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Family kept Jets captain Wheeler engaged while recovering from concussion

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In a highly unfamiliar position, sitting on the sidelines while the Winnipeg Jets played a stretch of important hockey games, captain Blake Wheeler couldn’t just lie in a dark bedroom and let his concussion heal.

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His family life wouldn’t allow it and he wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

“The most important thing for me was to still be engaged in things,” Wheeler said after taking part in a full practice with the Jets on Tuesday at Bell MTS Place.

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“We have a pretty crazy household, with three young kids and a couple of dogs. There is no quiet time in our house, in a way that’s a blessing in disguise. It forced me to — as much as you just want to lay in bed and sort of close the door and close the blinds — be engaged in different things and different activities and get outside and go for walks.

“All of those things are so important, just in daily life today, as it is. But when you have a head injury, you have to still keep things firing a little bit. That was probably the most important thing to me. That I was still able to be around Sam and the kids and have a little bit of a daily routine that made me feel like I was still bringing some value to my family.”

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Wheeler missed six games after taking an elbow from Brady Tkachuk of the Ottawa Senators on April 5.

It was the longest absence of his tenure as a member of the Jets. Prior to this injury, he had only missed six games in 10 seasons and only four of those were due to injury.

Jets players who have been with the team for years said they had never played games without Wheeler before.

The best news for the 34-year-old Wheeler was that his concussion symptoms abated quickly and his team did just fine while he was getting better.

The Jets went 4-1 on a road trip, without Wheeler in the lineup, before losing 3-0 to the Edmonton Oilers at home last Saturday.

Wheeler is expected to play on a line with Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor when the Jets host the first-place Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night.

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“It just makes it so much easier to miss time,” Wheeler said. “You feel like you let guys down, especially when you’re dealing with a head injury — you’re already kind of down on yourself a little bit, so you feel like you’re letting everyone down.

“It was just great to have that to look forward to, to watch them play, and how well they played. It made it a lot easier to give myself time to get healthy. It was the first time I’ve gone through it, fortunately, in my career, knock on wood. It wasn’t easy but certainly the quality of the play on the ice and the success those guys had made it a lot easier.”

Wheeler returns to a team that is in second place in the North Division, four points behind the Maple Leafs, with 11 games left on the regular-season schedule.

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The team is heading into a home stretch that will include two games against the Leafs and two more against the Edmonton Oilers, who are in third place, just one point back of the Jets.

The games could go a long way toward determining where the Jets will finish and which team they will play in the first round of the playoffs.

But for Wheeler, they represent an opportunity to simply get back into form.

“I’m just happy to be feeling good, you know, feeling like myself,” said Wheeler, who has 10 goals and 32 points in 39 games this season.

“From a personal standpoint, I’m just looking to be firing on all cylinders by the end of the season, playing my best hockey, our team playing our best hockey. I’m looking forward to these 10 games being the first time being healthy all year, 100%.”

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While Wheeler is no longer the Jets most important offensive player — Scheifele, Connor and winger Nikolaj Ehlers all have more points this season — he’s still a strong contributor at even strength and on the power play.

The hope, for Jets coach Paul Maurice, is that the Jets will be able to establish their playoff lineup over the next 11 games. Getting Wheeler back into the lineup is the first step in that process.

So, what will he be looking for from the captain down the stretch?

“You know what? Health,” Maurice said. “We want him to feel as good as I think he felt (Tuesday). He was scoring goals. That line looked like it was moving again today.

“I’d like to see that chemistry get re-ignited with that line. Get to more of a playoff style of hockey, that’s when they’re at their best. They play that game and he’s a big part of driving it like that. So, just more of what he’s always done would be fine.”

Twyman@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/Ted_Wyman

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