Jets forced to shuffle goaltender deck

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This article was published 07/10/2024 (366 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It wasn’t exactly how they drew it up prior to training camp, but the Winnipeg Jets opening-night roster has been set.

The most curious development involves the inclusion of three goaltenders in the 23-man lineup. Connor Hellebuyck is the undisputed workhorse, and serving as his backup involves playing a lengthy waiting game between starts. So why would Winnipeg want two rarely-used understudies in Kaapo Kahkonen and Eric Comrie?

Turns out a personal family matter is the cause, with Hellebuyck away from the team on Monday dealing with it. No other details were provided. There’s a chance he also misses Tuesday’s skate, but the Jets are hopeful he’ll be ready to go in time for Wednesday’s season-opener in Edmonton.

Keeping Kahkonen and Comrie around allows the team to practice with a goalie in each net while also having some insurance should Hellebuyck’s absence go longer than anticipated. Once the two-time Vezina winner is back, expect one of them to be put on waivers and sent to the Manitoba Moose to job-share with prospect Thomas Milic.

Up front, the Jets are starting with 13 forwards. Young skaters Brad Lambert and Nikita Chibrikov were sent to the Manitoba Moose on Monday despite strong showings in camp, as was winger Jaret Anderson-Dolan who passed through waivers.

He joins other depth forwards in Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, Dominic Toninato and Mason Shaw who also weren’t claimed.

“We’ve got depth now. We feel pretty comfortable now, that if something does happen, that we have people that can replace (them),” said coach Scott Arniel.

On the blue-line, Winnipeg begins with seven healthy skaters. Elias Salomonsson, who had a terrific preseason, was sent to the AHL as the final cut on Monday. Ville Heinola (ankle) and Logan Stanley (knee) will begin the year on injured reserve.

Arniel said he had good conversations with Lambert, Chibrikov and Salomonsson, who all figure to see action with the Jets at some point this season and are valuable future pieces.

“This league changes quickly, as we saw in training camp with our injuries to our D. It doesn’t mean anything is written in stone,” said Arniel.

“Go down and continue to be the best players. This could be a week, this could be a month, I didn’t make them any guarantees. They opened eyes for a lot of guys. They just have to go be the best version of themselves with the Moose.”

Once a goaltender is sent down, the Jets may opt to keep 22 skaters, which allows them to bank additional salary-cap space they could use later in the season. They’ll also eventually have to make room for Heinola and Stanley, who both underwent surgery just over two weeks ago. Their original recovery timelines were approximately a month.

“They’re both walking better. Stan is probably ahead of Ville, but we’ll see,” said Arniel.

“They both have to be re-examined here in a couple of weeks. At the end of the day, they’re moving closer and the good thing, like I said earlier on, is that it happened in training camp, so that means there’s still a bit of leeway up until the season starts. It’s given them some time to get better. We’re not expecting anybody in by the end of the month, but we’ll see.”

Based on how they lined up at Monday’s practice, Winnipeg’s lines and defence pairs look as follows:

FORWARDS:

Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi

Perfetti-Namestnikov-Ehlers

Niederreiter-Lowry-Appleton

Barron-Kupari-Iafallo

EXTRA: Gustafsson

DEFENCE:

Morrissey-DeMelo

Samberg-Pionk

Fleury-Miller

EXTRA: Coghlan

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X: @mikemcintyrewpg