The Jets have now gotten almost all of their pieces back on the board as they announced that Mark Scheifele is ready to come off IR (injured reserve) and return to the regular lineup. The only player who remains injured is David Gustafsson although worth noting he has been practicing in a regular jersey for some time but will remain on IR as per Rick Bowness.
Photo Credit: Colby Spence (Illegal Curve)
The top centre for Winnipeg missed the last six games after he tweaked something in the game against the Blackhawks back on January 11th which saw him leave the game early in the 2nd period. While there was plenty of speculation that it would be a serious injury Scheifele was labelled as day-to-day by his head coach the next day and the team was hopeful he could play in Ottawa about nine days after the injury took place.
Initially he was placed on IR in order to make room for Kyle Connor who returned to action in a 4-2 win by the Jets as the team was at the 23-man maximum after the speedy winger missed 5+ weeks. But rather than being short-term it was just over three weeks in terms of recovery.
With Scheifele set to return Winnipeg needed to make a corresponding move and they did so by placing Axel Jonsson-Fjällby on waivers for purposes of assignment to the Moose. Axel Jonsson-Fjallby played 26 games for the Jets during this latest recall scoring three goals and adding two assists. He is one game shy of 100 in the NHL.
Manitoba are currently on their AHL All-Star break and return to action on Friday in Grand Rapids. They’ve won four of their last five games and should he clear waivers will be a boost for a team making a push for a playoff spot.
