Winnipeg Jets coach Scott Arniel outlines plan for his 4 Nations players ahead of return to regular season play

On Wednesday when we spoke to Jets head coach Scott Arniel he told us he would let us know on Friday what the plan was for his three players involved in the 4 Nations tournament which concluded on Thursday night with a big 3-2 OT win for Canada over the United States. While the team has been practicing it was going to be a quick turnaround from today in Boston to St. Louis where Winnipeg will resume their playoff push on Saturday night.

We got a sense on Thursday morning that Kyle Connor would be a healthy scratch for the Americans and we later learned that Josh Morrissey would not be able to play as he was reportedly really sick. The only player who played obviously was netminder Connor Hellebuyck.

Today following practice Jets head coach Scott Arniel outlined the plan for the trio:

He confirmed that Connor Hellebuyck and Josh Morrissey are flying back to Winnipeg and won’t play tomorrow. He also told us that Kyle Connor wants to play on Saturday so he’s meeting team in St. Louis.

Worth noting that he had conversations with the three on Tuesday when this was decided so it doesn’t appear that the healthy scratching of Kyle Connor factored in although his limited minutes played for the U.S. probably did.