Stempniak surprised, but excited to join Jets

By: Ed Tait Posted: 1:43 PM CST Tuesday, Mar. 3, 2015 Last Modified: 3:20 PM CST Tuesday, Mar. 3, 2015 | Updates

It was a whirlwind few hours for Lee Stempniak from the moment he found out he had been traded to the Winnipeg Jets from the New York Rangers.

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It was a whirlwind few hours for Lee Stempniak from the moment he found out he had been traded to the Winnipeg Jets from the New York Rangers.

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This article was published 03/03/2015 (4170 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was a whirlwind few hours for Lee Stempniak from the moment he found out he had been traded to the Winnipeg Jets from the New York Rangers.

And so maybe being on the ice with his new teammates Tuesday helped bring a little bit of normalcy back to his world.

Stempniak practised with the Jets for the first time this morning, working on the left wing on a line with Adam Lowry and Blake Wheeler. All of this came just hours after being informed Sunday night by Rangers GM Glen Sather he had been traded to the Jets for Carl Klingberg.

Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press
The newest member of the Winnipeg Jets, Lee Stempniak, hit the ice with the team this morning at the MTS Centre. — Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press The newest member of the Winnipeg Jets, Lee Stempniak, hit the ice with the team this morning at the MTS Centre.

“From there it was just getting my daughters (one-year-old twins) to bed and then packing up as they were sleeping,” said Stempniak this morning. He boarded a plane from New York the next morning and, after some delays, arrived in Winnipeg Monday night.

“It’s happened to me a few times now so it’s a little bit easier as you go along. It’s never a huge shock now because you’re always braced for it a little bit.

“It’s certainly a surprise, but at the same time I’m also excited. It’s a good team and I’ve heard great things about the group, the people.”

Stempniak, a 32-year-old veteran of 690 NHL games with St. Louis, Toronto, Phoenix, Calgary, Pittsburgh and the Rangers, had considered signing with the Jets last summer as a free agent before choosing New York.

“For me this is a short-term fit, but this is also a team I considered signing with this summer,” Stempniak said. “It just didn’t happen. But it’s an organization I really respect and a great group of guys that I respect already and I’m sure that will grow as we go along.”