Back and Blue Tyler Myers Lost All but 11 Games Last Season to a Groin
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Winnipeg Free Press https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/hockey/jets/back-and-blue-462908373.html Back and blue Tyler Myers lost all but 11 games last season to a groin injury and his premature- born son's battle to stay alive; now healthy and happy, the Jets' giant D-man feels like it's his rookie-of-the-year season again By: Jason Bell TAMPA BAY, Fla. — James Patrick watched video of Tyler Myers in June 2008 and was blown away by the towering kid with the lightning-fast feet. Nearly a decade later, he still makes a point of watching Winnipeg Jets highlights to catch a glimpse of the now-27-year-old defenceman, who’s even taller and has upped his mobility considerably since his junior days with the Kelowna Rockets. Patrick says he keeps track of the special players he coached over the years, and Myers, and a key piece on the Jets’ stacked blue line, is near the top of the list. Myers was an intriguing specimen on the eve of the '08 NHL Draft, and the Buffalo Sabres had their sights set on him, recalls Patrick, a native Winnipegger who was the assistant to former Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff at the time. "We had a coach’s meeting on Thursday afternoon, a day before the Friday-night draft (in Ottawa). We’re in a room with our scouts and we’re seeing their list. We had the 13th pick. And they kept saying, ‘This is the guy, this is the guy,’" says Patrick, who now controls the bench of the Kootenay Ice junior team of the Western Hockey League. "They had video of every player and I’ll never forget watching Tyler, this 17-year-old kid, and he’s six-foot-seven and I was just amazed by his feet. I’d never seen a big kid move like that. It was incredible. "We traded up one pick to make sure we got him. As a coach I was really excited about working with a big, right-handed defenceman who was a really good puck-mover. That’s exactly what we got when we drafted him." And that’s exactly what the Jets got when they pulled off mega-trade with the Sabres during the 2014-15 season, shipping Evander Kane and Zach Bogosian to Buffalo for Myers, forwards Drew Stafford and Joel Armia. The Jets also got prospect and now-Manitoba Moose winger Brendan Lemieux and a first-round pick in 2015 the Jets used to draft his team's scoring leader, Jack Roslovic. And after Myers' 11-game nightmare season last year — obliterated by a groin injury and, more importantly, his infant son Tristan's health struggles — the Jets have the 2010 rookie of the year and big-minute D-man back. Tristan, who was delivered by emergency C-section five weeks premature and without about 80 per cent of his blood after his mother suffered a hemorrhage, spent his first fragile weeks in intensive care and suffered seizures and a stroke. But he battled back and turns a year old next month. He's doing well, his dad says with a smile. And that’s clearly the key to the current level of contentment for the Houston native and his wife, Michela. And that means he is focused on doing what he does best; what the Sabres saw before the '08 draft that goes beyond the towering frame and mile-long reach. The hockey world was awed by Myers' skill set when — still shy of his 20th birthday — he set the NHL on fire during a fantastic 2009-10 rookie season, scoring 11 goals and adding 37 assists while playing alongside veteran rearguard and steadying influence Henrik Tallinder. "We played Dallas this one game; I will never forget this," Patrick says, chuckling. "He had nine scoring chances himself — nine. He’d get the puck, pass it to our centre, take a few strides, get it back, drive around their D and take it to the net. And then do it the next shift and the next shift. "As a coach, it’s one of those three or four games you watch that you’ll never forget. We still talk about it years after. We’d never seen it, let alone a defenceman. We’d never seen a forward do it." Myers was rewarded with the Calder Trophy as the league’s top first-year player in 2010. "The fact (Buffalo) wanted me and moved up to get me, that's pretty special," says Myers, who played five-plus years there. "It was a great time in my career. Actually, those first couple of years were great... a lot of really good moments in Buffalo that I cherish, people that helped me along the way. James Patrick was certainly one of them. It was a really exciting time for me." He followed up with a decent sophomore campaign as the Sabres made a second-consecutive post-season appearance but failed to get past the first round. But something — the weight of expectations, perhaps — began to take its toll; his production slipped on a dismal Sabres squad, and it was rebuild time in upstate New York. He and Stafford were the key pieces headed to Winnipeg, while the enigmatic Kane and oft-injured Bogosian shuffled off to Buffalo. Patrick had already been given his walking paper by then and was coaching in Dallas, but news of the transaction shocked him, he says. "When Tyler got traded to Winnipeg, I just felt Winnipeg got a better player," he says. "Every player makes mistakes, every player has ups and downs, but I know when he is feeling good and is at his best — man, can he be dominant. "My feeling was that I would not have given up on a 24-year-old, six-foot-seven defenceman who could play every type of game. He can play offence, he can play defence, he can kill penalties, he can play the power play. Those guys are very hard to come by." Myers, listed now at 6-8, 230 pounds, settled in nicely with his new Central Division club, scoring three goals and chipping in 12 assists in 24 games and helping spark the Jets to their first-ever playoff appearance. Almost overnight, he became a favourite of local hockey fans and, most importantly, his new head coach, Paul Maurice. Maurice admits he was a huge fan of Myers when he first debuted with the Sabres and he's watched him develop into a bona fide No.1 two-way defenceman on a team that, arguably, has a couple. "For me, his game has improved every single year he's been here, even with the injury (last season)," Maurice says. "His decisions, when to go, when not to go, have gotten better, and a big part of that is when you're not chasing the game as much he can pick the right times to go." The Jets are maybe now only beginning to appreciate just how much they truly missed him last year. Maybe young defenceman Josh Morrissey said it best during training camp when he noted adding a healthy Myers was like GM Kevin Cheveldayoff making a major off-season trade without losing an asset. Myers, in the second-last season of a seven-year, US$38.5-million contract, has five goals and nine assists playing all 29 games so far, and is a plus-five. He logs just shy of 20 minutes of ice time a night playing alongside Dmitry Kulikov and has helped boost Winnipeg's power-play numbers. "When Tyler got traded to Winnipeg, I just felt Winnipeg got a better player... I know when he is feeling good and is at his best — man, can he be dominant" – James Patrick, former Buffalo Sabres assistant coach That's been a solid pairing for the club and Kulikov — an off-season free-agent acquisition who, coincidentally, was coming off an injury-hampered 47-game season in Buffalo — is enjoying every minute with his partner. "He’s a really good skater and he never puts himself in a bad position. He’s always in a good spot, whether we have the puck or not," Kulikov says. "All over the ice, you see how he reads the game and certain situations, defensively. He can hold onto the puck and sometimes he makes some fakes and makes forechecking players look foolish. He skates himself really well out of the zone and makes good plays." With Myers, Dustin Byfuglien and Jacob Trouba, Winnipeg has one of the the deepest sets of right-side blue-liners in the NHL. Trouba and Morrissey partner up, while Byfuglien is working with Ben Chiarot while regular mate Toby Enstrom is on injury reserve. Myers knows that he's part of a strong core of defenders, one that Florida head coach Bob Boughner acknowledged Wednesday ranks among the best in the business. "Very deep on defence, obviously, When you have that depth on the back end, if we all buy in — which we have — it’s a recipe for success," Myers say. "We just have to keep going as a group. I would match our D-core against anyone." The team obviously doesn't like its last two performances — a 5-1 defeat in Detroit and a 6-4 setback courtesy of the Panthers in Sunrise, Fla., — and Myers was one of the weak links. But a review of a larger sample size — through more than a third of the current campaign — suggests he's been very good in both ends of the rink.