A closer look at Blake Wheeler, a pair of European forwards making noise and a brief look at Bruce Boudreau … 

Blake Wheeler was a buzzy player in the discussion about Phil Kessel's value and top-tier wingers.

He should make you very nervous following a career year and entering his age-30 season, if you're counting on him as a top-tier winger, though. Consistency is a great thing, and Wheeler was a personal favorite tout all season during the Daily Fantasy Hockey Edge podcast, but spending full price after a career-best showing is bad fantasy practice.

This is especially the case when there was a significant jump in one statistic despite similar results across all others.

For Wheeler, his jump in five-on-five assists (32), including 26 first (primary) assists, was the largest contributor to his 78-point campaign in 2015-16. Those totals were six and nine assists higher, respectively, than his previous career-best season in 2013-14, and they were 11 and 10 assists higher, respectively, than during the 2014-15 campaign.

Mark Scheifele's emergence certainly moved the needle for Winnipeg, and it helped Wheeler's production without a doubt. Admittedly, it is difficult to quantify the degree Scheifele helped Wheeler, and vice versa, but they combined for a 4.19 goals per 60 minutes at five-on-five. Apart, Wheeler had a 2.55 mark and Scheifele had a 2.78 GF60.

The 4.19 is gaudy, and the two clearly have excellent chemistry. They should stay paired in 2016-17, but Bryan Little is in the mix, too. And, if we're counting on Paul Maurice to play Wheeler and Scheifele together, that's another risk packaged in.

Here is another wrinkle. Winnipeg had the seventh most scoring chances (650) in the league when trailing in games in 15-16, and Wheeler had 10 goals and 14 assists at five-on-five with Winnipeg chasing the lead last season. It was good for a 3.33 points per 60 minutes.

When leading, Wheeler had a single goal and eight assists with a 1.82 P/60.

In 2014-15, Winnipeg was a playoff team, and Wheeler had a 2.1 P/60 when the Jets were leading, and a 1.93 mark when they were trailing games.

Wrapping this nugget up, Winnipeg played a lot a freewheeling offense last year, especially late in the season because they were often behind in games. After the All-Star break, their 38 goals while trailing were tied for third most in the league.

If the Jets are better next year, some of those offensive situations will turn into defensive situations, which isn't good for Wheeler's potential of flirting with another point-per-game season.

So, it is pretty easy to chop away a handful of assists given the likely regression of his five-on-five output from 2015-16. And, if Winnipeg is a better team, and they likely will be, another few points could be lost while defending the lead instead of chasing it.

Now we're looking at a player who is fighting to crack the 70-point mark and has never posted a 30-goal season. Wheeler is a solid player, but a lot needs to break right for him — again — to provide anything close to 2015-16 return.

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Since we're on the Jets, lets take a look at what's ahead for the roster. If you missed the Arizona Coyotes take, it's here.

For starters, things are pretty much in place for 2016-17 because everyone is under contract except, Scheifele, Jacob Trouba, Adam Lowry and Joel Armia. There is money for them all, but Trouba's asking price has made him a likely trade candidate.

Still, everything is pretty much in place for Winnipeg:

Ehlers – Scheifele – Wheeler

Perreault – Little – Stafford

Dano – Lowry – Burmistrov

Peluso – Petan – Thorburn

Byfuglien – Chiarot

Myers – Enstrom

Stuart – Postma

*Trouba

Josh Morrissey will be interesting to watch, and Connor Hellebuyck has to stick with the big club for the year.

While Hellebuyck is a player to tackle another day, he has to take over that crease, and it helps that Michael Hutchinson is a restricted free agent.

Backtracking, after taking a second look at this lineup, Winnipeg might not be much — if any — better next season.

***

Alexander Radulov confirms he will play in the #NHL next season

— Igor Eronko (@IgorEronko) April 29, 2016

So, Alexander Radulov says he is playing, but who's signing him?

Nothing has changed since this prior analysis.

***

It was a tough day for Bruce Boudreau, but the coaching shakeup shouldn't have come as a surprise. Ken Hitchcock probably would have been fired if St. Louis lost in Round 1, too.

When projected contenders continually fail to take the leap, something gives, and in this case it was Boudreau. In 2012, it was Boudreau. Simply put, he has the best winning percentage of any coach with 600 games behind the bench, eight division titles in 10 years of coaching but no Stanley Cups.

If he was a golfer who lived on the leaderboard weekly without taking home a first-prize cheque, analysts would highlight his inability to finish a tournament. Boudreau can't close on Sundays.

Saying he had no hand in the 1-7 record in Game 7s or Anaheim's slow start this season is as silly as suggesting he isn't a good coach. But check this: 

Coaches Boudreau has lost to the past 4 years: Laviolette (won a cup), Quennville (won 3 cups), Sutter (won 2 cups), Babcock (won a cup)

— Stephen Burtch (@SteveBurtch) April 29, 2016

Mike wrapped up the canning well yesterday. That save percentage in Game 6 and 7 losses over the past four seasons, though. Yikes!

Maybe it is Boudreau's caddie who struggles on Sundays.

***

The Flames dipped into the European talent pool Friday and inked Daniel Pribyl to a two-year, two-way, entry-level contract.

Apparently, the allure of a potential top-line spot next to Johnny Gaudreu and Sean Monahan was a key element to Pribyl selecting Calgary over other interested teams, such as the Predators.

Additionally, the linked article from Sportsnet compared Pribyl to Tomas Hertl.

Yes, you can take a speculative flier and grab Pribyl in deep keeper/dynasty leagues right now. But for every Artemi Panarin there are more Sergei Plotnikov types. You'll want to have a better feel for Pribyl's projected role before investing in the majority of one-year leagues.

With that said, second-line duty with Sam Bennett wouldn't be a bad consolation.

Pribyl is a player to watch in the coming months.

***

The Norris Trophy finalists were announced Friday.

I'm personally rooting for Brent Burns, but I'm not an awards enthusiast, by any stretch. I've never watched them, and I don't feel they carry much significance. Maybe now that Dobber has a say in a few of them it'll improve the nominations and winners.

I know a lot of people do enjoy debating the finalists, so I created a post in the forum.

Have at it.

***

There isn't a lot to add after watching St. Louis-Dallas last night and Nashville-San Jose this morning.

Dallas' full-out attack leaves them vulnerable for odd-man rushes, like the chance Troy Brouwer missed after Robby Fabbri made a nice pass.

The series might come down to whether St. Louis can hold off the onslaught and convert on their chances, or if Dallas just outscores them.

Brian Elliott looked a little shaky initially, but allowing two goals to the Stars will put your club in position to win most nights.

This was a fast game, and the animosity should only escalate. Buckle up.

The final score didn't indicate how close the Preds-Sharks game, or did it?

At five-on-five, San Jose won the Corsi battle 58-42, out chanced Nashville 32-20, and the Sharks had 20 high-danger scoring chances to the Predators nine.

Additionally, Roman Josi and Shea Weber tied with Miikka Salomaki for a team-worst minus-10 on-ice Corsi differential at five-on-five. In comparison, each Shark had a positive mark in C+/- except Brandon Dillon (-1), Melker Karlsson (-1), Nick Spaling (-4) and Chris Tierney (-4).

Typically, the team pushing the possession wins over the course of a series, and despite cruising down the stretch, Nashville did boast an underwhelming 50.2 CorsiFor percentage after the All-Star break through the end of the regular season.

San Jose had a 53.4 CF%, and the Sharks have the advantage in goal.

Martin Jones is 6-1 with a .926 save percentage and a 1.84 goals-against average through his past seven outings, and has been strong all season. Rinne has a .898 Sv% and a 2.98 GAA with just six wins through his past 13 outings.

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Enjoy the weekend.