The big news on Wednesday from Jets head coach Rick Bowness was his confirmation that Nikolaj Ehlers has had sports hernia surgery, and he ballparked his recovery at eight weeks. Said as of yesterday morning he hadn’t yet spoken to the medial staff as to what they found.
“We work off of eight. Gives us lots of time to recover.”
There was hope from the Jets that defenceman Dylan DeMelo would be sufficiently recovered from his upper-body injury that he could have played in the final home game on Monday against the Hurricanes. That was amended to him coming on the road trip with the hope that he would play in one of the three games on the road. Yesterday, Rick Bowness was asked if he could be a player for Friday or Sunday’s games. He indicated:
“We’re going to give him more of an intense workout today. There’s no ice tomorrow. So, we have to see where he is, but he’s feeling very good. So, we would not rule him out for Friday but again we’re going to give him a little harder workout today and see how he responds.”
The curious case of Logan Stanley persists as he has been out since October 24th when he blocked a shot against the Blues. It was revealed on November 1st that he was dealing with a slight foot fracture that was estimated to be about two weeks for recovery. It is now a month later and according to Rick Bowness he remains in Winnipeg.
“He’s skating at home a little bit. He’s not well enough or fit enough to come with the team but there’s progress so that’s the good news.”
Morgan Barron, who is recovering from wrist surgery, is on the trip skating in a red non-contact uniform although he was labelled by Rick Bowness as “aways away”.
The last injured player is Mason Appleton, who required wrist surgery and was projected to need 8-12 weeks for recovery.
And while Adam Lowry played last night in the pummeling against the Wild he didn’t skate in the morning and after morning skate, when asked for a status update, the Jets bench boss indicated 17 is fighting a bug.
