As a youth, Wingels played in the 2002
Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with the Chicago Young Americans
minor ice hockey team. Wingels played three seasons with the
Miami Redhawks of the
National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC). After his freshman season, he was drafted by the
San Jose Sharks as the 177th pick in the
2008 NHL entry draft. He made his NHL debut on October 8, 2010, in San Jose's
2010–11 season opener wearing jersey number 57. Wingels scored his first career NHL goal in front of his hometown crowd in
Chicago on January 15, 2012, against
Chicago Blackhawks goaltender
Corey Crawford. During the
2012–13 NHL lockout, Wingels would play in Finland for
KooKoo. On January 24, 2017, in the midst of his seventh season with the Sharks and having contributed 8 points in 37 games, Wingels was traded to the
Ottawa Senators in exchange for
Buddy Robinson,
Zack Stortini and a seventh-round pick in the
2017 NHL entry draft. On July 1, 2017, having left the Senators as a free agent, Wingels signed a one-year contract with the Chicago Blackhawks. On February 26, 2018, Wingels was traded to the
Boston Bruins in exchange for a conditional fifth-round pick in the
2019 NHL entry draft. On August 15, 2018, after eight seasons in the NHL, Wingels signed a two-year optional, CHF 1.5 million contract with Swiss club
Genève-Servette HC of the
National League (NL). He broke his jaw in the first regular season game with Genève-Servette, forcing him to sit out the first two months of the 2018–19 season. Wingels only appeared in 19 regular season games (18 points) with multiple injuries throughout the season. He missed the first two games of the 2019 NL playoffs before appearing in game 3 of the 1/4 final against
SC Bern, scoring one goal and tallying an assist. In that game, Wingels was also guilty of a boarding against SCB's
Jan Muršak which resulted in a two-game suspension and a fine of CHF 4,000. Wingels made his return to the lineup for game 6, scoring a goal with 46 seconds to go in the game to come back to 1–2, before
Daniel Winnik scored the tying goal for Geneva with 29 seconds left. The game went into overtime and
Mark Arcobello scored the game-winning goal for Bern after 117 minutes, in the third OT, establishing a record for the longest game ever played in the National League. Wingels only played 2 playoffs games, putting up 3 points. On April 8, 2019, Wingels agreed to a two-year contract extension with Geneva worth CHF 1.6 million. Despite a valid contract for the 2020/21 season, Wingels was released by Servette on June 5, 2020. On June 11, 2020, Wingels's last professional team,
Genève-Servette HC, announced that he decided to retire from professional hockey. ==Personal life==