After trading in his non-contact jersey for a regular one at practice and resuming his spot in the second line centre position all signs were pointing towards veteran centre Bryan Little getting back into the Jets lineup tonight against the Islanders. He has missed the previous eight games due to a concussion he suffered in the last game of the pre-season.
However today during his media availability Jets bench boss Paul Maurice tossed cold water on that reality when asked about Little’s status for tonight’s game “He’s not in tonight. We’re gonna hold him another game. We had a 30 minute puck movement practice, he worked hard and he got tugged at the end and he’ll get another one today. Erring on the side of caution again.”
Heading into his 13th season with the Thrashers/Jets organization Little has been a pretty durable player, especially the past couple of years playing all 82 games in 2017-18 and 2018-19.