Those opportunities have come with Paul Maurice at his side. In fact, 436 (136 G, 300 A) of those 700 points have been recorded with Maurice behind the bench of the Winnipeg Jets.
"That's a big number, right? Blake is very unique in terms of the players that I've coached. I've had four players in the Hall of Fame that I've coached," said Maurice.
"He's unique. In his point production as almost a grinding power forward. Usually those guys are kind of score goals within ten feet of the net, they drive pucks to the net, they're in on tips. He's so unusual with his ability to make plays and still play like a grinder. Usually if you are a puck mover, you don't nearly need to get into the fray very much. I just don't know if I've seen a guy like that."
CHANGE IN THE POWER PLAY
The Jets had a new look with their man advantage Thursday against the Wild. The top power play unit saw Wheeler and Patrik Laine change sides of the ice with the captain setting up on the left side and Laine on the right.
The Wild looked like they didn't know what to do the first time the Jets had a power play, Winnipeg fired six shots at Devyn Dubnyk and came close a couple of times.
"That goes back to last year moving the power play, it was just done differently. We did it last year where Blake would go around the back of the net and start to set up from the other side," explained Maurice.
"We just did it differently this year. (Associate coach) Jamie Kompon and those five players (Wheeler, Laine, Scheifele, Kyle Connor and Josh Morrissey) in a lot of ways run that power play. It was always the question 'Ok, now what's next?'"
