Perreault feeling healthy, upbeat about Jets lineup

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This article was published 31/08/2017 (2954 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Mathieu Perreault is like many professional athletes as they close in on their 30th birthday. Years of wear and tear on the body have a cumulative effect and the ravages of time eventually become impossible to ignore.

Perreault, a 29-year-old left-winger entering his fourth season with the Winnipeg Jets and his seventh as a full-time NHLer, was often unhealthy last year.

He missed 17 games due to a illness, a broken finger and nagging back ailment. The back issue became a priority during the off-season.

“I took care of it pretty much all summer,” Perreault said following an informal workout with other pros at the Bell MTS Iceplex Thursday morning. “It’s one of those things where I have to stay on it… before I just let it go.

“I wasn’t really taking care of it. It was getting sore but I was kind of battling through it without doing any treatment to the point where I couldn’t play anymore. I just treat it all the time and make sure I take care of it and it’s good. I’ve been skating all summer, working out and I haven’t felt anything, so it should be good.”

Perreault traces some of the problem to a change in playing position. He spent a significant chunk of the early part of the season at centre, filling in for Bryan Little, who missed 23 games after suffering a knee injury in the Jets’ first game.

“I think it came from playing centre, I was taking a lot of draws and it was like the twisting motion,” Perreault said. “It tweaked and something happened in the back. When I started playing wing it started to get better… it’s an injury from probably over the years, taking so many faceoffs.

“I think it’s obvious now that I’m going to be a winger. I’m more comfortable in that position. I’m more effective offensively as a winger, I can use my skills and my offensive ability more than when I was a centre.”

Despite a slow start, Perreault established a career high for points with 45 in 65 games. He found his scoring groove late in the season, playing on a line with Little and rookie phenom Patrik Laine. Perreault scored 17 points and six of his 13 goals in Winnipeg’s last 12 games and would welcome a return to playing with Laine and Little.

“We’ll take it as it comes… last year we went on a great stretch,” said Perreault, who is entering the first year of a four-year, US$16.5-million contract extension. “We’ve got some firepower up front. We’ve got the tools to make it happen.”

The Jets are weary of mediocre results and only one playoff season in the six since relocating from Atlanta. So, is Perreault feeling the weight of great expectations already?

“Well not yet, really,” he said. “But we understand this group should be making the playoffs. There’s no excuses for us. We signed some free agents this summer, we’ve got (goalie) Steve Mason, (defenceman Dmitry) Kulikov… and (centre) Matt Hendricks coming, too.”

Winnipeg has US$28.25 million in cap space allocated to its seven veteran defenceman. That includes Kulikov, who moved over from the Sabres after a subpar, injury-plagued season in Buffalo to sign for US$12.99 million over three years. The Jets are banking the 26-year-old Russian can regain his old form while also hoping Tyler Myers and Toby Enstrom can rebound from season-ending injuries.

Blue-liners Myers, Enstrom, Jacob Trouba, Dustin Byfuglien and rookie Josh Morrissey were in the Winnipeg lineup together for only one game in 2016-17.

“Now you look at our D corps and it’s as good as anybody in the league, really,” Perreault said. “If Tyler is healthy and playing a 100 per cent, you’ve got Buff and Troubs. Those are your three (right-handed) defencemen and now you’ve got Kulikov on the left side with Morrissey, who last year was great and we’re expecting that he’s going to be even better — and I think he will be.

“And then you’ve got Toby with that veteran presence, he can play the (penalty kill) and any kind of minutes for us. I think we’ve got a solid D corps and you add a good goalie (Mason), we’ve got two good goalies who can do the job for us.”

Perreault also gave the stamp of approval to the free-agent signing of 36-year-old Hendricks. The two players were teammates with the Washington Capitals in 2010-11.

“He’s gonna be great for this room,” said Perreault. “He’s a very vocal guy, lots of enthusiasm in his personality and his game. I feel like the room has been a pretty quiet room in past years. He’s the kind of guy that’s going to bring that energy, that vocal (element) this team needs. I’m very excited we got him.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14