've done for keeping this thing pointed in the right direction."
On the night of his injury, which came in the second period of the December 15 match-up against Nashville, the Jets forward left the game immediately after the puck hit him, only to return for the third period.
Just a couple days later Wheeler had a procedure on his groin, which made his return to the game all that more incredible.
So, how did he do it?
"Well, there's a difference between being hurt and being injured," said Wheeler. "I didn't know I was injured until the next day."

Once again, Wheeler's determination was on display as he worked his way back to this point. The initial timeline was that Wheeler, who had nine goals and 26 points in 29 games at the time of his injury, would be out was at least a month.
Should be play against Tampa Bay on Friday, he will have missed just a shade over three weeks.
"We got the news yesterday that he was cleared to play which was shocking to all of us," said head coach Rick Bowness. "That just goes back to his character, his commitment to the team, and his will to play. He loves to play. He works hard every day. Give him a lot of credit, he pushed the envelope, and he's back sooner than we thought, which is great news for all of us."
The full Jets line rushes looked like this, with only Saku Maenalanen remaining in a non-contact jersey:
Perfetti-Scheifele-Wheeler
Connor-Dubois-Ehlers
Barron-Lowry-Kuhlman
Jonsson-Fjallby-Stenlund/Gustafsson-Gagner/Maenalanen
Morrissey-DeMelo
Dillon-Pionk
Samberg-Schmidt
Capobianco-Heinola
Now the focus is on not sitting back, assuming all four of those players return to the line-up on Friday.

The Tampa Bay Lightning (24-12-1) are the opponent that night, and Bowness expects an adjustment, especially for someone like Ehlers who hasn't played since October.
"You can miss a couple weeks and all of a sudden your timing is off and your conditioning isn't quite where you want it, the intensity of the games, you haven't felt it for a while," said Bowness. "They're going to need a couple games, there is no question about that. We'll fight our way through it."
Fighting through it is how the Jets got to this point, just three points back of the Dallas Stars for top spot in the Central - with two games in hand. The fact the Jets went 5-4-0 without Wheeler and Schmidt, and 3-2-0 without Perfetti on top of that, isn't lost on the team.
They know they had some big performances from players like Jansen Harkins and Kristian Reichel - who were assigned to the Manitoba Moose in the last couple days - as well as Michael Eyssimont, who is currently on waivers.
"They came up here and got an opportunity and they probably played the best hockey of their careers and that's why we're here today, in this position in the standings that we're in," Dubois said. "It's not easy, it's disappointing probably, but in this dressing room, we really appreciate the work those guys did for us, because we wouldn't be here without them."

As for the Lightning, they could be exactly the test the Jets need to make sure they don't sit back.
They've split the first two games on a three-game road trip with a 4-1 win in Chicago on Tuesday, followed by a 5-1 loss to the Minnesota Wild the next night.
But Bowness feels Tampa's schedule likely played a bit of a factor in the loss to a quality Wild team.
"They had played in Chicago and Minnesota hadn't played in three or four days," Bowness said. "Minnesota was rested and hungry and they gave them a tough game. So you put that one aside and you look at how they've played for the last couple of weeks - and it's pretty impressive."
ICE CHIPS
There was more news on the injury front, as both Logan Stanley and Mason Appleton skated on their own on Wednesday.
Appleton, out since November 13 due to wrist surgery, had an appointment earlier this week and got the go-ahead to get back on the ice.
"He's still a ways away, but the good news was that we could put him on the ice. He's been doing his off-ice conditioning and all of that," Bowness said. "Even Logan Stanley skated yesterday briefly. So, those are good steps for both of them. But that's all. The doctor cleared them to skate, not to participate in practice or anything like that."