![\"\u201cDidn\u2019t](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/122789909.jpg\" "\\"Source:")
Blake Wheeler, the longtime face of the Winnipeg Jets franchise, officially announced his retirement from professional hockey after 16 NHL seasons. Speaking on Wednesday\u2019s edition of Jets at Noon, the 38-year-old forward shared that he had already made peace with the decision following a serious injury during the 2023\u201324 season. Wheeler leaves the game with over 1,100 games played and nearly 1,000 career points.<\/p>\n
Blake Wheeler retires after injury-plagued final season<\/p>\n
Wheeler revealed that he knew he was \u201call done\u201d not long after the 2023\u201324 campaign ended. A devastating injury in February 2024, where he tore ankle ligaments and broke his fibula, sidelined him for the remainder of the regular season. Though he managed to return for one playoff game with the New York Rangers, Wheeler admitted he no longer had the physical or mental fuel to continue.\u201cI just didn\u2019t have anything left in the tank for it,\u201d Wheeler said. \u201cI was at peace with it almost immediately.\u201d The injury was a turning point, especially for someone who had remained relatively healthy throughout most of his career.<\/p>\n
Career highlights \u2014 a captain, an all-star, a Jets legend<\/p>\n
Drafted by the Arizona Coyotes in 2004, Wheeler debuted in the NHL with the Boston Bruins before joining the Atlanta Thrashers, who later relocated to become the Winnipeg Jets. His prime came in Winnipeg, where he served as captain from 2016 to 2022 and led the team in multiple statistical categories.Wheeler appeared in 1,172 NHL games, tallying 321 goals and 943 points. He posted back-to-back 91-point seasons in 2017\u201318 and 2018\u201319 and was selected to the NHL All-Star Game during those years. Wheeler remains the Jets\u2019 all-time leader in both assists (550) and points (897).<\/p>\n
Transitioning from hockey to family life<\/p>\n
Though the final years of his playing days came with uncertainty, including being stripped of the captaincy by former Jets coach Rick Bowness, Wheeler now looks forward to a slower, more grounded chapter. \u201cI\u2019m just enjoying being a dad\u2026 and being around my family,\u201d he said.Blake Wheeler leaves the NHL as a respected leader, top-tier playmaker, and cornerstone of the modern-day Jets. Though injuries marked the end of his career, his legacy remains intact, both on the scoresheet and in Winnipeg\u2019s hockey history.Also Read: Anaheim Ducks re-sign defenceman Drew Helleson through 2026\u201327 season<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Blake Wheeler, the longtime face of the Winnipeg Jets franchise, officially announced his retirement from professional hockey after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6710,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,8547,8550,575,8549,8548,85,6000],"class_list":["post-6709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-blake-wheeler","tag-hockey-news","tag-nhl","tag-nhl-career-statistics","tag-nhl-retirement","tag-sports","tag-winnipeg-jets"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6709\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}