Connor not afraid of new heights

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 01/01/2020 (2141 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When it comes to redemption stories, Kyle Connor wrote a pretty compelling one on New Year’s Eve.

The third-year Winnipeg Jets winger might have been fitted for goat horns in Denver after a reckless high-stick came back to bite his team. Instead, he played the role of hero by swooping in to save the day, the latest impressive chapter in a story that seems to be getting better with each passing game.

Fitting that in the Mile High city, we were reminded that the sky seems to be the limit for a player who may eventually make the seven-year, US$49.98 million contract he signed this fall look like a bargain.

“I don’t know is the answer, because the question would be what’s his ceiling,” Jets head coach Paul Maurice said following the game at Pepsi Center when I asked him how much room for improvement there still is with Connor.

“Is he just hot? I’m going to say no. I thought early on, maybe the first month, he looked like he had missed training camp. And then he’s back in game shape. I would rather suggest that’s who he is.”

With the Jets nursing a 3-2 lead in the third period of a game that was the closest thing to a “must win” as you’ll get this time of year, Connor accidentally clipped Colorado Avalanche defenceman Samuel Girard and left him leaking blood on the ice.

You could hear the collective groans of Jets fans everywhere.

After all, Winnipeg’s woeful penalty kill had already surrendered a goal — with Connor in the box for a second-period holding infraction, Avalanche superstar Nathan MacKinnon scored to make it 2-2 — leaving the Jets an ugly 10 for their last 20 in short-handed situations.

Now they’d be put to work for four critical minutes on the automatic double minor. You didn’t have to be psychic to see what was going to happen.

It didn’t take long for the game to once again be tied, as Avs captain Gabriel Landeskog blasted a shot past Jets netminder Connor Hellebuyck. The Jets’ penalty kill was now a dreadful 11 for its last 22, and the home team had all the momentum.

But a funny thing happened on the way to another disappointing loss, which would have been Winnipeg’s seventh in their last nine games to continue a spiral down the Western Conference standings, with a tough stretch of schedule on the horizon.

A determined Connor quickly made amends for his sins, tipping in the go-ahead goal just seven seconds into Winnipeg’s only power play at the midway mark of the final frame, then added his third of a very eventful night a few minutes later for the game-winner.

Just like that, the 23-year-old Michigan product had his second career hat trick, leading the Jets to a 7-4 victory that gets some good feelings flowing around the club once again.

Connor also hit the 20-goal mark, which leads the Jets and has him tied for 12th in the NHL. After campaigns of 31 and 34 goals, he’s on pace to eclipse 40 for the first time.

Connor’s first 40 games this season are all the more impressive when you consider a contract dispute sidelined him until just days before the puck dropped on the regular season. He also has 18 assists, and his 38 points have him tied for 23rd in the NHL scoring race.

The speed is sublime. The hands are absurd, needing almost no time or space to inflict major damage. Just ask St. Louis goalie Jordan Binnington, who I suspect is still trying to figure out how Connor beat him high from in tight last Friday night in Winnipeg.

There was a prevailing thought by some around these parts that Connor’s offensive totals were artificially inflated by playing with Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler for most of the past two seasons.

But now, with Scheifele and Wheeler on separate lines, Connor is often the driver of his current unit with Scheifele and Patrik Laine, as he was Tuesday.

And here’s a scary thought for opponents: he’s not the least bit content with his lot in life. Exhibit A was his immediate reaction to his trio of goals against Colorado.

“Honestly, I had two or three (scoring chances), where I just got robbed. That’s kind of tough, but that’s just the way hockey goes,” he said.

Spoken like a true sniper, always thinking about the ones you didn’t score rather than those you did. He had a team-high eight shots on goal, 10 total attempts, and was a threat to score seemingly every time he came over the boards.

Throw in some additional comments about needing to find a way to make up for the costly, out-of-character penalties he’d taken, and Connor is sounding like an emerging leader. That’s something that hasn’t always come naturally to the somewhat shy guy who still prefers to speak softly and carry a big stick.

But there’s no question Connor has grown more comfortable on and off the ice and taken on an ever-increasing role as part of the core group on the Jets who are now locked up long-term.

Jets captain Wheeler, who’s seen a few things in his lengthy career and isn’t one to hand out praise for the sake of saying something nice, sees something special in Connor.

“He’s dialed in. The kid’s got world-class hands on him. Just works extremely hard. Since his recall (from the Manitoba Moose) a couple years ago, he’s just invested in working every single night. You get a guy who’s willing to work like that, playing with a couple guys like Mark and Patty, he’s going to get opportunities. He’s lethal.”

Of the 11 NHL players who currently have more goals than Connor this season, only Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews and Sebastian Aho are younger. And only MacKinnon, David Pastrnak and Anthony Duclair make less than his US$7.14 million annual salary.

Considering his tender age, the room for further growth and his internal drive, that seems like terrific value for a player the Jets are counting on to provide offence, and who keeps rising to the occasion.

There will likely be many more nights ahead like the final one of 2019.

 

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg