Winnipeg Jets captain Blake Wheeler cleared to return (could play on Thurs)

The Jets skated at Bell MTS Place today in advance of their game against the Oilers. Ken Wiebe of Sportsnet reported that captain Blake Wheeler was skating in a regular uniform with his teammates but added that he stayed on following skate, which indicates he wasn’t going to be a player tonight.

Bench boss Paul Maurice was asked for an update on his captain. He indicated:

“Blake’s been cleared. He’s feeling great. He’s passed his tests. He, I guess, potentially could have been available for tonight. It didn’t make much sense for me to do that, especially with the change that we’ve just had in our schedule. We can get two more days of working out and then he can get two full practices in with the team. We’re 100% sure as far as we can be with where we are medically to diagnose these things but he feels great, says he is 100%, doctors say he’s good to go but we’re not going to put him in tonight until we can get him in a couple of practices and then we won’t think about it again.”

Makes a lot of sense to let Wheeler rest and recover as well as get in some practice time before he returns to play.