Blake Wheeler & Mark Scheifele will play for the Central Division at NHL All-Star Weekend on Jan. 25-26 in San Jose
WINNIPEG, January 2, 2019 – The Winnipeg Jets, in conjunction with the National Hockey League, announced today that forwards Blake Wheeler and Mark Scheifele have been selected to participate in the 2019 NHL All-Star Game. The 2019 NHL All-Star Weekend is being hosted by the San Jose Sharks at the SAP Center on Jan. 25-26, 2019.
Wheeler, 32, is in his 11th season in the NHL and his ninth with the Jets franchise. The Plymouth, Minn. native leads the Jets and is tied for eighth in the league in points (50) and also leads the Jets and ranks third in the NHL in assists (44). Wheeler tied for the most assists in the league in 2017-18 (68) and then had the second-most in the playoffs (18) to lead the Jets to the Western Conference Final. He capped off his 2017-18 campaign by finishing as a finalist for the Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award. This will be Blake Wheeler’s second NHL All-Star Game appearance after he and Connor Hellebuyck represented the Jets last year in Tampa Bay.
Scheifele, 25, is in his sixth full season in the NHL, all with the Jets franchise. The product of Kitchener, Ont. is second on the Jets in points (49), goals (22), and assists (27) and is tied for 11th in the NHL in goals and points. Scheifele has been named one of the NHL’s Three Stars for three separate weeks already in 2018-19 (Oct. 29 – Second Star, Dec. 3 – First Star, and Dec. 17 – Second Star). Winnipeg’s first round pick (seventh overall) in 2011, he finished second in the NHL in playoff goals (14) in 2017-18, including setting an NHL record for road goals in a single playoff series with seven against Nashville in the second round. This will be Mark Scheifele’s first NHL All-Star Game appearance.
New this season, the 2019 NHL All-Star Last Men In presented by adidas will allow fans to select four players from a list of 31 All-Star calibre players – one from each NHL team. The highest vote-getters by division then will be added to their respective All-Star rosters. Jets forward Patrik Laine is the player available from Winnipeg for the Central Division. Voting for the Last Men In opens Thursday, Jan. 3, at 11 a.m. CT and closes Thursday, Jan. 10, at 10:59 p.m. CT. Fans can vote either at NHL.com/vote or on the NHL App.
Laine, 20, is in his third season in the NHL, all with the Jets franchise. The product of Tampere, Finland leads the Jets and is tied for fourth in the NHL in goals with 24 and is tied with David Pastrnak for the league lead in power play goals with 11. Laine is the only NHLer with three hat tricks already this year, including the league’s first five-goal performance since 2011 against St. Louis on Nov. 24/18. A first round pick (second overall) of the Jets in 2016, Laine and Alex Ovechkin are the only two players with over 100 goals since the start of the 2016-17 season. Laine’s 44 goals in 2017-18 trailed only Ovechkin, while his 20 power play markers led the NHL.