Rangers veteran may land with Eastern Conference rival for 2024-25 season
Blake Wheeler’s future of playing for the New York Rangers has been up in the air since the team’s exit in the Eastern Conference Final last season. General Manager Chris Drury has yet to re-sign the 37-year-old forward, and speculation was that he would retire following a gruesome leg injury this past season.
However, new reports indicate that the Boston Bruins may be interested in offering a professional tryout (PTO) to Wheeler, bringing him back to the team where his NHL career began.
A source close to the situation has told me the #NHLBruins are considering extending PTO (Professional Tryout) offers to forwards Blake Wheeler and Kailer Yamamoto.
Wheeler played nearly three seasons for the Bruins at the start of his career, earning 50 goals and 100 points in that time.
If Wheeler is going to return for another season, it would have been nice to have him around with the Rangers. The veteran forward registered 21 points in 54 regular season games before his leg injury sidelined him for the remainder of the season and the majority of the playoffs. He made a heroic return for just one playoff game where he had 9:18 of time on the ice.
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Rangers veteran Blake Wheeler may end up in Boston this season
Wheeler was beginning to find some chemistry on the top line with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider. He was a solid supporting player for those two, and the lines, at times, looked like they were finally all starting to click. While the job has been passed to Reilly Smith, having Wheeler as a third or fourth line option would have been nice, especially if injuries occur.
