Rookies have narrow window of opportunity

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This article was published 22/09/2015 (3695 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THERE are many levels of attendees at Winnipeg Jets training camp.

Established NHL veterans, some with sizeable contracts, are known quantities and are more of a big-picture story, projecting into the regular season and beyond.

Then there are those trying to make impressions and force difficult decisions.

Some, like the team’s 2015 draft picks and some from 2014, are just beginning their journey of bona fide bids to become NHL players.

And others, including prospects drafted earlier and some who have had a year or two in the AHL, have good cases to be pounding on the door, and with their preparation and play, are demanding head coach Paul Maurice see them.

Maurice, who controls one of the most valuable commodities there is — ice time — has numerous decisions to make between today and the team’s regular-season opener Oct. 8 in Boston.

Who plays and who doesn’t? Who gets a look and who gets sent away?

The pre-season games, beginning tonight at the MTS Centre against the Minnesota Wild, are gold to some looking for Maurice’s love and attention.

“It’s huge,” said defenceman Brendan Kichton, a 2013 draft pick who has played two AHL seasons. “You go out there and you want to prove to the coaches that you belong at that level and that you’re ready to take that next step, that all that work you put in, you can apply the systems Paul’s teaching, that you’re a quick learner.”

Kichton, who may well get his chance tonight against the Wild, has played one previous pre-season game, that last year.

He said he and others are aware the windows sometimes don’t stay open long.

“You put in the work all summer and you really hope it shows with the first couple of skates,” he said. “You want to show them you have put in the work in the summer and that you are prepared for the season.

“But these last couple of skates, I’ve felt really good and I’m ready to keep it going.”

Another prospect hoping to get the chance to translate good off-season work into a pre-season game or two is centre Ryan Olsen.

The sturdy, physical centre was one of the positive stories out of the team’s trip to the Canucks Young Stars Classic a week ago in Penticton, B.C.

“It (pre-season games) would mean a lot,” said Olsen, a 2012 pick who played in the AHL last season. “I want to see where I’m at with the NHL level, compare myself to that and then I can really evaluate how I’ll get better, where I am and how to improve. It would be a big test for me and I’m excited for it, look forward to it.”

Maurice has made some judgments in the last four or five days.

About those players a little farther up the development curve, he said this Monday: “The first thing I’m looking for is for them to look different than they did last year at camp, and a few of them do. And I know that some of them have made good progress, but they’re not starting with the Jets.

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“But now you want to get on the coach’s radar, so that when you need that call-up, you say, ‘That guy had a great camp, I’ve got no problem with him coming up.’ And you also want to be a little bit more defined as a player. This is what I do for a living. This is what I’m going to offer you. When you’re looking for in a player, (say) a centreman, you have a better idea of the style of game that guy’s going to bring.”

The coach suggested the other group of younger prospects may not find their way into the pre-season for important reasons.

“(They have to be) close enough to the NHL players,” he said. “I want them to feel good about the game. I want them to not be overwhelmed. You’re going to have draft picks that come in here and all you want them to do is practise, just get used to it. They’re two or three or four years away. They’re still good players but they’re just physically not there yet, from a maturity point of view.”

Of the team’s junior-eligible prospects at this camp, the coach did say Monday that 2014 first-rounder Nikolaj Ehlers and Buffalo’s 2014 second-rounder Brendan Lemieux will see lots of pre-season action.

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca