The Winnipeg Jets will be without Blake Wheeler for at least a month, after the veteran forward underwent groin surgery on Friday.
Head coach Rick Bowness revealed the news on Saturday in Vancouver, where the Jets are scheduled to play the Canucks in the evening.
“He’s one tough cookie,” Bowness said about the fact Wheeler played the third period against Nashville on Thursday despite the injury.
Wheeler, 35, has nine goals and 17 assists in 29 games this season.
The Jets will also be without defenceman Nate Schmidt for the game, as well as the man called up to replace him: Ville Heinola. Bowness said Heinola, 21, has “been very sick” lately, but the hopes to have the Finnish rearguard in the lineup for Sunday’s game against Seattle.
The Jets lost Schmidt, 31, in that same Thursday game after a crushing hit by the Predators’ Tanner Jeannot. He will be out for four to six weeks, according to Bowness.