Maurice clams up about plans for lineup

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/03/2019 (2640 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

COLUMBUS — Most days, Paul Maurice appears to relish the opportunity to field questions about his team, the National Hockey League, his coaching career or just about any other topic. His answers are typically detailed and often interesting.

Sunday was not one of those days.

“I will not be revealing any goalie information today. That’s just the mood I’m in,” Maurice said following the morning skate at Nationwide Arena in response to a harmless query about whether Connor Hellebuyck would return after missing the previous game with the flu.

Similar short, vague replies followed to other questions about his lineup. For example, he wouldn’t give any hints about how the lines would be structured, responding to one proposed scenario with “you can go with potentially because that’s always a possibility.”

Huh? Was he channelling his best John Tortorella impression, given he was in the Columbus bench boss’s backyard?

“All I’m going to do is start slowly — I’ve got lots of confidence in this hockey team to make the playoffs and I’m going to slowly get you guys prepared for that information embargo,” Maurice said.

Translation: Expect more of the same in the coming weeks as paranoia ramps up and coaches increasingly play their cards close to the vest.

● ● ●

Maurice was equally curt when asked what he thought about the NHL’s decision to suspend Adam Lowry for a pair of games after the Jets’ shutdown centre smacked Nashville’s Filip Forsberg in the face with his stick Friday night.

“I didn’t like that call at all. I didn’t think it was relatively appropriate to some of the things we’ve seen,” Maurice said without explaining further.

To be sure, losing Lowry must sting a bit. But there’s no question his actions were reckless and dangerous, so it’s hard to see how anyone could find fault with the league’s ruling.

● ● ●

Par Lindholm watched the first two games from above, then got a chance to finally mesh with his new teammates in the thick of battle Sunday night. He made his Jets debut, stepping into the lineup to fill the spot vacated by Lowry’s suspension.

“I’m just going to try to work my ass off, contribute in that way,” the 27-year-old Swede said following the morning skate.

Lindholm had one goal and six assists in 61 games this season for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The centre/left-winger was traded for Nic Petan, who played his first game with Toronto on Saturday night and scored the game-winning goal against Buffalo.

“I think I’m pretty solid defensively. I’ve been kind of a defensive guy this year. I think I’ve got some offence in me, too. Some creativity. I haven’t showed it so much this year, a lot of focus on the defence. But we’ll see what happens here,” said Lindholm, who centred a line with Mathieu Perreault and Jack Roslovic.

“We have a crazy forward lineup. So many good players and good depth.”

The Jets were one of the teams scouting Lindholm last year and made him a free agent offer, only to see him opt for Toronto.

“I think Winnipeg was a close second to Toronto when I chose them. So I got a really good feeling about them. A really good organization and a good team. I was really happy when I got traded,” he said.

“I think I chose Toronto because of the history and the hockey. It’s kind of the same with Winnipeg. A lot of history. It’s real fun.”

● ● ●

There may be some good news on the horizon for the Jets when it comes to the injury front.

Defencemen Dustin Byfuglien (ankle) and Joe Morrow (lower-body) are both on this four-game road trip and expected to resume skating with the team later in the week. While neither will play before the team returns home, it’s a positive step for both.

“It’s fair to say that (Morrow) and Dustin are on a fairly similar timeline. Start skating slowly by the end of the week and by next week we should be able to push them,” Maurice said.

Josh Morrissey (upper-body) remains in Winnipeg to recover from an upper-body injury he suffered last week. He’s not expected to return until early April.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg