Blake Wheeler of Plymouth, Minnesota became the Winnipeg Jets all-time leader in scoring on Saturday. Wheeler had one goal and one assist for two points in a 6-0 Jets win over the Minnesota Wild at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Wheeler now has 616 points with the Atlanta Thrashers/Winnipeg Jets franchise. Ilya Kovalchuk had the old record of 615 points. However one must realize that Kovalchuk had all of his points with the Atlanta Thrashers from 2001 to 2010, before the Thrashers moved to Winnipeg to become the Jets in 2011.
Wheeler tied Kovalchuk’s franchise record in points with a game winning shorthanded goal from Adam Lowry and Anthony Bitetto at 14:43 of the first period, which made the score 1-0 Winnipeg. Wheeler then had a power play assist on a goal by Patrik Laine at 6:15 of the third period which put the Jets up 5-0. Josh Morrissey of Calgary, Alberta picked up the other assist.
Wheeler now has 202 goals and 414 assists for the Thrashers/Jets. In 2019-20, Wheeler has 10 goals and 20 assists for 30 points, is a -3, with 16 penalty minutes, 10 power play points, one shorthanded point, two game winning goals, 93 shots on goal, 191 faceoff wins, 26 blocked shots, 58 hits, 26 takeaways and 25 giveaways.
The Jets are in third place in the Central Division with a record of 21 wins, 13 regulation losses and two losses in extra time for 44 points. They lead the Nashville Predators by four points for a playoff spot.
It should be noted that unlike the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League where the historical statistics from the original Browns organization before the team moved to Baltimore remain with the Browns organization since 1999, the Jets’ statistics are exclusively from the Thrashers and not from the original Jets that moved to Phoenix in 1996.
