Former Jets captain Blake Wheeler announces retirement at 38 years old

Longtime Winnipeg Jets captain Blake Wheelers has announced his retirement from the NHL on a recent podcast episode of the Beyond High Performance podcast.

After suffering a leg injury that limited him to just 54 games with the New York Rangers last season, following an emotional contract termination from the Jets that previous offseason, it's all simply become too much emotional drama for Wheeler to deal with. 

The emotional ups and downs of an NHL season are no longer appealing to the 38 year old.

“My body, can I still go play a hockey game? Hell, yeah. I can still play,” Wheeler said. “It’s just the emotional, get up 82 times – I don’t want to do that. There’s only so much gas in the tank for that.”

Wheeler was known as an emotional player on the ice who had a reputation for being a bit of a prickly personality off the ice, as well.

“As an emotional person, that was my battery every game. Tapping into the emotion,” Wheeler said. “What was really challenging for me as a leader was after the game, you’ve got to dial that down and talk to the media in a way that’s respectful. And I’m like a 10 out of 10 on the emotion scale for the last three hours. I can’t get there.”

In particular, Wheeler states that his emotional nature affected his relationship with the media in Winnipeg and reflected on his capabilities as a captain.

“I know,” Wheeler said. “And I think, I don’t think – that’s where some of the media stuff in Winnipeg, they probably don’t like me very much. But it was never personal. An hour after every game I could have a great conversation, even if I had the worst game of my life. It’s just 10 minutes after, I’m still here,” Wheeler said while motioning above his own head.

Wheeler ends his 15 year NHL career with 321 goals and 943 points in 1172 games split between the Boston Bruins, Atlanta Thrashers, Winnipeg Jets and New York Rangers. He'll mostly be remembered for being a new-age power forward who could drive the net with power, but also had the skill and ability to make pretty plays in tight spaces.