Young Jets find their wings

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This article was published 15/09/2015 (3865 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

PENTICTON, B.C. — After two failed attempts, the young Winnipeg Jets finally got it right.

A goal by Scott Kosmachuk at 2:09 of overtime delivered the team’s first victory of the Canucks Young Stars Classic on Monday, a plucky 5-4 decision over the Edmonton Oilers.

This was more of what fans — and likely Jets’ brass — had in mind after a slow start to the annual prospects tournament at the South Okanagan Events Centre.

As the organization now prepares for Thursday’s opening of the 2015 NHL training camp, here are the four things you need to know about the tournament:

What took so long?

A good question. And the answers weren’t the inaccurate clichés such as “lack of effort,” or “bad night.”

With much skill and a highly touted prospect list, the Jets had lofty expectations for this year’s tournament.

But a key problem arose in the first two games.

Apart from Josh Morrissey, the team’s 2013 first-rounder who had a goal Monday, the seven-man defensive unit the team brought to the tournament was not all that deep with experience or blue-chip prospects and it showed.

Much of the first two games, and even bits of the third, featured difficulties in their own zone, both defending and trying to break the puck out.

That put the handcuffs on the skilled players, who also bore responsibility for not winning the puck enough.

“You can have all the offence in the world but if you can’t get the puck to them, it’s not going to matter,” said Manitoba Moose coach Keith McCambridge, who coached the Jets for this tournament. “And scoring the first goal (Monday) is always a positive thing to build off.

“I thought when you looked at the group, we played more as a unit. We weren’t trying to look for a lot of individual highlight decisions with the puck. I thought (Sunday) we had a good start but we were able to defend a lot better (Monday).”

 

So, is Nikolaj Ehlers ready?

Based on Monday’s three assists and dynamic play, you’d say yes, he’s ready for camp.

That doesn’t yet mean Ehlers, the team’s 2014 first-round pick, is guaranteed a spot on the Jets when the NHL season begins Oct. 9.

But after a quiet first two games at this tournament, Ehlers stepped up and contributed in tangible ways Monday.

“When I watch Ehlers play, you don’t want to take away any of the creativity that he has, the speed at which he plays,” McCambridge said. “But it’s still the game of hockey and there are percentage plays you have to make in certain areas of the ice.

“I thought he was a little bit more working with his linemates, sharing the puck and distributing it better.”

Ehlers said he progressed as the tournament went, something you could say for most Jets.

“I felt OK, the first two games I got better and that was my goal and today I got better again,” he said. “I just want to keep going on this and get better every day and see what happens.”

 

Who else excelled?

Despite the team’s flat start to the tournament, one player who made a positive impression from start to finish was centre Ryan Olsen.

The 21-year-old has a year of pro experience, having shown improvement last season with the AHL’s St. John’s IceCaps, and that trend carried into the start of this year’s pre-camp activities.

Olsen was physical and quick in this tournament and McCambridge went out of his way to tell reporters Friday the 2012 sixth-round draft pick was his team’s best player that night.

Another who left a positive mark was left-winger Brendan Lemieux, who sat out Monday.

Lemieux, just 19, was also involved in good ways in the first two games and had one goal. It became clearer he’s going to be a willing competitor at training camp.

And credit should go to Andrew Copp, who has his eye on the team’s fourth-line-centre job. Offensively, he had chances in the first two games but didn’t bear down. He buried two goals on Monday, leaving a better taste as he gets ready for the bigger stage that arrives later this week.

 

Silver lining

It will not be a narrative that will hold much favour during the season but the two Jets goalies at this tournament, Connor Hellebuyck and Eric Comrie, were better for the excessive work they faced.

They split the minutes, and given the issues the Jets were having in front of them, couldn’t be fingered for sabotaging any momentum.

Comrie had Monday’s game and looked fine. He also stopped a penalty shot and gave up no goals Friday when he played the back half of the loss to Calgary.

The duo is the projected Moose tandem this season and though young, the tournament was no reason to move away from the thinking the organization’s future goaltending picture is bright.

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca