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tRY IT NOWWhen the Rangers were eliminated from the playoffs back in 2024, Blake Wheeler wasn’t sure whether he’d want to come back and play another season.
He didn’t end up doing so, but the 39-year-old didn’t end up staying away from hockey for long.
Wheeler rejoined the Rangers Monday in a front-office role, taking the title of hockey operations advisor as part of a group of hirings and promotions announced by general manager Chris Drury.
As part of that, Ryane Clowe returned to the Blueshirts as an assistant general manager.
Ryan Martin was promoted from assistant GM to associate GM, while Jim Sullivan was promoted to assistant GM.
Martin will continue to hold the general manager title for AHL Hartford.
Wheeler, who spent the bulk of his 16-year playing career with the Jets, where he was captain for six seasons, played in New York for just one season, taking part in 54 games before suffering a gruesome leg injury.
Though the injury appeared to be season-ending, Wheeler worked his way back ahead of the when anyone thought he’d be ready and got into Game 4 of the conference finals, skating 9:18 in the 3-2 overtime loss to Florida, which ended up being the last game of his career.
“Not everybody would take the three-month journey to work their way back in that situation,” then-captain Jacob Trouba said at the time.
“That just speaks to the character of the man, of who he is. We saw how hard he worked the past three-plus months to come back and play and contribute to our team.”
As for Clowe, his previous tenure in New York included two years as a hockey operations advisor and a year as a co-senior advisor before leaving for San Jose, where he was an assistant general manager.
He announced his resignation from his role with the Sharks in a statement Sunday, calling it an “extremely difficult decision” to leave a franchise with which he spent most of his playing career.
“I loved being back in San Jose and working with [Sharks GM] Mike Grier and his entire team but at this point, this decision is in the best interest of my family,” Clowe said in the statement. “The franchise has an exciting future ahead and is set up to be successful for a long period of time, and I am grateful to Mike and [team president] Jonathan Becher for giving me the opportunity to return to San Jose.”
Sullivan, who is not related to coach Mike Sullivan, previously held the title of VP of hockey strategy and data management.
He has worked for the Rangers for 17 seasons, starting as a video analyst in 2009.
Martin joined the Rangers along with Drury in 2021 and worked 16 years for the Red Wings, including 11 as assistant GM, prior to that.
Until now, Martin was the only assistant general manager under Drury, so having two assistants plus an associate GM will be a change to how the Rangers operate.