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Winnipeg Free Press https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/hockey/manitoba-moose/jets-recall-hutchinson- roslovic-ahead-of-game-against-flames-470135403.html?k=WDy5ae

Jets recall Hutchinson, Roslovic ahead of game against Flames

By: Mike Sawatzky

The Jets have recalled Michael Hutchinson and forward Jack Roslovic, a pair of all-stars, from their Moose farm team.

The moves were announced in advance of a Saturday afternoon (2 p.m., CBC, Sportsnet, TSN 1290) matchup with the Flames in when the Jets return to action for the first time in six days.

The club went on a CBA-mandated break following a 4-1 loss to the host on Jan. 13. Both players were with the parent club prior to the break and the Jets return to the practice ice for the first time this morning.

Hutchinson, 27, has a 14-2-4 record with the Moose leads the AHL with a .942 save percentage. His 1.94 goals-against average ranks third in the league. Hutchinson is tied for third among AHL goalies with 14 wins. He was recalled on an emergency basis to fill in for injured No. 2 goaltender .

Roslovic, 20, played in four games for the Jets earlier this season, including his first home game for Winnipeg on Jan. 5 against the . He has 35 points, including 15 goals, in 32 games with the Moose this season and is tied for seventh in the AHL scoring race. https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/hockey/jets/call-it-the-central-nervous-system----jets- may-be-in-first-but-division-foes-are-closing-fast-470022303.html

Call it the Central nervous system -- Jets may be in first but division foes are closing fast

By: Mike McIntyre

The return from their bye week today — and not a moment too soon. Because the footsteps they were hearing behind them prior to going their separate ways last weekend have grown into a full-blown stampede.

Just nine points separated first (Jets) from last () in the ultra-competitive Central Division heading into Thursday night's action, which is by far the closest margin of the four divisions.

Sure, Winnipeg continued to occupy top spot in the division by the slimmest of margins (although the could have overtaken them with a win against the lowly Thursday night). But they are also just six points ahead of the Minnesota Wild, who wouldn't even have an invite to Lord Stanley's annual spring fling if the season ended today.

Not exactly much breathing room there. Which is why the Jets will need to take flight immediately as they begin a stretch of four games in six days Saturday afternoon in Calgary against the Flames, followed by a quick home date Sunday night against the and then two tough road games next Tuesday and Thursday in San Jose and Anaheim, respectively.

There's just so little margin for error, and they'll need to quickly find a way to snap out of the funk that saw them drop two straight games to division rivals heading into the break. An extended slump could end up being extremely costly and undo so much of the good work from earlier in the season.

Jets head coach and his staff spent the past several days going over video from their first 46 games of the season and trying to identify some areas they can improve upon heading into the final 36. No doubt their findings will be much of the focus of today's practice before the team boards a flight to Alberta.

The Free Press spent some time Thursday analyzing the task ahead for the Jets. You may want to sit down for this.

By every measure, the Central is the most powerful division in the NHL. Just getting in the top three, and the automatic playoff berth that comes with it, is a major task. Finishing fourth or fifth in the division is playing with fire, because there's no guarantee that will get you one of the two wild-card spots. Those could both end up going to Pacific teams, who have the luxury of a few lesser-light teams they can beat up on.

Not so in the Central, where every team appears to be a force.

Consider that all seven squads are at least five games over the NHL's version of .500 (wins versus regulation losses), with the not-so-lowly Blackhawks currently sitting last in the division with a 22-17-6 record. Only the Metropolitan is in the same boat, with the trailing the pack at 20-17-8. The Pacific has three sub-.500 teams, while the Atlantic has a whopping five.

Overall, Central teams are a combined 67 games over .500. The Metropolitan is next at 53 games over. Pacific teams are 28 games over, while Atlantic teams are 23 games over.

Goal differential really tells the tale in a dramatic way. The seven Central teams have a combined plus-102 goal differential, with every team being on the positive side. No other division can make such a claim. Metropolitan teams are second-best at minus 11. Pacific teams are minus 41, and Atlantic teams are minus 50.

Winnipeg does have one advantage over the teams chasing them in that they still have 21 games remaining at Bell MTS Place, where they boast the league's second-best home record. That's tied with Nashville for the most home dates left in the division. Every other team has either 17, 18 or 19 home games left.

Winnipeg's 15 remaining road games are the fewest in the Central, with everyone else having between 18 and 22.

The Jets still have a dozen games left within the division, and those contests will take on extreme importance. The St. Louis Blues have the most left in the Central with 15, while Dallas has the fewest with just nine.

But Winnipeg faces a big challenge in who they have left on their schedule. The Jets still have 21 games remaining against teams currently sitting in a playoff spot. Only Chicago, at 22, has more. The Minnesota Wild have 21, the and each have 20, while Nashville and St. Louis have the fewest with 19 and 17, respectively.

Hold on to your hats, folks — this race is likely going right down to the wire.

THE CENTRAL DIVISION ROAD AHEAD: (all statistics prior to Thursday night's games)

WINNIPEG JETS: 26-13-7, 59 POINTS, FIRST IN DIVISION Games remaining: 36 (21 home, 15 away) Games left within Central Division: 12 Games left against current playoff teams: 21

NASHVILLE PREDATORS: 26-11-6, 58 POINTS, SECOND IN DIVISION Games remaining: 39 (21 home, 18 away) Games left within Central Division: 11 Games left against current playoff teams: 19

ST. LOUIS BLUES: 27-17-3, 57 POINTS, 3RD IN DIVISION Games remaining: 35 (17 home, 18 away) Games left within Central Division: 15 Games left against current playoff teams: 17

DALLAS STARS: 26-17-3, 55 POINTS, FIRST WILD-CARD SPOT Games remaining: 36 (18 home, 18 away) Games left within Central Division: 9 Games left against current playoff teams: 20

MINNESOTA WILD: 24-17-5, 53 POINTS, TIED FOR SECOND WILD-CARD SPOT, LOSE OUT ON TIEBREAKER Games remaining: 36 (18 home, 18 away) Games left within Central Division: 10 Games left against current playoff teams: 21

COLORADO AVALANCHE: 24-16-3, 51 POINTS, 2 POINTS BACK OF SECOND WILD-CARD SPOT Games remaining: 39 (17 home, 22 away) Games left within Central Division: 13 Games left against current playoff teams: 20

CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS: 22-17-6, 50 POINTS, 3 POINTS BACK OF SECOND WILD-CARD SPOT Games remaining: 37 (19 home, 18 away) Games within Central Division: 12 Games against current playoff teams: 22 https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/hockey/manitoba-moose/moose-wrap-up- homestand-with-back-to-back-affair-with-texas-stars-470000053.html

Moose wrap up homestand with back-to-back affair with Texas Stars

By: Jeff Hamilton

The wrap up a six-game homestand this weekend with a pair of back-to-back games against the Texas Stars, beginning Friday at the Bell MTS Place.

Heading into Thursday’s American Hockey League action, the Moose were atop the league standings, boasting a mark of 26-8-3-2. With a total of 57 points, the Moose also possess a hearty lead in the Central Division, 11 points up on the second-place Milwaukee Admirals.

The Moose opened their current stretch at home with three straight losses – two were against the Grand Rapids Griffins and one to the Iowa Wild – but found their footing in their most recent game on Sunday, beating the Wild 3-2.

By no coincidence, their return to form coincided with the reappearance of three major players, all of whom were up in the NHL with the Winnipeg Jets. Though goaltender Michael Hutchinson didn’t dress for the game against the Wild Sunday, forwards Jack Roslovic and Brendan Lemieux did, bringing a spark to a club that hadn’t been seen over the past week. Rosolovic is in a four-way tie for seventh in league scoring with 35 points in 32 games (15 goals, 25 assists). Lemieux, meanwhile, is at a point-per-game pace, totalling 25 points (9 g, 16a) in as many games.

When Manitoba faces the Stars – who, at 20-15-4-2, are fifth place in the Pacific Division – they’ll meet a team that is struggling to string together wins. Texas has won just once in its last five games and only twice in the previous 10.

This weekend mark the first two games between the Moose and Stars, who will play a total of four times this year. After the weekend, the Moose head out for a season-long nine-game road trip, which opens against the lowly Belleville Senators (17-21-0-3) Jan. 24.

The Athletic Detroit https://theathletic.com/215322/2018/01/18/get-to-know-a-rebuild-what-the--wings-can-learn- from-the-winnipeg-jets/

Get to know a rebuild: What the Red Wings can learn from the Winnipeg Jets

By Craig Custance

If there’s anyone in the league who knows what it feels like to go through an extended rebuilding process, it’s Winnipeg’s . He was drafted in 2006 with the No. 12 overall pick by the Thrashers, part of a group of guys like and who were the latest wave of another round of rebuilding by the floundering franchise.

Then Little patiently waited out Winnipeg GM ’s plan after the franchise moved north, as the forward signed a five-year contract in 2013 and re-upped with a six-year deal in September. Along the way, he’s only seen the playoffs once – putting up three points in four games.

That’s a full decade worth of patience and it wasn’t always easy, even when there eventually became a clear vision of how things might look.

“It doesn’t make it any easier at the time,” Little told The Athletic. “You want to make the playoffs every year. You want to be good every year. Especially as you’re getting older, it’s ‘How much longer am I going to be playing?’ There’s a lot of unknowns. You want to win now. It’s in the summers where you reflect: ‘We have a good team. We’re going to have a good team. Just stick with it.’”

And finally, FINALLY, he’s getting a reward. His Jets look like they’re for real. Built properly and with a firm foundation, Winnipeg is as good as any team in the Western Conference.

They’ve arrived in large part behind the patience and plan enacted by Cheveldayoff, who was brought in to turn around the franchise in 2011 when it moved to Winnipeg. While his predecessors in the organization rushed draft picks to the NHL well before they were ready, he preached patience. While his predecessors in the organization made trades for short-term gains at the cost of long-term progress, he patiently sat tight – even as criticism for his conservative plan gathered steam around him.

“I’m a realist,” Cheveldayoff told The Athletic. “You have to look at this job through a realistic lens. You can’t hope your way through something.”

It’s been nearly seven years, not the quick turn fans normally hope for when envisioning a rebuild, but the Jets are there. And because of that patience, they are building in a way that should last.

You wouldn’t blame Little if he had moments when he thought it might never happen. He had to watch as other players in his draft year like Jonathan Toews, and Phil Kessel won Stanley Cups. It wasn't easy.

“I felt like, when we moved to Winnipeg, the mindset of the organization was a little bit different,” Little said. “They were more serious about it. The first couple years was frustrating because we were in the same spot as Atlanta. But they’ve done a great job drafting.”

There’s a lot to learn here for a team like the and others in the midst of a rebuilding process. With help from Cheveldayoff, here are lessons from the Jets' rebuild:

1. It’s not a fast process

If the various approaches around the league have taught us anything, it's that there’s more than one way to approach a rebuild. New Jersey GM has wheeled and dealed his way to a faster timeline (with a large dose of lottery luck). Cheveldayoff has taken about as conservative an approach as a GM can take.

“There’s no quick cure. There really isn’t,” Cheveldayoff said in explaining his approach. “With the cap, with parity, with the youth of the game, most teams are embracing that.”

He had the advantage of a new market that supported the team throughout the process. He also had complete buy-in from ownership, an important distinction.

The Jets never wavered. It was draft and develop and, eventually, we’ll get there.

“I have regular conversations with my ownership, with my group there,” Cheveldayoff said. “We’ve been on the same page since day one.”

2. You’d better not miss in the first round (and lottery luck helps, too)

While in Atlanta, the Thrashers' first round was riddled with pretty high profile misses, starting with the No. 1 overall pick and first pick in franchise history, Patrik Stefan. They took a goalie No. 2 overall () in 2002, something that just doesn’t happen anymore in drafts. Sprinkle in some Boris Valabiks and Alex Bourrets and it’s easy to see why Cheveldayoff didn’t have a ton to work with when he arrived.

Since the move to Winnipeg, the Jets have used their first-round picks to select the following: , Jacob Trouba, Josh Morrissey, Nik Ehlers, Kyle Connor, Jack Roslovic, and Kristian Vesalainen. That’s pretty darn good.

“They’re great players but there are also good kids in the room,” Little said.

When they drafted them, they were smart in the development. An elite player like Laine, who joined the organization courtesy of lottery luck, arrived immediately. A project like Scheifele went right back to junior.

“(Scheifele) never came on to the regular scene of the Jets for two years. We sent him back to junior for two years to develop,” Cheveldayoff said. “Then when he came on to the scene, he was a rookie and those things take time.

3. Free agency can be used to augment the core during a rebuild

The typical rebuild blueprint includes moving out veterans, acquiring draft picks and, when the time comes, adding veterans in free agency. The Jets did that on some level this offseason in adding Steve Mason along with Dmitry Kulikov before a season in which they expected to contend.

But they also used free agency along the way to sign Mathieu Perreault in 2014. He was a 26- year-old free agent coming off a bit of a breakout season with the Ducks. He wasn’t an aging star but instead a younger player who looked like he was figuring out his place in the league. Since then, he’s registered 153 points in 232 games with the Jets. This season, he's averaging 0.76 points per game, the best production of his career. The Jets weren’t overly aggressive in free agency during their rebuild but picked their spots.

And when they had bad contracts on the books, they patiently waited them out. Something the Red Wings are currently doing. It’s not always pretty or pleasant.

“For a couple years we had some contracts that we knew we weren’t going to renew,” Cheveldayoff said. “Until those contracts were over, you had them. They’re in your group. It is what it is. Certainly you have some hiccups along the way. You make some decisions that you have to live with.”

4. Don’t tear the entire thing down

At this point, it’s probably safe to say a franchise like Buffalo might have been a little too aggressive in the tear down process. There’s a temptation to get every possible asset for every possible veteran, and the Jets didn’t do that. In fact, Little still cringes when the word tank is used in his company.

“I hate that word, tank,” Little said. “Fans throw that around. No NHL team tanks. No professional athlete is going to go out there and throw a game or tank to get better prospects or get higher up in the draft. That’s just nonsense.”

Now, while players certainly aren’t tanking, that’s not to say management isn’t. But the Jets kept a group of veterans around from Atlanta throughout the process. They could have sold on Little at one point. Wheeler would have provided a nice return. There was a trade deadline when Cheveldayoff approached defenseman about moving him or keeping him around long term and saw a veteran eager to finish the process.

“I sat with Buff a couple years ago when he did his extension and said, ‘Buff, you’re 10 days or whatever away from the trade deadline here, (potentially) going wherever you want to go as UFA at the summertime. Why do you want to stay?’” Cheveldayoff said. “He said, ‘It’s the young guys. I like them. I think there’s a real group of guys.’”

Scheifele and Laine are the elite young talent, but it’s that layer of veterans surrounding them – like , Byfuglien and Little – who have stuck it out since Atlanta to provide support.

Ultimately, if this team is going to achieve great things, it’s going to be the elite talent that gets them there. Acquiring that talent takes time, luck, some losing and patience.

“It’s taken awhile,” Little said, “but it’s paying off now.”

TSN 1290 (AUDIO LINKS) https://www.tsn.ca/radio/winnipeg-1290/munz-jets-making-leaps-over-past-seasons-1.971989

Munz: Jets making leaps over past seasons

TSN Winnipeg Jets analyst Brian Munz joined host Kevin Olszewski to talk Jets on the final day of the "bye week" and set the scene ahead of a meeting with the on Saturday. www.winnipegjets.com https://www.nhl.com/jets/video/bye-week--moose-def-structure/t-277437442/c-56789003 (VIDEO LINK)

BYE WEEK | Moose Def Structure

JetsTV's Mitchell Clinton explores how Manitoba's strong defensive play is translating into success this season