Winnipeg Free Press https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/hockey/jets/back-and-blue-462908373.html

Back and blue lost all but 11 games last 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 of watching Jets highlights to catch a glimpse of the now-27-year-old , who’s even taller and has upped his mobility considerably since his junior days with the .

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 had their sights set on him, recalls Patrick, a native Winnipegger who was the assistant to former Sabres at the time.

"We had a coach’s meeting on Thursday afternoon, a day before the Friday-night draft (in ). 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 .

"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 and to Buffalo for Myers, forwards and . The Jets also got prospect and now- Moose winger and a first-round pick in 2015 the Jets used to draft his team's scoring leader, .

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 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 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.

"I feel it, for sure. It’s hard to pinpoint why," he says of his improved play and the invaluable leadership role he plays. "I just know I’m having a lot of fun this year, a lot of that has to do with the way the team’s going; a lot of the guys on the team are having fun.

"I almost have the mindset coming into this year like I did my rookie year. I just came into camp trying to work as hard as I can. With that mindset, I think it allowed me to get that feeling back, of getting back to the way I play." https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/hockey/jets/jets-put-bad-losses-in-rear-view-mirror- 462926253.html

Jets put bad losses in rear-view mirror Jets motivated to return to winning ways

By: Jason Bell

TAMPA BAY — The chose a rather bizarre way to work out the kinks Friday afternoon following a pair of monstrous defeats on their three-game road trip.

They hoops at the home of the .

Crews at Amalie Arena had installed a temporary hardwood court over the ice, in prepartion for a show by the Harlem Globetrotters, so the majority of Jets chose not to skate and, instead, played some basketball.

While no one with a critical eye spent any time watching the presumably fun-filled workout, fans of the NHL club can only hope executing a tight defensive scheme, controlling rebounds and making good on their shots topped the list of things to address prior to their next outing.

Heaven knows, Tampa Bay’s got a pretty good squad.

The Lightning, with an NHL-best record of 20-6-2, welcome the Jets tonight, with puck drop set for 6 p.m. CT.

Before the dribbling, the Jets’ coaching staff led a series of meetings with the players in the wake of an excruciating 6-4 loss to the on Thursday night in Sunrise, Fla.

It was another missed opportunity to pick up points from a "weaker-than" NHL team, as Winnipeg kicked off the trip by getting dumped 5-1 by the .

The Jets had a day off Wednesday, while only goalie Connor Hellebuyck and wingers Nikolaj Ehlers and joined the usual healthy scratches — forwards Marko Dano and Shawn Matthias and blue-liner Tucker Poolman — along with injured goalie , for a Thursday skate at the Lighting’s practice facility.

Jets head coach Paul Maurice said spending a day without skates on, doing different things, is often a better use of time and energy.

"It’s a far bigger picture than a hard skate because of a loss," he said. "We’ve played for the last month. We want to make sure we’re in our best position to play a solid game (tonight). We’ve got a lot of miles, a lot travel zones on these guys. Our energy hasn’t been an issue for us. We were driving in these games.

"Some of it’s a little bit mental. I think we can cut off some shift length, for sure. And we can not force quite as many things through."

Maurice said he’s expecting the same roster he’s been relying on to go up against the rock- solid, dangerous Lightning, featuring the NHL’s top-two scoring leaders, centre (12G, 29A) and winger Nikita Kucherov (19G, 21A).

Expect Hellebuyck (15-3-3) to return to the crease for the Jets, 48 hours after taking a seat on the bench while Eric Comrie, who, like his teammates, had an off-night in just his second NHL start, took the loss against a feisty Florida squad.

Laine scored his team-leading 15th and added a pair of assists. Jets netted his eighth tally and now has 37 points, tied for third with ’s Johnny Gaudreau and Philadelphia’s Jakub Voracek. Burly blue-liner Dustin Byfuglien registered his 15th assist, but is goalless this season.

So efficient in its defensive play in recent weeks, Winnipeg resembled more closely its "old" self against the Red Wings and Panthers — a group distracted from its original game plan, burned early and then forced to loosen up as a way to catch up.

"We didn’t play the defensive game in either Detroit or Florida," veteran centre Matt Hendricks said. "We’re using (Friday) as a way to recharge the batteries, but to really think about our game and ways, as individuals, we can better prepare (for the Lightning).

"We were finding a lot of success lately, offensively. You start to feel like offence is the only way to get gratification and you start to get away from the detailed structure of the defensive zone. You cheat a little bit on that side of the puck to create a little more offence. And we’re allowing opponents to have too many opportunities."

The Jets had won 10 of their previous 15 games prior to departing for the Motor City to climb to the top rung of the Central Division. They’re now 17-8-4 and sit third in the division and fourth in the Western Conference.

Centre said the team is still figuring out the appropriate way to react to success.

"In the back of your mind, when you’re having success, in a couple of games, everything was clicking and we were getting the bounces and playing well. You go into the next games (thinking) that they all might look like that and that things might get easy, but it doesn’t," said Little.

"There’s no easy games in this league. We found that out the tough way the last couple of games. Now, it’s a real test for us to put those behind us and try and get back to the way we were playing before."

Getting kicked in the teeth a couple of times is about as harsh a wake-up call as you can get, he said.

"It puts you in your place. We were riding high, sitting at the top of the league and we have two games like that, that we weren’t happy about, that we know we can play better than, and that’s the way it goes," Little said. "We’re finding a way to put those behind us and get back on track faster than we used to." https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/hockey/jets/jets-mull-poolman-problem- 462928643.html

Jets mull Poolman problem Skilled rookie relegated to press box as seventh defenceman

By: Mike McIntyre and Jason Bell

Tucker Poolman’s rookie season hasn’t exactly gone as planned. Expected to take a big step forward on the ice, he’s instead become a fixture in the press box.

Poolman, 24, has dressed in just 10 games this season — three with the Winnipeg Jets, and seven with the .

Poolman opened many eyes when he made the big squad out of training camp, then saw limited NHL playing time before the organization decided to send him to the farm for more seasoning. And he looked to be off and running with the Moose, logging big minutes on the blue line for a couple of weeks until an injury to Toby Enstrom led to a recall to the Jets.

That was three weeks ago. Poolman hasn’t played since, a healthy scratch every game as the team’s seventh defenceman.

It certainly raises the question whether Poolman’s development might better be served by being returned to the Moose while a more experienced defenceman — hello, Julian Melchiori — takes his spot on the sidelines with the Jets. After all, Enstrom is expected to be out at least another five weeks.

Poolman can’t go two months between games, can he?

"We’d like him to get into as many pro games as we can. The concern of injury for our club, he is clearly the next guy in then. We’ll have to weigh that. There’ll come a watershed point here if we stay healthy here on our back end," Jets head coach Paul Maurice said Friday following the team’s practice in Tampa Bay, Fla.

Poolman is a right-handed shot and has Jacob Trouba, Dustin Byfuglien and Tyler Myers ahead of him on the depth chart. Ben Chiarot has taken Enstrom’s spot on the left side, in addition to regulars Josh Morrissey and Dmitry Kulikov.

"He’s in a bit of a tough spot right now, and because of the righties we do have, we likely won’t let him sit there too much longer. Just get him into a game. It doesn’t have to be a 20-game run, just get into some games so he can be a little sharper if somebody goes down, he’s in," Maurice said.

Poolman did play his off-side a bit during the pre-season and looked strong, but struggled in the one regular-season game where he got a look. As a result, lefty Chiarot has got the nod ahead of him barring an injury to one of the team’s right-shooting defencemen.

"We want to put a younger player in his natural position and give him a chance to move well, play well," Maurice said.

Moose head coach Pascal Vincent said Friday he doesn’t believe Poolman’s current predicament will affect his development. Simply being in the NHL, regardless of the role, brings a wealth of valuable experience.

"Being around those guys, being part of the meetings, the grind of being on the road, seeing what it takes on a daily basis to be successful... That’s a part of the game you have to witness in order to understand. Yeah, he hasn’t been playing, but the development is there. He’s around the big boys," Vincent said.

Jets assistant coaches Charlie Huddy and Jamie Kompon have been "skating him hard" to keep him fresh, Vincent said.

"There’s a bunch of details you need to learn to become a great professional hockey player, and that’s part of it. Yes, the on-ice is one part, and it’s a big part. But there’s also all those details around the game, the game within the game, that he’s learning right now," Vincent said.

"I don’t see it as a problem at all. Even for him to be there and practise at the pace of the NHL, getting used to the language that they use. Again, the grind and the routine and getting ready every single day to perform. Seeing the big boys doing it on a regular basis. To me, it’s the mental skills as well. And he’s learning that part."

If there’s a silver lining, it’s that Poolman has been allowed to ease into the pro game coming off double shoulder surgery in the off-season after finishing up his collegiate career with the University of North Dakota.

"He’s 100 per cent ready to roll," Maurice said when asked if Poolman’s health is a reason for his limited activity.

Now it’s just a question of when — and where — the next opportunity will come. https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/hockey/manitoba-moose/moose-mates-singing-hot- handed-hutchinsons-praises-462638223.html

Hutch has been clutch for Moose Goaltending a strength as team soars to top of AHL standings

By: Mike Sawatzky

Michael Hutchinson has a good thing going. So good, in fact, he doesn’t want to tempt fate by talking to newspaper reporters.

The AHL’s goaltender of the month in November started three consecutive games for the Moose last week and stopped 108 of 110 shots, as the club notched three more wins. The team’s Central Division-leading 17-5-1-1 record has been matched by its No. 1 goaltender’s red- hot numbers — 9-1-0 with a shutout, a 1.73 goals-against average and a .951 save percentage.

With Eric Comrie recalled by the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets as an injury replacement, Hutchinson has seized the opportunity to dominate much as he did in 2013-14, when he was first promoted to the Jets’ AHL farm club in St. John’s from the ECHL’s Reign.

Hutchinson’s stellar play helped the IceCaps roll to a berth in the final that season.

"I’ve been around Hutchie for a while now. I played against him when he was in Providence (with the AHL’s Bruins) but when he was in St. John’s, he was probably one of the best goalies I’ve seen at the AHL level," veteran Moose defenceman Julian Melchiori said following practice at the Iceplex Thursday morning.

"The goalie I see now reminds me a lot of what I saw in St. John’s when he took us to the finals. I saw that in the NHL at times. It’s a little bit different there, your leash is a little bit shorter. But I don’t think I ever questioned Hutch as a goalie."

Out of training camp, Hutchinson has been a revelation after being demoted to the AHL following three full seasons in the NHL. He plays with an authority uncommon in the minors.

"He’s smart and he sees plays before they happen, especially with his rebounds," Moose defenceman Peter Stoykewych said. "He puts a lot of them exactly where he wants to put them. A lot of the time, that’s right to us. Especially on kills, he’ll actually direct the puck so we have the best chance to get to it first. It’s little things like that that make a difference."

The demotion hit hard, which was to be expected. The fierceness of Hutchinson’s response may have surprised some.

"I think he’s probably a little bit pissed off, too," said Melchiori. "He thinks he deserves to be there, which he should. Everyone wants to play in the NHL and thinks they should, so I think a little bit of that is he’s pissed off and some of that comes out in his game. He’s out to prove something. He’s not just here to win games for the Moose, he’s here to go back to the NHL."

Moose head coach Pascal Vincent, who expressed some concern out of training camp that the demotion and inevitable trade speculation surrounding Hutchinson could be a distraction, has been thrilled with the goaltender’s demeanour and professionalism. Manitoba has a league- leading plus-38 goal differential and Hutchinson remains a tempting trade target for an NHL team in need.

"He’s on a mission right now," said Vincent, who will start Hutchinson again Saturday when Manitoba hosts the at 2 p.m. "His goal is to get back to the NHL and he’s been really good around the team and he’s been successful. We’re playing well in front of him, but when we needed him and Comrie to make some big stops for us, they did. It’s no issue whatsoever. Actually, it’s been really positive."

Improved goaltending has been instrumental in Manitoba’s reversal of fortunes in 2017-18. Last season, the Moose finished 25th overall in the 30-team league and out of the . This fall, they are tied with the for first overall in the AHL. Curiously, they are allowing 33.42 shots against per game, up slightly from 32.20 a year ago.

"It’s the quality of the shots," Vincent said. "Teams are shooting a lot from the outside and as soon as they see an opportunity to shoot the puck, even if it’s not the right shot selection, they’re still shooting. The quality of the chances we give to the other team is not the same as last year."

There are other less-obvious factors contributing to Manitoba’s success.

Stoykewych said one is that Hutchinson’s ability to take charge of a shoot-in by the opposition takes some of the guesswork out of exiting the defensive zone.

"Even five-on-five and penalty kills, getting out to stop wrapped pucks, it’s incredible for us how quick he is out there," Stoykewych said. "He’s able to knock (the puck) down off the glass for us and leave it for D-men and then we’re out of the zone. Then we don’t even have to deal with a shot, as opposed to us chasing rims around the zone and having a defensive-zone shift because of it. It’s really those little things that don’t show up on stats sheets that he’s really good at."

Winnipeg Sun http://winnipegsun.com/sports/hockey/nhl/winnipeg-jets/bump-in-the-road-clash-with-lightning- should-bring-answers-for-jets

Clash with Lightning should bring answers for Jets

By Ken Wiebe

TAMPA BAY – It was shaping up to be a clash of the titans.

A pair of offensive juggernauts who can score in bunches and also know a thing or two about keeping things tight defensively.

When the week began, the Winnipeg Jets were the top team in the Western Conference and the Tampa Bay Lightning were in first place in the East.

The two clubs were tied for first overall in points and it was impossible for members of the media to not look ahead and wonder what Saturday’s game at Amalie Arena might have in store.

For the Jets, the narrative going into the marquee match-up is a bit different after dropping consecutive games to the Detroit Red Wings and Florida Panthers and giving up 11 goals (including one into an empty net).

Suddenly, the Jets are looking for a return to form rather than just rolling along.

As well as the Jets had been playing, it’s not a huge surprise to see them come back to the pack a bit.

Things had been coming a little too easy offensively lately and when that happens, it’s human nature to let the commitment to defence slip a little bit.

That’s a battle many teams learning how to win struggle with.

As was the case back in early October, when the Jets started 0-2 after decisive losses to the and , it’s important to maintain some perspective when it comes to this two-game losing skid.

It’s true the effort put forth did not meet the standard the Jets have worked hard to establish during the first quarter and change of the 2017-18 season.

But as poorly as the Jets played for parts of both losses, they had ample opportunity to come away with points in each of those contests.

That’s a double-edged sword and it was a valuable reminder in the eyes of Jets head coach Paul Maurice.

“When you win, you’re not that good and when you lose, you’re not that bad most nights,” said Maurice. “We’ve got to grind through it.”

While it’s true that the second game was started by Jets third-stringer Eric Comrie, goaltending wasn’t really at the heart of the 6-4 loss to the Panthers on Thursday.

Blown assignments and poor defensive-zone coverage were far greater concerns for the Jets and they’ll be looking to clean up those aspects of their collective game as they face a Lightning club that seems to be clicking on all cylinders.

The task at hand for the Jets is straightforward, yet incredibly difficult.

“It’s all about regrouping and refocusing. Taking lessons and learning from the last couple of games,” Jets centre Bryan Little told reporters on a day the team held an optional skate and off- ice workout. “There were some positives, but it definitely wasn’t our best hockey. We’re trying to get ready for one of our tougher games of the season.

“Getting our focus back on defence and not giving up as much. We all know we have a lot of skilled guys and we can score goals, but it’s (about having) that defence-first mentality and trusting that we’ll get offence in the game.”

In facing a Lightning squad led by the dynamic duo of Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov, the Jets have no choice but to be diligent with the little details and demonstrate a renewed commitment to playing a more structured and smarter game.

If they do that, there’s no doubt the Jets can compete with the talented Lightning.

But if they don’t, it could be another long night for the Jets, who haven’t lost three in a row this season.

There are no alarm bells going off, but it’s obvious the Jets have played at a higher level this season and they’ll need to match that level on Saturday night.

“It definitely puts you in your place a bit,” Little said of the recent losses. “We were riding high and sitting on top of the league and (then) we have two games like that, that we’re not happy about. We know we can play better and that’s the way it goes.

“You’re not going to play a perfect 82 games and you’re not going to be really good every night. Trying to do that more often than not is the biggest challenge and the good teams do it. We’re finding a way to put those (disappointing losses) behind us and get back on track faster than we used to.”

One other thing is certain: the Jets haven’t lost faith in the foundation they’ve been building.

“We still believe that we’re a really good team and we can beat anyone,” said Little.

Saturday is the next chance for the Jets to prove it. http://winnipegsun.com/sports/hockey/nhl/striped-homecoming

Striped homecoming

By Paul Friesen

Vaughan Rody bought 38 tickets for Monday’s game between the Winnipeg Jets and Canucks.

He expects 37 of them to be used.

“The one person that I really wish would have been able to be around is my dad,” Rody said as Monday’s game approached. “So I bought an extra ticket for him.”

A 48-year-old Winnipeg native who lives in Seattle, Rody is one of the linesmen who’ll be working the game.

Through 18 years on the job — a career that’s seen him work the Jets’ inaugural game six years ago, an all-star game two years ago and the Heritage Classic, here, last year — this game will be special, as Rody will be recognized for reaching the 1,000-game milestone last season.

You don’t work that many NHL games without having some stories to tell, and Rody has a few.

Like how Jets head coach Paul Maurice broke his perfect streak of surviving challenged offside calls in the game against Vegas, here, this season.

“He does have a pretty good record of challenging,” Rody said of Maurice. “It’s pretty easy when you’re looking at a video right under your feet at the bench.”

For a little more drama, there was the Bruins-Sharks game in Boston, last season, when he tried to beat out a snowstorm by flying from Seattle to Washington, D.C. the night before the game.

He arrived in Washington shortly before midnight, only to discover his luggage was lost and the airport in Boston was already shut down.

Plan B: a 7 a.m. train to Boston, only the weather caused the train to stall just outside New York.

After waiting in the blizzard for another train, Rody finally arrived in Boston some 50 minutes before game time.

His fellow officials, in conjunction with NHL security, had arranged for a Boston police escort through the snow.

He arrived, lights flashing and sirens blaring, with 18 minutes to spare – still without his gear.

“The Bruins had laid out skates and a helmet,” Rody said. “At every rink they have a jersey and a pair of pants just in case… I had to piece things together, elbow pads, knee pads from players – whatever they got me.”

He stepped onto the ice and quickly realized he could barely skate in the borrowed blades.

“Patrick Marleau’s looking at me like I’m a newborn colt on skates,” Rody recalled. “I looked like a nine-year-old out there doing an NHL game. David Backes was, like, ‘I can’t believe you’re out here.’ After every stoppage he was on the ice, he’d reach down and grab the puck for me and flip it up to me.

“He said he didn’t want me to bend down and not be able to get back up.”

With a little extra work from his crewmates, though, he made it through the game.

Because if there’s one thing Rody learned from his dad while growing up in the West End, it’s to never quit or give up.

That’s how he made it back from spinal fusion surgery and a serious infection that threatened his ability to walk a few years ago.

But Rody wouldn’t be pulling on an NHL officials’ sweater and whistle in his old home town, Monday, without a lot of other people, too.

Family and friends from around the continent will be in attendance, including many of the people who helped him earn those stripes in his early years.

To commemorate the occasion, many will be wearing black-and-white jerseys with “1,000th game” on the back.

“To be able to do this back home where you started… this game will give me a chance to say thank-you to guys who gave me a start,” he said.

The NHL allowed Rody to handpick the officiating crew that’ll work with him, so he chose longtime buds Tom Kowal, Lonnie Cameron and Ian Walsh, who all slogged it out with him in junior hockey a couple decades ago.

Rody will have his two sons here from Seattle, whose birthdays he’s missed all too often over the years.

He’ll thank his siblings, too — Vince, Vern and Valerie – for being there when he was a kid, driving him to games when their dad couldn’t.

The NHL has allowed him to have his mother, Mary, and his dad’s oldest surviving brother, Jack, at ice level with him before the game.

And up in Section 109, Row 5, Seat 12, Fred Rody, who passed away six years ago, will be there in spirit, along with his favourite charcoal-grey fedora.

“I’m going to just tape that chair down, and I’m going to put that hat in his chair,” Rody said. “So he’ll be with me for sure.”

The most important thing he learned from his father stays with him, too.

“It’s not always going to be a bed of roses. It’s not always going to be successful. But at the end of the day, if you work hard and do the right things, put the effort in, you’ll be rewarded.

“It’s important for me to be able to share this day with him. Because this kind of proves we made it. http://winnipegsun.com/sports/hockey/nhl/winnipeg-jets/petan-getting-it-done-with-the-moose

Petan getting it done with the Moose

By Glen Dawkins

The Manitoba Moose currently has a nine-game winning streak and can tie a franchise record for longest winning streak tomorrow when they take on Milwaukee.

While most players on the Manitoba Moose are working to get their first chance in the NHL, Nic Petan is fighting to get back.

Petan, 22, has 86 career games with the Winnipeg Jets since turning pro in 2015. The Jets’ second round pick in the 2013 NHL Draft opened this year with the big club, playing six games without registering a point before being sent down to the Moose. Petan doesn’t hide the fact he’d rather be playing up with the Jets, but he’s not letting it affect his play.

“You can’t really dwell on it,” said Petan. “Obviously, this isn’t where you want to be at this point in your career. You just got to have fun, enjoy it with the guys and wait for the next opportunity.”

Petan is doing everything he can to get that next opportunity sooner rather than later. The young forward was named the CCM/AHL Player of the Week for an impressive three-game stretch between Nov. 28 and Dec. 2 where he registered eight points.

“His attitude has been great and he wants to learn,” said Moose head coach Pascal Vincent. “With the skill level he has, it was good to see him rewarded, but we saw it coming. To see him on the daily basis with the way he practices and approaches the games, we could see it coming. It was only a matter of time.”

Petan, who has three goals and 16 points in 17 games with the Moose this year, said last season was a tough year for him. He had 13 points in 54 games last season with the Jets, mostly playing on the third and fourth lines. He said some of his struggles from last year affected his play at the beginning of this season, but now he feels like he’s gotten his confidence back.

“Consistency and confidence is a huge thing,” Petan said. “When I’m playing with confidence, it’s a totally different game. It’s just the fact of keeping things consistent and keeping your confidence high.”

All the winning the Moose have done has helped with everyone’s confidence. The team currently has a nine-game winning streak and can tie a franchise record for longest winning streak tomorrow when they take on Milwaukee.

“I guess, it’s in the back of everyone’s head that you don’t want to lose the streak, but if we go out stick to our game plan and do what we’re been doing we’ll be fine,” said Petan.

Petan spent parts of the past two seasons with the Moose. Both years the Moose were nowhere near a playoff team, but this year has been completely different and he said he noticed as soon as he joined the club in late October.

“This year everyone’s buying in. I know I missed the first couple games, but when I came down, everybody was super positive. Obviously winning makes everything better, but everyone’s buying into what we have to do. We know how to win and that’s the most important thing,” said Petan.

Not everyone handles demotions very well, but Vincent said that hasn’t been the case with Petan. He said the young forward has been impressive on and off the ice.

“He’s been great, a real good pro,” said Moose head coach Pascal Vincent. “He’s been really mature about it. He wanted to play minutes and wanted to be on the ice and play the game. He’s seen it at the NHL level, he knows what it takes, he went through the schedule. He wants to get back there and he’s on a mission right now in that regard and he’s doing everything right.”

To accomplish the mission of getting back to the NHL, Petan’s plan is relatively simple.

“Keep doing the same stuff,” Petan said. “Keep working hard and focus on the 200 ft game. I know my abilities offensively, but defensively to keep working on it.”

The Moose play at Bell MTS Place on Saturday and Sunday this weekend against the Milwaukee Admirals. Both games start at 2 pm.

Vincent talks Tucker Poolman and Eric Comrie

Rookie defenceman Tucker Poolman was called up by the Jets three weeks ago, but the big club hasn’t used him in a game since promoting him. Vincent talked about whether a player like Poolman can develop while being a healthy scratch every night.

“I think you can. Being around those guys and seeing the level of intensity, being a part of the meetings, seeing what it takes, the grind of being on the road, and seeing what it takes on a daily basis to be successful. That’s part of the game you have to witness to understand what it takes. Yeah, he hasn’t been playing, but the development is there. He’s around the big boys and he has to go through the schedule,” said Vincent.

Vincent also talked goalie Eric Comrie, who got his first NHL start of the year last night in the Jets’ 6-4 loss to the Florida Panthers. Vincent said he saw the game and that it wasn’t an easy circumstance for the 22-year old goalie.

“He’s a pretty calm and confident person and you need that skill to be a good goaltender. He wanted to do well. I’m not a goalie coach and that’s one part I leave to the goalies and goalie coaches. What you expect from him at that point is to compete hard. I think he made some good stops and I’ll let those guys evaluate his game. What we saw is a hard compete and to me, that goes a long way,” Vincent said.

Sportsnet.ca http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/winnipeg-jets-florida-panthers-nhl-1.4438641

How the Winnipeg Jets became one of the NHL’s best, and three other trends to watch

By Dimitri Filipovic

We’re trying something new here this week.

We’re going to zoom out, bounce around the league, and look at four trends that warrant a closer look than they’ve been getting. First up..

1. This year looks different in Winnipeg:

After years of being tagged with the label of pre-season sleeper only to have those hopes fizzle out as soon as the games began, the Winnipeg Jets finally seem to be making good on all of their tantalizing potential. They currently find themselves in a dead heat atop the conference with the best the West has to offer — only the Kings and Blues sport a better goal differential than Winnipeg’s plus-17.

The thing with the Jets is that the skating talent, particularly up front where they boast arguably the best collection of firepower in the league outside of Tampa Bay, has never been in question. It’s impossible not to be infatuated by a team that can throw any combination of explosive talents like Blake Wheeler, , Nik Ehlers, and Patrik Laine out there, presenting opponents with the challenge of trying to figure who to match up with and how to best slow them down.

Those guys certainly haven’t disappointed. The Jets have been explosive on offence – they were sixth in the league in goals per hour last season, and they’re fifth this season.

The majority of their issues in the past have emanated from the other end of the ice, where they’ve had a difficult time keeping the puck out of their own net (as a frame of reference, only the Avalanche and Stars gave up goals more frequently than Winnipeg last season, which neutralized that sixth-ranked attack). Those types of back-and-forth, high-scoring track meets surely make for entertaining viewing, but also made it difficult for the Jets to string together enough wins to consistently be a playoff team.

It’s no surprise that the one time they qualified for the post-season since returning to Winnipeg was in 2014-15. That was the year Ondrej Pavelec got ridiculously hot in the second half of the season and marked the only time the team’s goaltenders didn’t finish in the bottom third of the league:

Season 5-on-5 Save % League Rank 2011-2012 91.22 24th 2012-2013 90.87 22nd 2013-2014 91.19 23rd 2014-2015 92.16 13th 2015-2016 91.53 23rd 2016-2017 91.01 27th 2017-2018 92.26 10th

This year has been much better and part of that is, of course, due to Connor Hellebuyck’s strong play. He was bizarrely ineffective last season considering how well he’d shown at each previous level, and that suggested his struggles were more an aberration than a lasting indictment of his ability to stop the puck.

But another factor to this season’s turnaround is the team’s defensive play in front of him. At five-on-five the Jets give up the sixth-fewest scoring chances against per hour on average, sandwiched between the Bruins and Blue Jackets. Of all 31 teams, only the Blues and Stars give up fewer high danger shot attempts than the Jets.

Taking it one step further, of the 32 qualified goalies with 700-plus minutes played this season (accounting for the majority of their team’s starts), only the Wild have done a better job of keeping the shots against to the outside and away from the high danger areas:

Player 5-on-5 Time on Ice 5-on-5 Shots Against High Danger Shots Against % High Danger Shots 991.72 527 71 13.47 Connor Hellebuyck 1019.85 485 67 13.81 Andrei Vasilevskiy 1089.70 592 84 14.19 Jake Allen 1014.67 496 80 16.13 Carey Price 752.85 387 67 17.31 Mike Smith 1129.52 598 104 17.39 Jonathan Quick 1026.13 522 91 17.43 988.38 509 89 17.49

The ability to put goals on the board in bunches is there, as it always has been. The team’s possession game has finally come around as well over the past 10 games or so since returned from injury. This all bodes well for their ability to sustain the winning ways moving forward.

But as always, it all comes back to the goaltending. If they can now rely on that too, then all of a sudden this might actually be the year the Winnipeg Jets finally take that next step. http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/goes-brown-saturday-storylines-will-anderson-return-form/

Down Goes Brown Saturday Storylines: Will Anderson return to form?

By Sean McIndoe

We’re into double digits as we hit the 10th weekend of the NHL season. We’ve got a dozen games on tap, starting in the afternoon and lasting through a trio of late starts. Here’s what to watch for.

HNIC Game of the Night: Jets at Lightning The Jets are in the middle of what’s been easily their best season since returning to the NHL in 2011. It might be taking a run at 1984–85 for the best Jets season ever, period. That’s not an especially high bar, but Winnipeg fans probably aren’t too worried about nitpicking right now, because for most of the year this team has been all sorts of fun.

Even after losing two straight to start this road trip, the Jets are still locked in a three-team race for top spot in the Central. But if there’s been a knock against them, it’s one we covered a few weeks back: they haven’t earned many signature wins. They had that one blowout over the Penguins, and they beat the Pacific-leading Kings, but for the most part their wins have come against a long list of also-rans and quasi-contenders.

That’s not entirely their fault, since in today’s parity-soaked NHL almost every opponent will be an also-ran or quasi-contender. But tonight, the Jets get their shot at an unambiguous Cup favourite when they face the first-place-overall Lightning.

Tampa’s been dominating the power rankings so far this year, ours included, and it’s not hard to see why. They’re stacked with talent, they score a ton, and they’re racking up wins. And they’re earning them — they’re the only team in the league right now that’s outscoring the opposition by better than a goal a game. They’re good.

The Jets are good, too, but you can forgive the hockey world for being a little bit slower to buy in. That could change with a strong showing tonight. We won’t go crazy and use words like “potential final preview” here, but we reserve the right to change our mind if the Jets can go into Tampa and dominate.

And if seeing how the young Jets match up with the Lightning isn’t enough proof for any skeptics out there, stand by. Next weekend brings a home-and-home showdown with the Blues, and that’s followed by a game against the Predators. The Central picture is about to get a whole lot clearer, and for once the Jets have a chance to control how they fit into it. http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/winnipeg-jets-prospect-report-kristian-vesalainen-big-wjc/

Winnipeg Jets Prospect Report: Kristian Vesalainen could have a big WJC

By Rory Boylen

Most of Winnipeg’s top-end talent is currently paying dividends on an NHL roster that is emerging as one of the league’s best. But although so much of the contrubution up there is coming from youngsters, there is still more talent in the pipeline.

In this month’s Jets prospect report, we’ll focus on picks made in the 2017 NHL Draft, and look at a couple players who may play for their countries at the upcoming World Junior Championship. So while you won’t see Tucker Poolman or Jack Roslovic in this piece, here is an update on how the most recent picks are doing, led by one player who is expected to be a big-time contributor in Buffalo at the WJC.

Kristian Vesalainen, 18, LW/RW, HPK Drafted: First round, 24th overall, 2017 Season to date: 25 GP | 8 G | 11 A | 19 P

Reason for optimism: As a late first-round pick, Vesalainen brings an exciting combination of size (6-foot-4, 209 pounds) and skill, but while he more often than not put up strong point totals against his own age group, when tested at higher levels his offensive game tended to level off.

This year, that looks to be changing. Playing in Finland’s top professional league with HPK, he leads his team in scoring and is top 20 in the league, though currently he is out due to an injury.

As long as he’s not out for too long, Vesalainen figures to be a central part of Finland’s offence at the World Junior Championship. He’ll look to bounce back from his own mediocre totals in last year’s tournament (two points in six games) and help Finland return to prominence after they were threatened with relegation and finished ninth in 2017.

Generally regarded as a 19-year-old’s tournament, it wasn’t odd to see a draft eligible player like Vesalainen put up those kind of numbers at last year’s WJC, but as a draft-plus-one returnee with overwhelming size, the expectation is that he’ll have a significant presence in Buffalo later this month.

Dylan Samberg, 18, D, University of -Duluth Drafted: Second round, 43rd overall, 2017 Season to date: 17 GP | 0 G | 4 A | 4 P

Samberg is considered a “raw” prospect, but at 6-foot-3 and 190 pounds, he has good size as athleticism. He is one of five players from the University of Minnesota-Duluth to make the list of 28 players invited to Team USA’s WJC selection camp, though as the third-youngest defenceman invited, a spot on the final roster may be an uphill battle.

He is an NCAA freshman this season after moving right out of high school hockey in 2016-17, where he had 28 points in 25 games for Minnesota’s Hermantown High. His best asset right now is his strength, but he doesn’t bring a whole lot of offensive pop at this level yet. He is a long-term prospect for sure, but if he is selected to represent the USA at the world juniors, it would be a surprising and exciting development for the Jets and their fans.

Jonathan Kovacevic, 20, D, Merrimack College Drafted: Third round, 74th overall, 2017 Season to date: 14 GP | 1 G | 9 A | 10 P

After being passed over by every NHL team at the 2016 draft, the 6-foot-4, 208-pound Kovacevic was scooped up by the Jets as a third-rounder in 2017. You’ll notice that the Jets have a bit of a trend picking large defencemen at the draft table — only two of the past seven defencemen they’ve taken come in under 6-foot-2. Turns out, Kovacevic, a Grimsby, Ont., native, wanted to be taken by the Winnipeg Jets.

Kovacevic is also somewhat of a long-term prospect for the Jets and is currently a top 10 scorer among defencemen in Hockey East, even though his Merrimack team sits last place in the standings with just two wins. As a 20-year-old, he is not eligible to play in the WJC.

Santeri Virtanen, 18, C, Dubuque Fighting Saints Drafted: Fourth round, 105th overall, 2017 Season to date: 9 GP | 2 G | 5 A | 7 P

A shoulder injury severely hampered Virtanen’s development last season as he was only able to get into five games with TPS in Finland’s junior league, but he did record six points in that time. He also got a taste of international hockey, scoring six points in seven games at the under-18s.

He’s been limited to just nine games this season for the USHL’s Dubuque Fighting Saints, which is nearly half as many as the team has played, but he’s still eighth in team scoring. At this point, health is a concern for the young player, but there’s no denying his natural skill set. The 6-foot- 2, 194-pounder brings great speed and a knack for the two-way game.

Virtanen, unrelated to Vancouver’s Jake, was not listed on Finland’s WJC selection camp roster.

Leon Gawanke, 18, D, Cape Breton Screaming Eagles Drafted: Fifth round, 136th overall, 2017 Season to date: 29 GP | 2 G | 14 A | 16 P

Gawanke, one of those two defencemen the Jets have picked in the past two years under 6- foot-2 (he’s 6-foot-1 so not exactly small), won’t be at the World Junior Championship in Buffalo because Germany didn’t qualify for this year’s top tier. He is, however, representing his country in Division I at the WJC, which runs from Dec. 10-17 in France and where he and the Germans can work their way back to the top group next year.

With the QMJHL’s Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, Gawanke has been a big presence on the blue line. He’s the second-highest scoring defenceman on the team (tied for 21st in the ‘Q’) with two goals and 16 points in 29 games, which doesn’t project to improve much on last year’s 32 point total. Last season, he was the second-highest scoring draft-eligible blueliner in the QMJHL, behind only first-rounder Pierre-Olivier Joseph, who is nearly a point-per-game player this season.

There is reason to believe those totals will go up, though. Gawanke shoots a lot, already putting 89 pucks on net this season — seventh-most among QMJHL defenders — and converting just two goals. Through all of last season, Gawanke took 106 shots.

Arvid Holm, 19, G, Karlskrona Drafted: Sixth round, 167th overall, 2017 Season to date: 22 GP | 3.63 GAA | .883 SP

The Jets made history when they selected Holm in the sixth round last summer, because he became the first player ever drafted out of the Karlskrona HK program to the NHL.

As always, goalies at a young age are nearly impossible to predict with any confidence, and that goes doubly for long shot prospects taken late in the draft. Still, it’s not a promising development to see Holm’s numbers take a dip in his first post-draft season still playing in Sweden’s junior league.

At 6-foot-4, Holm certainly fits the modern mould of an NHL goalie and he’s been known for the athleticism he brings to the net. He’s a long shot prospect at this point, as is anyone a season after being picked in the sixth round, but those two attributes could help him in future development.

Skyler McKenzie, 19, LW, Drafted: Seventh round, 198th overall, 2017 Season to date: 28 GP | 20 G | 17A | 37 PTS

An undersized scorer at the junior level passed over by everyone in his first year of draft eligibility: where have we heard this story before?

McKenzie falls into that category as a 5-foot-8, 154-pound left winger, but to be fair he wasn’t a prolific scorer until his first year of eligibility passed. On last year’s Portland Winterhawks, McKenzie more than tripled his offensive output from the season before, finishing with 42 goals and 84 points playing alongside . This season, he’s part of one of the CHL’s most dynamic scoring units with Kieffer Bellows (19th overall to Islanders in 2016) and Glass (sixth overall to Vegas).

The trio has helped Portland get out to a strong lead in the US Division in the WHL, though McKenzie was the only one of the three to not be invited to his country’s WJC selection camp. A long shot prospect going this late, it can only be a good thing to see him continue to put up monster numbers in major junior, but he’ll eventually have to prove he can produce without being surrounded by top-end talent.

Croix Evingson, 20, D, UMass-Lowell Drafted: Seventh round, 211th overall, 2017 Season to date: 7 GP | 1 G | 1A | 2 PTS

Back to another massive defenceman taken by the Jets, there’s no question that the edge 6- foot-5, 214-pound Evingson plays with is his biggest asset. The question is whether or not he can bring any offence to his game, or keep up to the pace at higher levels.

An Anchorage, Alaska native, Evingson had already been passed over at the draft before the Jets took a flyer on him as a 19-year-old pick last summer. He has not gone a very traditional route either, starting in the NAHL with the Kenai River Brown Bears then moving to the Shreveport Mudbugs last season, where he upped his production to 52 points in 59 games.

While that offensive uptick was good to see, when he was given a look in the USHL with the Chicago Steel last season, he managed just one point in 16 games. He’ll be at Umass-Lowell for a few years yet and has missed some time this season to injury, but he has time to develop at both ends before the Jets have to determine where he fits into their plans.

TSN 1290 (AUDIO LINKS) https://www.tsn.ca/radio/winnipeg-1290/campbell-hendricks-is-hugely-popular-in-the-dressing- room-1.938926

Campbell: Hendricks is hugely popular in the dressing room

Former Winnipeg Jet and current Winnipeg Free Press columnist Scott Campbell joins the Afternoon Ride and discusses the importance of leadership in the dressing room. https://www.tsn.ca/radio/winnipeg-1290/ferraro-jets-had-a-few-flat-tires-in-detroit-and-florida- 1.938922

Ferraro: Jets had a few 'flat tires' in Detroit and Florida

Ray Ferraro discusses the Jets losses to Detroit and Florida, what he's seen this year from the Tampa Bay Lightning and Seattle as a hockey market. www.winnipegjets.com https://www.nhl.com/jets/video/practice--paul-maurice/c-55531403

PRACTICE | Paul Maurice

Head Coach Paul Maurice on Thursday's loss, bouncing back, Saturday's lineup, Tucker Poolman, Tyler Myers and more https://www.nhl.com/jets/video/practice--bryan-little/t-277437442/c-55530203

PRACTICE | Bryan Little

Bryan Little on how the Jets have become the 'hunted,' facing the opposition's best game every night https://www.nhl.com/jets/video/practice--matt-hendricks/t-277437442/c-55529303

PRACTICE | Matt Hendricks

Matt Hendricks reflects on Thursday's loss to the Panthers, and talks about how the Jets will look to respond on Saturday