Winnipeg Jets captain Adam Lowry joins optional practice in regular jersey

Just yesterday we asked head coach Scott Arniel about the steps needed for Jets captain Adam Lowry to shed the non-contact and get closer to playing in his first game of the regular season after offseason hip surgery.

“It’s great to see him but until that jersey changes I’m not thinking too much about him”.

The team were scheduled to hold a very optional skate today at Canada Life Centre after last night’s 5-3 win over the Flames and ahead of tomorrow’s first meeting with the Mammoth, which due to it being a 5 PM start, will not have a morning skate.

One of the guys skating was Adam Lowry who, according to Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press, was doing so in a regular jersey. Before you think because it was highly optional that could account for the jersey change, both Dylan Samberg and Cole Perfetti were skating in yellow, non-contact.

Guess it’s time for Scott Arniel to start thinking about number 17. Of course the bench boss knows that Lowry needs more than just this skate. In fact he detailed on Friday the steps necessary for his return.

“Now he needs live contact. He needs to get into those situations. I think you saw him yesterday taking faceoffs, which he hasn’t really done — which is a little bit different. Last year, when he was hurt, the last couple of years really affected his hip. That was one area — battles off draws — so it’s nice to see him do that. He felt pretty good about it.

Those are the things: the battle, now getting into drills where there’s tempo, it’s 5-on-5, and it’s not just a couple of guys. Hopefully — it’s not the best schedule because we have so many games — but we’re trying to make it more game-like for him.”

The next time for Lowry to skate with the team would likely be Tuesday in St. Paul as they take on the Wild that evening. They could practice on Monday but given they’ll have just played three games in four days I suspect they’ll use it as a travel day.