Wheeler's average P/60 PP boost since coming to Winnipeg was 0.45 P/60 for the first 5 years. The last 2 years (coinciding with the arrival of a certain Finn) it's been 1.04. Overall it's 0.62. You can't see last year's data point for "All p/60" because it's literally off the chart, but it was 3.33 - a boost of 1.25 p/60. So is Wheeler really a PP impresario, coming into his own at the ripe old age of 30? Or is he being boosted by the quality of his PP linemates? I'm not saying PP production is worthless, but how much more or less would we be getting out of a different skilled playmaker on the half wall? Is it worth losing one of the Jets' young stars? Should we be rushing to throw ourselves into that frying pan right now?
There's nothing really fancy about this stuff. Wheeler's getting a huge powerplay boost from playing with Laine and Scheifele, while his overall p/60 is flat (maybe slowly declining - it's a bit off his age 24-29 prime and peak at age 29), and his p1/60 is in decline, all while he's heading into his mid-30s.
Time is on the Jets' side here - just wait and see what Wheeler does this year. If they'd done that with Little last offseason, the Jets might be in better shape cap-wise right now.
And as for the fact that the same people who wrong about Burmistrov may be now telling you to pump the brakes on Wheeler, you seem to be forgetting the times when those people were telling you that Pavelec, Stuart and Thorburn (and Stafford, and Strait) were terrible and that Morrissey and Niku and Perreault were good. I could be wrong about Wheeler - maybe Scheifele will get him some quinoa and healing crystals and he'll put up 90 points until he's 45 years old...but I don't think I'd put money on that side of the bet.