Winnipeg Jets Practice Report

While the NHL will try to leave the 4 Nations behind and turn their focus to the resumption of the NHL regular season it seems likely the focus today will be on an incredible 4 Nations championship game in Boston which saw Canada pull off the 3-2 OT win over the United States when Connor McDavid played overtime hero. Of course it had impact on a trio of Jets as Josh Morrissey wasn’t able to play for Canada as he was dealing with an illness while Kyle Connor was a healthy scratch. In the end only Connor Hellebuyck played in the final game. Head coach Scott Arniel alluded to the fact that he’s gonna have plans for the players as to whether they join the team in St. Louis or if they skip Saturday’s game against the Blues and fly back to Winnipeg. Given the illness to 44 and the game 37 played it seems likely that just 81 is available but we shall have to wait and hear what Scott Arniel tells us after today’s skate.

We did see Morgan Barron in a regular jersey on Thursday although he didn’t skate with his teammates. We later learned that he had snuck onto the ice in that jersey and also into some goalie drills. Today the expectation is he will skate with his teammates in a non-contact uniform.

Skate news:

Morgan Barron couldn’t sneak into practice in a regular jersey today but he is skating in a non-contact one.

Lines & D pairs:

Iafallo-Scheifele-Vilardi
Ehlers-Namestnikov-Perfetti
Niederreiter-Lowry-Appleton
Barron (non-contact)-Gustafsson-Kupari

Samberg-Pionk
Stanley-DeMelo
Heinola-Miller
Fleury

Comrie
Kahkonen

Player media:

Coach media:

Topics:

1) His thoughts on the championship game? Status of Josh Morrissey?
2) Did he have a conversation with Kyle Connor? (1:25)
3) How surprised was he that USA scratched Kyle Connor? (2:00)
4) How disappointed was Josh Morrissey? (2:31)
5) Good sign that Josh Morrissey can fly home? (2:50)
6) Does he envision giving them any more time off? (3:17)
7) 26 games in 54 days (3:41)
8) Benefit of starting off against a Central rival? (4:48)
9) Adam Lowry is good to go? (5:14)
10) Figuring out D pairings without 44? (5:16)
11) Roster math checking out (5:40)

Plan for 4 Nations players:

Jets head coach Scott Arniel confirmed his plan for the trio of players s that Connor Hellebuyck and Josh Morrissey are flying back to Winnipeg and won’t play tomorrow. He told us that Kyle Connor wants to play on Saturday so he’s meeting team in St. Louis. This was confirmed with the players on Tuesday.

Captain is back:

Winnipeg bench boss Scott Arniel confirmed that captain Adam Lowry is ready to go and will return to the Jets lineup for the first time since he was injured in Utah back on January 20th. His club has won eight straight since the captain was injured

Up next:

The Jets will fly this afternoon to St. Louis for their one-game road trip to face the Blues You can start your day with all the latest Jets and Moose news in the AM Papers on illegalcurve.com which are available starting at 7 AM CST, then check back for the pre-game report. Stick with us for coverage throughout the day.

Reminder we’ve got two Illegal Curve broadcasts coming your way tomorrow as we return from our brief hiatus with an Illegal Curve Hockey Show starting at 9 AM CST Saturday morning which gets you set up for the game between the Jets and Blues. Later that night either join us live at Boston Pizza on Taylor Avenue for an IC Watch Party followed by the Illegal Curve Post-Game Show which starts around 8:40 PM CST.