Little looks to return next week

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This article was published 25/11/2016 (3544 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

NASHVILLE — Bryan Little is tired of watching and waiting.

The veteran Winnipeg Jets centre has missed 22 games with a serious lower-body injury and his recovery and rehab are almost complete. He could be back in the lineup next week.

“I feel good,” he said following an extra on-ice workout at the Bridgestone Arena Friday.

“It’s gotten a lot better in the last couple weeks. A lot stronger.

“There’s not much more that I can do besides getting into a full-contact practice and then I think I’m ready to come back. It’s just a matter of the doc taking a look at it in Winnipeg and trying to get through a practice with some bumps… hopefully not much longer.”

Little, 29, has been an unlucky victim of the NHL grind lately.

He missed the final 25 games last season because of a fractured vertebrae in his back (courtesy of a controversial hit from Tampa Bay’s Anton Stralman) and didn’t make it out of the first period of Winnipeg’s regular-season opener due to knee-on-knee contact with Bryan Bickell of the Carolina Hurricanes.

“It was pretty tough,” Little said. “I was pretty pissed off for a few days. I had that long break at the end of last year with that injury, trained really hard this summer, then that happens right away. It’s a lot of bad luck. Through this whole thing I’ve tried to stay positive and, thankfully, it wasn’t worse and I didn’t need surgery.”

The Jets, despite the infusion of some excellent play from young forwards recalled from the AHL’s Manitoba Moose, have suffered in his absence.

“He’s a tremendous player, a consistent point producer,” centre Adam Lowry said.

“He plays big roles on both special-teams units, so getting him back is going to be similar to getting (defenceman Jacob Trouba) back. It’s gonna be a huge boost. We missed him a lot last year when he went down with his back injury and then he plays a couple of shifts this year and he goes down. That’s a tough void to fill.”

Beyond Little’s regular offensive contributions, his presence brings a stability Winnipeg is lacking, something particularly noticeable during its current five-game losing streak.

“There’s a huge trickle-down effect when you lose one of your No. 1, No. 2 centremen,” Lowry said. “With him being out, there’s a lot more minutes for guys to play. It’s affected the way we match up with teams. We’ve had (Nic Petan) come in, he’s done a great job, and we’ve had other guys come in and slot in the lineup, but it’s gonna be nice to have him back.”

Little has been watching the fuel gauge during the gruelling first quarter of the Jets’ 2016-17 journey.

Winnipeg and the Calgary Flames have played 22 games — most in the league — heading into Friday’s game against the Predators.

“We’re really talented; we have a lot of young, talented, fast, skilled players and when we’re playing good and playing the right way we’re fun to watch,” he said.

“Right now, we’re going through a stretch where we’re showing our youth a bit. It’s easy to start the year with a lot of energy and a lot of jump… once you hit the middle of the schedule and the grind we’ve had — the guys have had travelling and playing all these games — that’s when you need older guys to step up and show ’em how to go through it.”

Notes: The Jets reassigned centre Chase De Leo to the Moose Friday. The 21-year-old was called up Nov. 14, but did not see any game action… Winnipeg activated rookie forward Kyle Connor from injured reserve. Connor missed five games with an upper-body injury after being sent head-first into the boards by Kyle Clifford of the L.A. Kings. Clifford was assessed a boarding major on the play.

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @sawa14