Jets chat up Russian blast from past

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This article was published 27/06/2015 (3785 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SUNRISE, Fla. — Alex Burmistrov has a big fan in high places with the Winnipeg Jets.

Jets head coach Paul Maurice spoke about the Russian centre in a chat with the media at the NHL draft Saturday, during a week in which his return to the Jets might be inching closer.

Winnipeg general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff spoke with Burmistrov’s agent, Mike Liut, face-to-face in Florida.

Burmistrov bolted from the Jets after the 2012-13 season, heading to Kazan Ak-Bars in the KHL after a well-publicized battle with then-coach Claude Noel. Maurice met with Burmistrov at last year’s world championship to feel out the former first-round pick of the Atlanta Thrashers (eighth overall in 2010).

“I met with him knowing he wasn’t coming back (this past winter) and I didn’t fully understand where his contract was going forward or how that was going to sort out,” said Maurice. “I met with him because I remember him clearly as an 18-year-old and thinking, ‘Wow.’

“Part of my meeting with Alex was recon for what I was going to go into with my first full year with the Jets, to ask the questions, ‘What happened? Why are you playing over here as it relates me going into the Jets that year? What was the dynamic that got you to here?’ And then, of course: ‘Would you come back to the National Hockey League?’ I asked him if there was a problem with Winnipeg and he said, ‘I loved playing in Winnipeg. The fans were great.’ ”

The Jets could potentially have to deal with some holes up front, with Michael Frolik (who met face-to-face in Florida with 10 teams), Drew Stafford, Lee Stempniak, Jim Slater and Jiri Tlusty among their list of unrestricted free agents.

“I’m hopeful,” Maurice said of Burmistrov, 23. “I’ve got lots of time for this young man as a player.

“There are things that have to get sorted out contract-wise, where he wants to play, the commitment to our team, coming to our team… but I had a really good meeting with him.

“Just go back a year’s time… when Mark Scheifele went down (with injury) two years ago, we didn’t have any (centres). Matty Perreault could go into that hole now, (Adam) Lowry can play the wing or the middle. If a guy like Burmi was added, there’s another guy that could do that. I’m a big fan of having nine (centres) — six of them playing the wing — because those guys are so hard to fill.”

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ONE IS THE LONELIEST NUMBER: Keegan Kolesar of Winnipeg was the lone Manitoban selected in the 2015 NHL draft, going 69th overall to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Kolesar had 19 goals and 19 assists in 64 games last season with the Seattle Thunderbirds.

“It was unbelievable,” he said of being drafted. “I still can’t really put it into words what this day really means and how exciting it is. It’s one of the greatest moments of my life.”

— with files from Gary Lawless

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPEdTait