Club will miss versatile Little a lot

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This article was published 14/10/2016 (3606 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Life without Bryan Little won’t be easy for the Winnipeg Jets.

The veteran centre is sidelined indefinitely with a lower-body injury suffered midway through the first period of the Jets’ season-opening 5-4 overtime victory over the Carolina Hurricanes Thursday night at the MTS Centre.

Little, 28, collided with Carolina forward Bryan Bickell in the Jets defensive zone. He tried getting up a couple of times before skating off with the help of teammates and a trainer, and headed straight for the dressing room.

Winnipeg head coach Paul Maurice said the injury will not require surgery.

“It’ll be a longer-term injury. We’ll have a better idea how long in a couple of weeks,” said Maurice, following the Jets skate Friday at the downtown arena.

Winnipeg battles the Minnesota Wild Saturday tonight in St. Paul, Minn. Game time is 6 p.m.

Minnesota is looking for its first win after a 3-2 road defeat to the St. Louis Blues Thursday.

Alex Burmistrov, a healthy scratch against the Hurricanes, will be inserted into the lineup at centre. He skated with wingers Shawn Matthias and Nikolaj Ehlers during line rushes Friday.

Maurice said the team will miss Little in a number of areas.

“Experience and his versatility, and that you can play just about any different winger with him and put him in either role,” he said. “You can put him with defensive guys and put him against the other team’s best, or some offensive guys and he can continue to do that.

“He’s our most experienced centre-iceman, strongest right-hand draw man, (and plays) power play and penalty kill. So, there isn’t a piece of our game that we won’t miss him in.”

The news is a huge blow to the Jets, who are coming off an emotionally charged, comeback win to kick off the 2016-17 campaign.

The Jets fell behind 4-1 but struck for three third-period goals, including the first of Finnish rookie Patrik Laine’s career, to tie the contest. Winnipeg captain Blake Wheeler led the club with a goal and two assists, setting up Mark Scheifele’s winning tally in OT.

Little hasn’t played a full 82-game season since the 2013-14 campaign when he fired 23 goals and chipped in 41 assists — his most productive season as a pro.

Last season, the Edmonton native missed the final 25 games of the 2015-16 season with a compression fracture of his vertebrae.

‘… There isn’t a piece of our game that we won’t miss him in’– Jets coach Paul Maurice, on Little

“It’s tough,” Scheifele said. “He’s such a big contributor for us.”

Burmistrov, 24, said he’s prepared to take on as much responsibility as the coach will give him.

“I missed only one game, not like it was 30. I’m ready to go and looking forward to the game,” he said.

“That’s who I’m expecting to play with (Ehlers, Matthias), but you never know. I’m back at centre, too, and I like that. It’s going to be a good game.”

The other combinations included Scheifele between Laine and Wheeler, Mathieu Perreault between Kyle Connor and Drew Stafford and Adam Lowry centring Joel Armia and Brandon Tanev.

Maurice said someone could be still be recalled from the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League.

“Alex goes in at centre. You can call it whatever number line you want,” said Maurice. “He came into the league as a centre-iceman. We’ve enjoyed the defensive parts of his game. He kills penalties for us, and we can use experience on our PK units. He has confidence in his offensive game and we’ll have people with him that can help him with that.”

jason.bell@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @WFPJasonBell