The Jets took Sunday off and are set to hit the ice before they leave for four games on the road. Still some questions ahead of skate including status of Jansen Harkins who had an issue coming back to Canada with the team after the game in Detroit, whether captain Blake Wheeler will be ready to join the skate in a non-contact uniform and if any of the players reassigned to the taxi squad are set to join the team for practice.
Also questions about the status of defenceman Brenden Dillon and goalie Eric Comrie who went into covid protocol back on the 13th and when they’ll be available to join the team on the road.
Skate news:
According to Ken Wiebe of Sportnet a few faces are back for the Jets including Jansen Harkins as well as Blake Wheeler who is skating in a non-contact uniform. Here are the lines and D pairs according to Wieber.
Health news:
Interim head coach Dave Lowry said Paul Stastny will make the trip although he didn’t confirm if the veteran forward would play tomorrow against the Capitals. He also didn’t provide any clarity as to whether Blake Wheeler would play during this road trip.
Forward Evgeny Svechnikov, who was listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury by Dave Lowry on Saturday looks like he will be making the road trip as the team tweeted out airport photos and he was one of the four they had featured.
Lines & D pairs:
Copp-Scheifele-Ehlers
Connor-Dubois-Perfetti
Harkins-Lowry-Reichel
Vesalainen-Toninato-Wheeler (non-contact)
Morrissey-DeMelo
Samberg-Pionk
Stanley-Schmidt
Heinola-Beaulieu
Hellebuyck
Berdin
Player media availability:
Coach media availability:
Topics:
1) Update on Blake Wheeler and Paul Stastny?
2) What has he seen from Cole Perfetti as his role has grown? (1:00)
3) The penalty kill pairs and whether he will keep them together (1:46)
4) Excitement of the team to get back to a normal schedule. (2:46)
5) What is his expectation of his team’s energy level (3:28)
6) The challenge they face with next four opponents (4:14)
7) Reflections on hitting the one month mark as interim Jets head coach (5:01)
8) How has the team dealt with the absence of Blake Wheeler (5:47)
9) Has he accomplished what he’s wanted to with all this time off? (6:51)
Up next:
While not as long as the last layoff between games the Jets will be heading to Washington to take on the Capitals tomorrow. You can start your day with the Morning Papers which go live on illegalcurve.com at 7 AM, stick with us throughout the day for updates and then join the conversation on the Illegal Curve Post-Game Show.
