Winnipeg Jets Practice Report

The Jets list of skating wounded is a long one and with a day off on Sunday it will be interesting to see how many guys are back and ready to return to the lineup as they get ready to face the Sabres on Tuesday.  The team didn’t make any recalls from the Moose ahead of the skate at Bell MTS Place which is a good indication that they will have some healthy players back on the ice today.

Skate news:

According to Scott Billeck of the Winnipeg Sun there is some good news for the Jets as defencemen Josh Morrissey and Carl Dahlstrom are in regular uniforms.  Additionally he adds that Adam Lowry, Mathieu Perreault and Mark Letestu are in non-contact jerseys.  However he indicated no Patrik Laine for today’s practice or Luca Sbisa.

Letestu is somewhat unexpected as coach Maurice had said he was being shut down for six months as of October 31st due to a myocarditis which would have put his return to April ish.

Ken Wiebe of The Athletic Winnipeg provides the lines and D pairs listed below.

Lines & D Pairs:

Connor-Scheifele-Wheeler
Ehlers-Eakin-Appleton
Harkins-Copp-Roslovic
Bourque-Shore-Shaw

Morrissey-DeMelo
Kulikov-Pionk
Beaulieu-Poolman
Bitetto-Dahlstrom

Audio:

Dylan DeMelo on playing in the top pairing with Josh Morrissey, being comfortable in the Jets system, getting a bit of breather between games, facing the Sabres and explaining how they’ve shut teams down defensively as a five man unit.

Josh Morrissey provided an update on how he is feeling, playing with Dylan DeMelo, frustration missing games at this time of year and the challenge of playing with a new D partner.

Coach Maurice:  Update on Patrik Laine.  What does he see in the pairing of Josh Morrissey and Dylan DeMelo?  Some breaks between games in March.  Best defensive lineup he has had this season?  Assessment of DeMelo’s game.  Update on Mark Letestu?  Update on Luca Sbisa?  Can they afford not to play Connor Hellebuyck in the next 15 games?  Strength of the Connor-Scheifele-Wheeler line.  Are they getting enough secondary scoring?  Getting Roslovic up-to-date on the power play.

All audio courtesy of TSN 1290 Winnipeg.

Health Updates:

Coach Maurice indicated that they will put Patrik Laine in the morning skate on Tuesday.  Said he is dealing with a bruise and that the swelling has to come down.

With respect to Mark Letestu the Jets bench boss said “He’s at day one. When he got shut down it was completely shut down.  The heart rate couldn’t get over just slightly above active for the longest period of time.  So our 30 minute skate today would have been all the man could handle.  He got up the ice pretty quick.  So he’s at stage one.”

Regarding Luca Sbisa the update was “we listed him as day-to-day off that, in part because he said ‘I’m playing tomorrow night’ and we did some tests and said there’s no way you’re playing tomorrow night.  So he’s a long day-to-day.  I don’t have one for you.  I don’t know if it’s week-to-week.  He’s got a pretty good injury.  He’s gotta take some time.”

Up Next:

The Jets will take on the Sabres tomorrow at 7 PM CST.  Be sure to keep it locked to illegalcurve.com for the AM Papers which go live at 7 AM.