Winnipeg Jets Practice Report

The Jets hit the ice today for a practice following a Sunday off day.  Sara Orlesky of TSN reports that Bryan Little isn’t on the ice this morning however we do have a sighting of Ben Chiarot and Drew Stafford who, according to Mitch Rosset of Global News, are both skating with the squad.

Courtesy of Brian Munz of TSN 1290 Winnipeg here are the lines (With Little absent Chris Thorburn and Brandon Tanev skated in his spot although after practice coach Maurice confirmed that Little was simply maintenance and he will play tomorrow against the Wild):

Copp-Scheifele-Wheeler
Ehlers-*Little*-Laine
Matthias-Lowry-Armia
Perreault-Petan-Stafford

Morrissey-Byfuglien
Enstrom-Trouba
Melchiori-Postma
Stuart-Chiarot

Pavelec &  Hellebuyck

Audio:

Blake Wheeler:  How hard is it to switch mindset from playing offence to playing solid D?  No textbook way to know how long it will take?  Is that a top priority?  Does coming off a decent road trip help them get prepared for this home stand?  Does he feel like they are still in a OK spot?  Did he have question marks coming into this season?  What has Pavelec done since he’s been back with the Jets?  Are all saves created equal?  On seeing Mark Scheifele grow into the player he has become.  On the wins over Hawks, Blues, Stars and then a loss to the Avlanche, does it drive them crazy?

Dustin Byfuglien:  Do they put the Colorado game behind them and move ahead?  On what they can gain from being at home.  On teaching defence and how difficult it is as an offensive minded player?  Importance of good D hockey to win the game.  On the difficulty of adjusting to a defence system for younger players rather than adjusting to offence?  On the need to win right now.  On what Pavelec has done for this team?  Are all saves created equal and then discussion of “timely” saves?  On how many minutes he has been playing.

Ondrej Pavelec:  Are all saves created equal?  Is his approach different right now?  How does he evaluate a game he plays?  Do numbers matter?  On the save he made on Duchene.  Does it give him confidence when he makes that save?  (He points out that they scored right after it).  Has he been given any indication as to what the plan is moving forward?

Mark Scheifele:  On what has gone right for him over the last year?  On the reality that he is being mentioned in the upper echelon of the NHL?  How much does he study the game off the ice?  On having a defence first mindset and the difficulty of young players to adopt that mentality.  How does he think his defensive game has been so far this season?  Should that be this team’s top priority.  What does he expect from the Wild?  More on the defence/offence topic.  On the Jets not being far behind the Wild in goals for.  Don’t you sacrifice offence when you play tighter defence?  What has Pavelec done for this group?  On Pavelec’s play with the Moose.  You know what you get with Pavelec.  On Pavelec’s big saves and what it does for the group?

Coach Maurice:  Injury update.  On the plan for the goalies?  On the mindset of preventing goals instead of scoring, why is it so difficult to implement?  Do you need to sacrifice offence to play better defence?  Is it simply a matter of skating harder when a player doesn’t have the puck?   Is he surprised at how smoothly Pavelec has handled the transition?  Status of Little?  Would he be comfortable to keep three goalies for the remainder of the season?  Does the 10 game/1 month and waivers impact his decision?  What do Pavelec’s “timely” saves do for the Jets?

Audio courtesy of TSN 1290 Winnipeg.