Photo Credit: Dave Mahussier
The Jets kick off their 2017-18 playoffs with a practice today at Bell MTS IcePlex. Questions ahead of skate is the status of Jacob Trouba who left practice last week after colliding with Brandon Tanev which forced him to skip the Saturday night season finale against the Hawks as well as Tobias Enstrom who was shut down for the rest of the regular season a few weeks back so he could be ready to go for game 1.
Practice notes:
According to Ted Wyman of the Winnipeg Sun the Jets have Matt Hendricks on the ice with them in a non-contact uniform. His colleague at the Sun Ken Wiebe is reporting that Jacob Trouba is on the ice practicing but Tobias Enstrom is not. Jets lines and D pairs via Ken are listed below.
Jets lines, D pairs:
Connor-Scheifele-Wheeler
Ehlers-Stastny-Laine
Perreault-Little-Armia
Copp-Lowry-Tanev
Extra unit is Matthias-Hendricks-Roslovic
Morrissey-Trouba
Morrow-Byfuglien
Chiarot-Myers
Extra: Marko Dano is working on D with Tucker Poolman to make it an even four pairings.
Audio:
Blake Wheeler
Mathieu Perreault
Bryan Little
Connor Hellebuyck
Patrik Laine
Andrew Copp
Coach Maurice: Update on Enstrom. Rest of the team OK? What is day 1 like as they prepare for Wednesday? Is this the hardest practice of the playoffs? Has Enstrom been on the ice at all? Difference going into these playoffs vs the last ones? On playoff experience. Any concern about Trouba’s readiness? Does he want the team to embrace the buzz around the city? On Hellebuyck’s playoff mentality. On the challenge of finding space. Did he allow himself a chance to reflect on how successful they were during the regular season? On the Wild. Getting to the middle of the ice against Minnesota. Expecting offence from the D? Is Hendricks an option for the series? Is Enstrom possible for game 2? What does he worry about as a coach? The last few weeks of the season. On Wheeler driving the bus. Does he have to guard against players trying to do too much? How do they match up against the Wild? How valuable has the acquisition of Joe Morrow proved?
Audio courtesy of TSN 1290 Winnipeg.
Health Update:
Defenceman Tobias Enstrom was put on the shelf for the conclusion of the regular season with the hope that he would be ready for the playoffs. He wasn’t skating today and coach Maurice indicated that “I don’t think I have him in game one. I want to give him as much time as we can to get right. He’s not far off but he won’t go.” When asked if Enstrom has been on the ice at all the Jets bench boss said “No he has not”. Later in the scrum he was asked if Enstrom was possible for game 2 “We just wait and see on it”.
Forward Matt Hendricks has been out of the lineup for awhile and was seen in a non-contact uniform today. When asked if he was an option for this series coach Maurice said “Possibly toward the end”.
Coach Maurice was also asked if he has any concerns about Jacob Trouba‘s readiness to which he replied “nope”.
