For many players, their late-20s mark the end of their prime. For some, it’s a fast descent. For others, it’s a much more controlled fall.

For Blake Wheeler, his late-20s were just the beginning. At 28, Wheeler established himself as one of the league’s premier forwards. At 31, he recorded his first of back-to-back 90-point seasons, with his first top-20 finishing in Hart voting (eighth).

At the risk of sounding dramatic, Wheeler’s defied ageing curves for years. Surely, the slowdown was inevitable. There’s no way that Wheeler was going to keep this up. He had to get worse at some point, right?

At first glance, 34-year-old Wheeler is doing what he’s always done. 11 points in 11 games seem pretty good.

Not so fast.

Only two of those 11 points occurred at 5-on-5, and Wheeler's sporting a terrible