Winnipeg Jets Practice Report

After being off for eight days the Jets are back in business today in Philadelphia as they get ready to kick off the post All-Star break portion of the NHL regular season.  The big questions ahead of today’s practice was the health status of Dustin Byfuglien, Ben Chiarot and Nikolaj Ehlers.  The two defenceman may be options for this short two game road trip to Philadelphia and Boston while Ehlers is still expected to be a little ways away from being ready to return.

Pre-Practice Note:

Jets announced that they have recalled Sami Niku from the Moose.  During his time with Manitoba this past week Niku was his usual dynamic self adding a goal and assist in the two games that both went to extra time.

Practice Notes:

Neither Mark Scheifele nor Blake Wheeler will participate in practice after playing in the NHL All-Star game in San Jose last night.  Head coach Paul Maurice who was the bench boss for the Central Division is on the ice according to Ted Wyman of the Winnipeg Sun as is Ben Chiarot in a regular uniform.  No sign of Byfuglien or Ehlers.  Obviously without 26 and 55 the line rushes listed below via Jamie Thomas of Jets TV look a little out of whack.

Line Rushes:

Laine-Little-Roslovic
Perreault-Lowry-Tanev
Lemieux-Copp-Appleton
Connor-Petan

Audio:

Connor Hellebuyck

Brendan Lemieux

Patrik Laine

Coach Maurice:  His travel schedule.  Recapping the All-Star experience.  Was there a highlight for him?  Did he hear what Wheeler said about him after the game?  Status of Chiarot?  Update on Byfuglien.  Is Byfuglien an option for Columbus on Thursday?  What was he hoping to see from today’s practice?  How does he approach the schedule of 34 games in 68 days?  Was the Player/All-Star break important for the team?  He must be happy with the way the goalies are playing considering the schedule.  Goalie plan.  How much confidence does he have in both his netminders?  Is he seeing the progress in Laine’s game?  The importance of Brendan Lemieux against Philadelphia/Boston?

All audio courtesy of TSN 1290 Winnipeg.

Goalie schedule:

Jets coach Paul Maurice indicates that Laurent Brossoit will get the start against the Flyers while Connor Hellebuyck goes on Tuesday night against the Bruins.

Lineup vs Flyers:

The Jets bench boss also ruled out Ben Chiarot for the game tomorrow night indicating that he would use the same lineup as he had against the Stars back on Janary 19th.

Jets projected lines, D pairs and starting goalie vs Flyers:

Connor-Scheifele-Wheeler
Laine-Little-Roslovic
Perreault-Lowry-Tanev
Lemieux-Copp-Appleton

Morrissey-Trouba
Kulikov-Myers
Morrow-Niku

Brossoit
Hellebuyck

Health Update:

Coach Maurice provided updates on Ben Chiarot “With Ben because of the injury that he’s coming off of and the block we didn’t want him in back-to-back so I don’t have him going tomorrow.  But if he feels good tomorrow we’ll see him in Boston.”, Dustin Byfuglien “Just that he wasn’t going to play this trip, that he can get better treatment at home.  He’s still in the right window.  He’s back on the ice this week but he’s not there yet.”  He also indicated Nikolaj Ehlers is in the same situation as Byfuglien.  The coach added that he doesn’t anticipate Byfuglien being an option for the game against Columbus here in Winnipeg on the 31st.

Up Next:

The Jets play the Flyers tomorrow night. Be sure to keep it locked to illegalcurve.com for the AM Papers which go live at 7 AM followed by our pre-game report at 10:30 AM.