Wheeler/By S. Bradley
Was it a sophomore slump or a sign that Blake Wheeler’s not going to live up to the type of expectations that made him the fifth overall pick in ’04 and then a coveted free agent out of Minnesota in the summer of 2008?
Wheeler dropped to 18 goals from 21 as a rookie this season — a dip actually better than those of some of his more-experienced teammates. But his lack of consistency was truly disturbing.
Somehow he managed to skate through the whole month of December without scoring a goal and potted just one in the month of February. The oodles of chances he created almost every night were supposedly a confidence booster for him, but instead they were just demoralizing experiences for the entire team because he cashed in so rarely.
Wheeler continued to be a key penalty-killer, but otherwise his defensive prowess slacked and he wasn’t nearly enough of a net-front presence with his 6-foot-5, 208-pound frame. Maybe more than any other free agent he has to decide about, Wheeler is going to be a mystery general manager Peter Chiarelli has to solve this summer.
Stats: 82 GP, 18-20-38, 53 PIM, minus-4
Season highlight: In what was Boston’s last shining moment of the ’09-10 season, Wheeler was a star in Philadelphia during the Bruins’ Game 3 win. He scored one goal on a redirect and helped set up a second score while filling in for the injured David Krejci on the power play. For one night at least, Wheeler looked like a power forward.
Season low-light: The month of December was pretty dreadful for Wheeler, who all told went 15 games without scoring a goal through Jan. 4.
Final grade: C-minus
Wheeler’s hockey sense seemed to take a step back along with his scoring touch from one season to the next and you would’ve like to have seen at least a glimpse of improvement. Instead there’s just more questions surrounding Wheeler than answers.
The crystal ball says … Wheeler agrees to a reasonable, short-term deal to stay in Boston and might settle into a more defensive, penalty-kill specialist role on a revamped offensive roster.
I was very dissapointed in my boy this year. After his rookie season success, I was really hoping he’d break out and become the all star that he has the potential to be. He may not be as fast as Crosby, or have the hands of Ovechkin, but he’s big, young and truly has some talent, otherwise he wouldn’t have excelled as he did at Minnesota. Lets hope all this season was, was a sophmore slump and he does some work this season and comes back better than ever next year.
If Wheeler played as hard and gutsy as Recchi each shift he would easily score 35 goals and be +20. He played so soft this year it was very hard to root for him. I hope he watches some tape in the off-season of himself and of Recchi and sees the contrast. How can a 42 year old guy who is 5 foot nothing out work by a factor of 10 a 20 something guy who has all the size in the world?
If the NHL were a no check league he would challenge for the scoring title every year.
Very disappointing.
C- is generous.
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