Winnipeg Jets Practice Report

The Jets skid has hit three games after a late collapse against the Oilers last night cost them some standings points. They also lost forward Vlad Namestnikov during the 3rd period to what head coach Rick Bowness said last night was a lower-body injury when he got tangled up with Edmonton’s Darnell Nurse.

Skate news:

There were lots of kids at Jets practice today in downtown Winnipeg as they get set to face the Hawks tomorrow afternoon. Few faces missing were captain Adam Lowry and the aforementioned Vlad Namestnikov.

One notable thing was Declan Chisholm taking a spot on the second power play unit.

Lines & D Pairs:

Connor-Scheifele-Ehlers
Perfetti-Vilardi-Iafallo
Niederreiter-(Lowry)-Appleton
Barron-Gustafsson-AJF

Morrissey-DeMelo
Dillon-Pionk
Samberg-Chisholm
Stanley-Schmidt

Hellebuyck & Brossoit

Player media:

Coach media:

Unfortunately had a bit of a snafu with the media today so the first few moments with coach were lost (when he mentions the minor injury to Vlad Namestnikov, the fact that Adam Lowry took a maintenance day/expects him to play tomorrow and that he’s pulling Nate Schmidt in favour of Declan Chisholm who plays first NHL game in 23 months).

Topics:

1) Getting Declan Chisholm into a game
2) Connor Hellebuyck in net tomorrow? (:20)
3) Has he noticed a trend down since the NJ/Buff games? (:38)
4) Every NHL team experiences a “sag” in the season (2:32)
5) Using Barron or Gustafsson at centre? (3:06)
6) Hybrid centre for the 2nd line? (3:21)
7) What did he think of Gabriel Vilardi’s game yesterday? (3:41)
8) Liked what he saw from 13 on the power play? (4:10)
9) What’s he looking from from his team as they deal with this skid? (4:30)
10) What’s he looking for from Declan Chisholm? (5:04)

Starting goalie vs Hawks:

Rick Bowness confirmed Connor Hellebuyck back between the pipes tomorrow.

Health update:

Don’t expect to see Vlad Namestnikov tomorrow as he’s been ruled out of the game against Chicago on Saturday and he could miss Monday against Carolina according to the bench boss of Winnipeg. He did confirm that Adam Lowry took a maintenance day today.

Up next:

The Jets will face the Hawks in Winnipeg tomorrow afternoon in the third game of their four-game homestand. Don’t forget to start your morning with the Jets morning papers at 7 AM, followed by the Illegal Curve Hockey Show at 9 AM and then join us after the game on the Illegal Curve Post-Game Show.