Jets lose Trouba for extended period

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This article was published 16/12/2014 (3935 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Jacob Trouba will be shut down for more than six weeks, Winnipeg Jets head coach Paul Maurice said this morning.

The second-year defenceman, playing an average of more than 23-and-a-half minutes per game so far this season, will be out until February with an upper-body injury that’s unrelated to his neck injury last season, Maurice said.

Maurice did not give a direct answer on whether this happened in Saturday’s loss to the Anaheim Ducks.

“He’s had a kind of pre-existing condition that most players deal with and what you’re hopeful for is that it heals and gets better and progresses and he had the opposite experience,” Maurice said after today’s game-day skate at the MTS Centre. The Jets meet the Buffalo Sabres at 7 p.m. (TSN3, TSN1290). “Things started progressively getting a little bit worse on him and it just got to the point where the only and best way for us to get him back to 100 per cent was that we had to shut him down.”

The coach said no surgical procedure will be required for Trouba’s unspecified injury.

The Jets are already without veterans Toby Enstrom and Zach Bogosian, who are out until some time in January.

Grant Clitsome has been re-activated after missing five games and will draw in tonight. He’ll be paired with Adam Pardy, sending Paul Postma up to play with Trouba’s regular partner, Mark Stuart.

The pairing of Dustin Byfuglien and rookie Ben Chiarot will remain intact.

“It is a big challenge,” Maurice said, talking generally about adding Trouba to the injured list. “Jake had been a big part of some big goals late in games and he drives the offence and has been part of a power-play unit that has been getting better but I think it’s more the defensive concern with the three guys out. All three kill penalties for us so we need to get better in that department.

“Our margin for error gets a little bit thinner there.”

Maurice said some adjustments are also going to be required.

“I’d be wrapping myself in bubble-wrap if I was one of those other guys,” the coach joked. “You know what, and this is the truth, every time you have an injury and you’re not exactly sure where it’s at, there’s spectrum of things it could be and when I got the text yesterday about six weeks, I was happy. Because the other part of that was far worse.

“We need to be a bit more patient with our offensive game,” he said. “I’m talking about staying in on the breakouts a little bit longer, giving those D a little more coverage and giving them better outs and sometimes slower outs.”

The coach framed the days ahead as an opportunity, and eventually good news.

“So Jake’s coming back, we believe, at some point this year and the guys coming back are staggered so it’ll be like Christmas every time one of them comes back to your room,” he said. “Your defence is going to improve with a veteran guy.

“And you’re going to get people minutes, and more than just one game. Big minutes. So Paul Postma’s going to get an opportunity to play a bigger role here. Ben Chiarot comes up from the minors and gets a legitimate chance to get looked at so it’s great for all those guys. They get to make their case for being more than a guy that’s 7-8. This is their time.”

The Jets are shopping seriously, the Free Press has learned, for some help on their back end.

Veteran Keaton Ellerby with the St. John’s IceCaps is one option, but he’s currently injured.

Maurice expressed faith in the current personnel, however.

“We’re good enough on our back end to survive, at least, and we expect to do more than that,” Maurice said.

Postma said this morning that he’s eager for the chance to do more.

“I’m excited for it,” he said. “I’m comfortable playing with Stuie; I played a little bit there last year. He’s such a solid defensive player, I can count on him to always be there behind me and maybe it gives me a little more confidence to jump up in the play a bit, too.

“We’re going to be playing against their top two lines so I’m going to have to play a little stronger defensively, but I’m looking forward to the challenge.”

Stuart said nothing’s going to change with him.

“We’ve got to play the same way, it’s just new bodies,” he said. “Of course we’ll miss those guys. They play a lot of big minutes and really good minutes for us. But it’s not different than when we lost Toby and Bogo — guys are more than capable of coming in and stepping up and playing well. We’re expecting that from everybody and the new pairs.”

On working with Postma, Stuart said: “You’ve just got to communicate. They’re actually pretty similar as far as jumping up in the play and offence. My game is not going to change much.”

The Jets will be facing a Sabres team that played Monday night but prevailed in a shootout over Ottawa for a fourth straight victory.

Buffalo has won seven of nine since losing at home to the Jets on Nov. 26.

“Obviously they got off to a tough start and it was early in the season and you can turn that around,” said Jets winger Evander Kane, noting the Sabres’ record is now up to 13-16-2 after a 3-13-2 start.

Kane, with four goals, goes back to playing with Adam Lowry and Matt Halischuk tonight, coming to the game with just four goals in 21 appearances this season.

“It’s something that you have to just keep working at,” Kane said. “I’d like to score but it hasn’t gone my way so far so we’ll keep working and see what happens.

“I’ve obviously wanted to be a good two-way player. We’re giving up (fewer) goals as a group so everybody’s numbers are going to be better defensively. And we’ve had good goaltending. It’s just part of our new team system.

“It’s part of our new game and it’s working for well for us as a team. It’s hard to get away from that. I think it’s definitely creating some opportunities for us so that’s been good.”

Kane put on the required stiff upper lip when asked about the latest injury, to Trouba. “That’s been kind of or MO, that if one guy goes down, somebody else can step in,” he said. “Obviously having Buff has helped out as well. I think it’s just again playing our team game no matter who we have in the lineup. Obviously having Troubs is a big part of the back end but some guys have done a good job in stepping up, as in Ben Chiarot. Hopefully that will continue.”

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca

— with files from Ed Tait and Gary Lawless

 

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