Winnipeg Jets call up Armia, Halischuk

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This article was published 17/12/2015 (3611 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In need of two forwards before the Christmas roster freeze goes into effect on Saturday, the Winnipeg Jets this morning recalled Joel Armia and Matt Halischuk from the Manitoba Moose of the AHL.

The Jets had 11 forwards on their roster after sending Adam Lowry to the Moose early Wednesday.

Halischuk, who spent all of the previous two seasons with the Jets, had a goal for the Moose in Wednesday night’s 5-1 win over San Antonio and now has three, plus six points, for the AHL team this season.

Armia, acquired last February in the Evander Kane trade, had a strong game Wednesday night and has three goals and five points in 18 AHL games this season. Armia was recalled by the Jets in late November but didn’t dress for any games.

“It feels great. It’s always good here,” Armia, 22, said today about coming back to the Jets. “I just feel like I have a good opportunity here and I’ll have to work hard at it and show what I’ve got in the games.

“When I get the puck, I want to be on the puck a lot, and play hard and make plays.”

Halischuk, ever the even-keeled veteran, said patience has been a virtue and he’s been taking advantage of playing more minutes in the AHL.

“And the opportunity to play in more roles has been fun and it’s definitely helped me find my game,” he said. “Hopefully I can take that and bring it up here and try to contribute.”

He said the Moose, in their season-best 2-0-1 run with another home game tonight, are making progress.

“Lately we’ve started to come together as a team and started to gel,” he said. “We’ve got a lot to work on as well but we’ve got a good group of hard-working guys down there and a great coaching staff, too. It’s a work in progress but we’ve been doing well.”

Both Halischuk and Armia could factor into the Jets’ push for better penalty killing, head coach Paul Maurice said after practice today.

The team spent a good deal of its 50-minute practice working on special teams.

“I’m expecting them to come in and understand the value of an opportunity,” Maurice said. “Clearly we know Matt very well and I’ve got full confidence. I haven’t set the lineup for tomorrow but if he’s in the lineup I have full confidence what it’s going to look like and what he’s going to bring.

“Joel, there’s more of a question mark but the things he needed to improve, well, in the game last night you saw his hands are very good and his reads are very, very good and he kills penalties and does a pretty effective job at it.”

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The Jets, 14-15-2, meet the New York Rangers Friday night at the MTS Centre, then have road games Monday in Edmonton and Tuesday in Calgary before their Christmas break.

Maurice, after attending the Moose game Wednesday night, said he sees some optimistic signs from the farm team.

“Some guys have made some progress from the games I’ve seen earlier in the year,” he said. “I liked for the most part that they played. Thought they played real hard.

“The two guys we called up I thought had really good games, strong games, and they deserved to get an opportunity.”

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca