Winnipeg Jets Morning Papers

Note:  The Jets hit the ice on Tuesday for a practice in Edmonton which featured Pierre-Luc Dubois although it seems unlikely he will be a player tonight in the re-match against the Oilers. Morning skate gets underway at 11:30 AM MT (12:30 CT).  Stay tuned for the pre-game report ahead of the 9 PM CT puck drop.

Note II:  The Moose looked like they were loose after 20 minutes of play on Tuesday night but the Marlies took over in the middle frame on way to a 6-2 victory to drop Manitoba to 0-2-0 on the season.  Today is a day off ahead of the third game of four this week between the two teams.

Note III: Jets 2019 4th rounder Henri Nikkanen is heating up for Jukurit. He’s up to 5G 8A in 28 games. However he’s now scored three goals in his last five games including this one yesterday. Moved into 6th spot on Liiga U20 scoring leaders (one point back of fellow 2019 Jets draft pick Ville Heinola, who is still in 5th despite leaving for the World Juniors in December).

Jets news:

Winnipeg Sun: Jets winning one trade, anyway.  Given that the Jets could have Pionk and Heinola patrolling the bac end for years to come it clearly looks like a win for the local NHL team given what the Minnesotan has already done for them since he came from NYC.

Winnipeg Sun:  Time ticking as Jets’ Dubois nears return.  Check out Paul’s notebook column which looks at: 1) Time ticking as Jets’ Dubois nears return. 2) Niku waiting around. 3) Health news. 4) 4th line competition. 5) Lowry’s fight. 6) Cleaning up their game. 

Winnipeg Free Press:  Mike’s Jets Notebook. (Paywall).  He covers a number of topics in this article including: 1) Magical milestone within McDavid’s reach. 2) Thrilling action in Canadian division. 3) Lowry/Nurse tilt. 4) Missing Dubois and other health news. 5) Niku in hockey purgatory.

Winnipeg Free Press:  Trouba trade tilts further in Jets favour.  (Paywall).  Even with the bump in salary that Pionk as an RFA will receive it will be significantly less than the money Jacob Trouba is making.  Of course the pairing of Trouba and Morrissey was solid for Winnipeg but eventually Ville Heinola will be up and as I said above, will give the Jets some solid strength on the backend. 

Global News:  Jets keep things interesting through first quarter of season.  In a truncated season the wins and losses will be even more magnified. Ken reflected on the club reaching the quarter mark of the season.

Sportsnet:  Pionk flies under radar with Jets, but ‘amazing’ play drawing attention. More and more you are seeing why the Jets were willing to take him in the Trouba trade.  Ken wrote about the soft-spoken Minnesotan.

Moose news:

Illegal Curve:  Marlies use a strong second period to roll over the Moose 6-2.  Includes a look at the lineup used by Manitoba, a video recap of the game and post-game interviews with Kristian Reichel and coach Pascal Vincent.