The Jets practiced yesterday in Anaheim but with Adam Lowry suspended two games by NHL Player Safety and with Logan Shaw recalled due to the injury to Mason Appleton it will be a slightly modified Winnipeg squad from the one that beat Calgary on Saturday night in the Heritage Classic. While we don’t know where Shaw will slot in it seems reasonable that Coach Maurice will move Andrew Copp to the middle, bump Mathieu Perreault up a line and put Shaw on the left side which is where he’s been playing some games for the Moose when he wasn’t at centre. We won’t know for sure until Coach Maurice speaks later today.
It has been over 18 months since Logan Shaw’s last NHL game (April 7th, 2018 for the Habs). It is somewhat ironic that he is set to make his Jets debut against Anaheim considering the Jets signed him to an NHL contract last season when he was playing for the San Diego Gulls (Ducks AHL affiliate).
The expectation is that the Jets will recall a player from the Moose today (I would suggest either Joons Luoto or Andrei Chibisov) to be the 13th forward.
There is also a question about the status of Patrik Laine who left yesterday’s practice early. If he doesn’t go do the Jets have the forward they call up (if they have called someone up) from the Moose play or are they forced to run 11 forwards and seven defencemen? Update: Darren Dreger says it is highly doubtful that Laine will play and with no Moose reinforcements expect 11/7.
Morning Skate:
No skate this morning for the Jets.
Pre-Game Note:
Coach Maurice confirms that Patrik Laine is out day-to-day. Luca Sbisa will draw in as the Jets go 11/7.
Projected lines and D pairs:
Connor-Scheifele-Wheeler
Ehlers-Little-Roslovic
Perreault-Copp-Bourque
Shaw & Gustafsson
Morrissey-Poolman
Kulikov-Pionk
Dahlstrom-Bitetto
Sbisa
Hellebuyck
Brossoit
Audio:
Logan Shaw
Luca Sbisa
Coach Maurice: What’s the plan for the lineup. Status of Laine. Related to last year’s issues? Was there any thought to bringing in another forward? How will he work Sbisa into the game? On his relationship with Dallas Eakins. On the Lowry suspension. On the lineup. On Logan Shaw making a debut with the Jets. On Morrissey’s development.
Health Update:
Patrik Laine won’t play and coach Maurice indicated “He’s been dealing with this for about a week or so and just tightened up on him I guess yesterday in practice. Day-to-day. We’ll see.” When asked if it had anything to do with what happened in practice on Monday the Jets bench boss added “No. This is something we’ve been working on for about a week.” He went on to add “He’s got a minor lower-body issue fellas that we didn’t get ahead of apparently and it tightened up on him during practice. Had nothing to do with any bumps.”
Up Next:
Puck drop is at 9:00 pm CDT. Be sure to head over to illegalcurve.com following the game for a recap of the action which includes post-game audio from the Jets room as well as from Coach Maurice.
