Working man

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This article was published 18/01/2016 (3551 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

This is how Mathieu Perreault wants every single one of his shifts to look:

He wants there to be a hint of desperation in his play, as if the clock is clicking to zeroes with his team down a goal. He wants there to be a Tasmanian Devil-meets-annoying-gnat element to what he does that has the opposition cursing his name every moment they are on the ice with him.

And he wants those around him wearing Winnipeg Jets colours to understand never, ever, should a guy take the game for granted, that they should approach every game with a fear that hockey’s grim reaper is going to tell them to turn in their jersey at the end of the night.

The rationale here is simple — Perreault approaches the game this way because it’s been all he’s known since junior. Check that, it’s all he’s known for as long as he can remember.

“My dad’s a trucker. He still gets up every morning at 5 a.m.,” Perreault said after practice Sunday. “He’s such a worker. That’s how I was brought up: you’ve got to work to earn your salary. That’s how I was brought up in this game, too.

“I was a sixth-rounder (selected 177th overall by the Washington Capitals in 2006) so nothing ever came easy. I was in Hershey and I had to prove myself just to be in the American Hockey League. I was a healthy scratch my first year in the ‘A’ from time to time. I was brought into the game with the understanding that if you have two or three bad games then you’re not playing, you’re in the stands. In Washington, it was the same thing. If I went four-five games without a point or wasn’t creating much I’d be sent back down.

“That’s why I take nothing for granted. I’ve always worked for everything I’ve earned. That’s just the only way I know. That’s how it works.”

Perreault was signed by the Jets as a free agent in the summer of 2014 as a versatile centre/winger who could boost their numbers in the faceoff circle. But he’s morphed into so much more than that for the franchise. He was centring a line featuring Nikolaj Ehlers and Joel Armia in Friday’s 1-0 win over the Minnesota Wild, and it’s not by accident his locker is in a corner near young guns Adam Lowry, Ehlers and Alex Burmistrov.

Funny how hockey works, sometimes. When he broke into the league with the Caps, the veteran voice in his head was Jason Chimera’s. Now, with a few years under his belt and comfort with his place in the Jets’ room, he is becoming that voice.

Case in point: Perreault was one of those who recently spoke to Ehlers in an attempt to help the young Dane’s transition from junior star to NHL rookie.

“Nik, I’ve been talking to him a lot,” said Perreault. “I thought his game, for awhile, was a little more sloppy and he wasn’t as good as he could be, from what we see in practice and the stuff he can do. I tried to stay on him to make him understand it takes hard work to win in this league. He’s such a young guy he doesn’t really know all that stuff. I think back to when I was 19, I was still in junior and I didn’t know any better. He’s been working really hard in games, winning battles and that’s the key.

“When you’re younger, when you’re playing junior or midget and you’re the best player you don’t always realize it’s about hard work. Once you become a pro everybody’s got skills, but it’s hard work that makes the difference. Nikky’s got so much skill, Army (Armia) same thing. If they can bring that hard work every night then they’ll be great players.

“When you’re a teenager you don’t know any better. You’re just playing hockey and having fun and you don’t know how much work it takes if you want to be successful in this. It’s a man’s league and young guys have got to learn that.”

Again, Perreault’s approach is not that complicated. It comes from his parents. It comes from having to scrap to get to the bigs. And it comes from having to fight to stay here. That’s why all his shifts, by design, look the same.

“It’s not easy to do and some nights it’s a grind for me,” he said. “But if you always bring your best effort you know your teammates can never blame you for anything. If you make a turnover or a bad play it’s not coming from laziness. I’m just trying to make myself better and everyone around me better.

“(Being in Winnipeg) changed everything for me. I played for Bruce (Boudreau, both in Washington and Anaheim) and he was great for me. But to him I was just that young guy he could use in filling holes. A guy got hurt on the first line and he could put me there… or on the fourth or the third… I was a guy he moved around and put in the stands once in awhile.

“Since I’ve been here I’ve got a spot and I have a home,” Perreault added. “I’m 28 now and I feel I am a veteran presence in the room and I feel comfortable talking in the room. In Washington I was a young guy who just sat there and soaked it in. Anaheim, same thing. So what I have here now is definitely a role I enjoy more.”

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @WFPEdTait

 

Perusing Perreault

Mathieu Perreault is third in scoring for the Winnipeg Jets. Here are his numbers so far:

GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GW	S	S%
45	7	22	29	12	22	5	0	1	78	9.0

 

 

S – shots; S% – shooting percentage