No more fun and games

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/10/2022 (1306 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BANFF, Alta. — It can’t be all fun and games, of course. So after a busy weekend in the mountains spent fishing and golfing, the Winnipeg Jets got back on the ice Monday to prepare for the start of the regular season.

The beautiful backdrop outside Fenlands Recreation Centre in Banff was a reminder that it wasn’t quite business as usual.

“It was a good practice today. A really good practice. Meat and potatoes early, a lot of hard skating, a lot of hard drills and that was the plan,” said head coach Rick Bowness.

“The attention to (detail) was very good. Their effort was excellent. I know they’ve had two days off the ice, but it’s great ice out there. Players want to play on fast ice and that’s fast ice, and that helps in practice.”

The first game is coming fast, too, with the New York Rangers paying a visit on Friday night to Canada Life Centre. Bowness was sitting down with general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff and assistant GM Larry Simmons on Monday afternoon to finalize the 23-man roster, which will be announced Tuesday.

Here’s what we know:

Winnipeg had 24 players left in camp after Jansen Harkins was placed on waivers Sunday. The 25-year-old forward cleared on Monday and will join the Manitoba Moose.

“As a player, you want to get picked up from the organization. From our point, we’re happy to still have him,” said Bowness.

A bit of a plot twist happened Monday afternoon when the club claimed forward Axel Jonsson-Fjallby off waivers from the Washington Capitals. The 24-year-old Swedish winger is expected to join the Jets for practice on Thursday in Winnipeg, provided he can secure his work visa by then.

A fifth-round draft pick in 2016, Jonsson-Fjallby made his NHL debut last year, scoring two goals and adding two assists in 23 games with Washington. He also had 34 points (16G, 18A) in 44 AHL games.

Jets associate coach Scott Arniel was behind the Washington bench as an assistant last year.

“The scouts and Arnie both said the same thing, he’s got great speed, good size. Arnie used him as a penalty killer in Washington. That’s about all I know about him,” said Bowness.

The last-minute addition means two more cuts, rather than one, was required.

One of those came later in the day Monday, with 20-year-old defenceman Ville Heinola sent to the Manitoba Moose. It’s clear the club didn’t have him in the starting six, so the preference is to get him playing time on the farm rather than sit in the pressbox as a healthy scratch.

Centre Pierre-Luc Dubois missed Monday’s skate dealing with a minor injury that flared up during last Friday’s final preseason game in Calgary. Winger Mason Appleton, who sat out that game, was in a red non-contact jersey Monday. Bowness expects both players to be ready for Friday’s opener.

“(Dubois) had a great off-ice workout with (trainer) Jake (Wolff), so it’s encouraging,” said Bowness. The hope is he will practice with the team on Tuesday in Banff, but the worst-case scenario is Thursday back in Winnipeg following Wednesday’s scheduled day off.

For what it’s worth, here’s how the Jets forwards lines and defence pairs worked on Monday.

The top line of Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor and Nikolaj Ehlers was intact. Cole Perfetti, expected to play the wing with Dubois and Blake Wheeler, moved over to centre to skate between Wheeler and Saku Maenalanen. The expected third line of Adam Lowry, Morgan Barron and Appleton remained together. And the fourth line was David Gustafsson with Sam Gagner and Dominic Toninato.

On the blue-line, Josh Morrissey and Dylan Demelo, Brenden Dillon and Neal Pionk, and Logan Stanley and Nate Schmidt seemed to be the top six. Dylan Samberg, Ville Heinola and Kyle Capobianco rotated on the other pairing.

In terms of potential bubble forwards who could be the final cut, Barron and Maenalanen would not require waivers, while the likes of Toninato, Gustafsson, Gagnger would.

After finishing up the preseason with a 4-1-1 record, the Jets shifted the rest of training camp to Banff. Saturday was a group fishing expedition, with goaltender Connor Hellebuyck apparently putting everyone else to shame on the water (word is he caught five fish, while nobody else caught more than two).

Sunday was a best-ball golf event where teams of two were pitted against each other at Silvertip Golf Course in nearby Canmore. Highlights included DeMelo sinking a 70-footer that Jets TV caught on camera, and Dubois reportedly sinking an even longer putt that was not filmed, which had DeMelo jokingly suggesting it never happened.

A team of Wheeler and Appleton also overcame a big early deficit to rally for victory over one consisting of Morrissey and Ehlers.

Players have been given the VIP treatment in town, and that includes a rock star reception from a few dozen fans — mostly children and their parents — who came out to watch Monday’s skate. Based on an informal poll, the majority are transplanted Manitobans. Jets players posed for pictures and signed plenty of autographs before and after the practice.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg