Burmi’s chance to blossom

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This article was published 26/09/2015 (3694 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg Jets head coach Paul Maurice dug into his bag of tricks Saturday morning and pulled out a new top line combination of Andrew Ladd, Bryan Little and Alex Burmistrov.

The new combination represents both a change of position for Little — he’s normally a centre, but had been practising at right wing in training camp — and a huge opportunity for Burmistrov, who spent the last two seasons in the KHL.

“It’s big for me. And I have to step up and play my best game with them,” Burmistrov said Saturday morning after practice at the MTS Centre.

“I’m looking forward to playing with (Ladd) and (Little) when (I) have a chance. It doesn’t matter where you’re playing — if the coach wants me on the wing, I will try to get more comfortable on the wing.”

Burmistrov alternated between centre and right wing in two pre-season games thus far. but Saturday’s practice was his first on a line with the Jets’ big guns.

Little — who’s been nursing a minor injury and has yet to play in the pre-season — said he’s been impressed with what Burmistrov has shown since returning to the Jets from Russia. “It’s tough to tell with only a couple games. That’s the first time I’ve seen him play in three years,” said Little.

“He looks more mature, just the way he carries himself, the way he plays. He was always a skilled guy, but it looks like he’s worked on being a lot more responsible defensively. He’s just more physically mature.”

Burmistrov said he’s found the learning curve in transitioning back to the NHL to be steep. “It feels like I never played in this league before.” he said. “The last two exhibition games (were) so weird, so different. Everybody was going fast. But I take a lot from those last two games…

“Speed. Like everybody was going fast and hitting. You don’t see that a lot in the KHL.”

On top of that, there’s the shift from his natural position as a centre to wing — a shift Little understands better than most.

“The biggest thing with (Burmistrov) is a lot of communication because he’s a natural centre too,” said Little.

“But the easiest thing to do as a centre is to go to the wing, as opposed to a winger going to centre. There’s a little less responsibility and it’s more just about me and Ladd communicating with him and letting him know where we’re supposed to be.”

As for his own transition from wing back to his more customary position at centre, Little said he’s not reading too much into it.

“Wing or centre, you want to have a good camp and you want to be focused and ready for when the season starts. It’s still early — there might come a point this year where I might go to wing or even in the middle of an exhibition game we might switch the lines up and try some things out.

“Basically, I do what I’m told and stay positive about it.”

Maurice said he thinks Burmistrov brings an intriguing skill set to the Ladd and Little line.

“A little bit of everything. He’s got some skills, he moves the puck, he creates some small areas. And I think he’s a pretty darn good defensive player sometimes too.

“So it’s just an adjustment to the wing and we’ll give him some room to figure that out… We think it’s a role he can grow into.”

Maurice said Ladd and Little won’t play in St. Paul against the Wild Sunday but are expected to play Tuesday at the MTS Centre against the Ottawa Senators.

Michael Hutchinson will get the start in net for the Jets versus the Wild.

The Jets are expected to make another round of cuts Monday and Maurice said he’d like to trim his roster to about 28 players heading into the final week of the pre-season.

Afterburners: Just three players didn’t take part in full practice Saturday — Tyler Myers, Paul Postma and John Albert.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @PaulWiecek