The Jets had a bizarre Thursday which saw them announce that they were sending 2019 1st round pick Ville Heinola to the AHL, followed by the unfortunate news coming out that forward Mark Letestu would be out for six months as he deals with a health situation, then Jets bench boss Paul Maurice ruled Patrik Laine out for tonight’s game while Bryan Little left practice early and is being evaluated today to determine if he can play this evening. That much info requires a ‘this is fine’ meme. The Jets didn’t announce who they plan to recall from the Moose (my guess is CJ Suess, Luoto or Chibisov) but we do know that Connor Hellebuyck will start in net.
For now the lines are based on yesterday’s practice. With Little questionable and Lowry unavailable as he serves the final game of his suspension might we see a member of the Moose making their regular season NHL debut (provided my above hunch is accurate). Stay tuned. Media availability is at 1 pm CT.
Update:
The Jets announced that they have recalled CJ Suess. It is the first NHL recall for Suess and depending on what happens with Little he could also be getting his first taste of regular season NHL action.
Morning Skate:
No skate this morning for the Jets.
Projected lines and D pairs:
Connor-Scheifele-Wheeler
Ehlers-Little-Roslovic
Perreault-Copp-Bourque
Gustafsson-Suess-Shaw
Morrissey-Poolman
Kulikov-Pionk
Sbisa-Bitetto
Hellebuyck
Brossoit
Audio:
CJ Suess
Andrew Copp
Coach Maurice: Does he know if Bryan Little is a player tonight? Will CJ Suess make his NHL debut? Would he go 11/7? Is Laine an option? What has he heard about Suess during his time with the Moose from Coach Vincent? Growth of players from Development Camp to polished pro. Whether he goes with six or seven D would Beaulieu be one of them? Status of Laine? What does he expect from the Sharks? What are some of the challenges of the second wave of Shark attack? Assessing Mark Scheifele’s game. The team malaise.
All audio courtesy of TSN 1290 Winnipeg.
Health News:
With Bryan Little leaving practice early on Thursday the health of the forward was the first question to Jets bench boss Paul Maurice who indicated “He feels good today when he came in so, we’re not going to prep him twice. We’ll just put him in the warm-up and if he feels as strong as he feels now then he’ll be a player for us.”
With respect to defenceman Nathan Beaulieu Coach Maurice will hold him out for tonight’s game and it sounds like he will hold him out for tomorrow “I’m probably leaning on no. That we’d wait ’till we get back.”
Maurice didn’t rule out Patrik Laine for tomorrow’s game in Vegas. “There’s a chance. We just want to make sure we get ahead of it. That we are not dealing with this thing all year and we feel that we got to it early enough that we shouldn’t have to.”
Up Next:
Puck drop is at 9:30 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.
