Dynamic winger Nikolaj Ehlers shed his yellow, non-contact jersey, had been skating with a regular uniform the last few days and appeared ready to resume his spot on the second line with Cole Perfetti and Nino Niedderiter. This morning he wasn’t on the ice at the hockey for all centre as day 13 of Jets training camp rolled along with a morning skate before most of the team left for Calgary where they will take on the Flames this evening.
This will be the fifth of six exhibition games the Jets are scheduled to play with number six coming up on Thursday when they welcome the Senators to Winnipeg.
The Jets coaching staff had said they wanted the final two games to be made up primarily of veterans but with illness running through the room as well as lingering injury that doesn’t seem very likely.
When head coach Rick Bowness spoke following skate he volunteered that “Nik took the day off because he’s still not feeling 100%” as he continues to deal with the neck spasms that first became an issue back on day 2 (September 21st) of training camp.
The bench boss of Winnipeg was asked a question about the premium he places on practice for the line of Niederreiter/Perfetti/Ehlers since they haven’t played in a game together.
“Everything right now. That’s all we have, that’s all we have. That’s all the time they have together is in practice. So we always try to set up as many game situations as we can in our practices, especially during training camp. They’re going to have to make the best of it but the onus is on everyone to come to the rink ready to work and be prepared for the season. There’s a little bit more onus on Nik because he’s missed most of training camp, hasn’t played any games, doesn’t look like he’s going to be able to play on Thursday, so the practice time now is invaluable.”
Asked if Ehlers had a setback Bowness indicated:
“We’re being very, very cautious with it. But if he shows up and he still feels it, then we gotta get this thing fixed. One way or the other. If it’s more time off, then it’s more time off.”
The conversation circled back to Ehlers later in the media availability about whether he’d need to see additional specialists for this Bowness answered:
“They’re doing everything they can with him. He’s had every doctor look at him. They feel they’re on top of it. They’ll just take the procedures they need to get this thing healed a little quicker.”
The Jets are off tomorrow so we shall have to wait and see if Ehlers is back on the ice and feeling better on Wednesday.
