A look at the roles key Winnipeg Jets will play

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This article was published 06/10/2015 (3653 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Paul Maurice has been pacing behind the Winnipeg Jets bench long enough to know there are certain givens with the men he has in front of him.

He knows when he needs someone to wreak havoc — maybe with a blast from the point or a hit so violent it rattles molars — he just has to tap Dustin Byfuglien on the shoulder.

He knows when the offence needs a spark he hollers out the names Andrew Ladd, Bryan Little and Blake Wheeler. And he’s already completely aware Tyler Myers, who is big enough to take the opening tip-off for most NBA teams, might years from now be seen as the jewel in the blockbuster trade GM Kevin Cheveldayoff pulled off with the Buffalo Sabres last winter.

All of this simply confirms a team is the sum of its parts. A finisher is useless without somebody to do the dirty work in the corner to get him the puck. A roaming defenceman with offensive flair can be lost without a partner willing to cover his backside.

And, no matter how talented a squad is, without a solid puck-stopper it’s like a pitcher throwing strikes without a catcher to frame them.

With that in mind we thought we’d take a look at the key pieces and the roles to be played by the Winnipeg Jets 2015-16 edition. Today we offer Part 1, with Part 2 to be published Wednesday.

El Capitano

No. 16: Andrew Ladd

• Position: Left wing
• The role: He’s the captain of this crew and has been since before the team pulled up stakes in Atlanta and moved north. Won’t break sticks on the bench or throw water bottles, but plays hurt, plays hard and has the respect of the men that matter most — those in the dressing room.
• His qualifications: As consistent as a metronome, Ladd will give the Jets 25 or so goals and around 60 points. He’s got almost 700 NHL games under his belt and has Stanley Cup rings from his days in Carolina and Chicago.
• Worth noting: Set career highs in both assists (38) and points (62) last season, a good chunk of it played while working through a sports hernia… Led the Jets with six game-winning goals… The Thrashers landed Ladd from Chicago in 2010 for Ivan Vishnevsky, who has spent the last five years in the KHL, and a second-round draft pick in 2011 (used to select Adam Clendening, who played four games for the Blackhawks before being traded to Vancouver and then flipped to Pittsburgh). Translation: that was a heckuva deal for this franchise.

MIP (Most Important Player)

No. 31: Ondrej Pavelec

• Position: goaltender
• The role: The Jets are a collection of solid players, but devoid of a superstar talent such as Sidney Crosby, Steven Stamkos or Carey Price. That puts more onus on their goaltender to consistently be the difference-maker. Pavelec hadn’t been that for a good chunk of his career, sporting a career save percentage of .906 before last season. He’s still a question mark for many and will have a huge say in the narrative of the 2015-16 campaign.
• His qualifications: Posted a career-best .920 save percentage last year and was absolutely dominant down the stretch in the push to the playoffs, going 9-2-1 with four shutouts — and a sparkling .949 save percentage — in his last 12 starts. He wasn’t as dominant once the puck dropped against Anaheim in the playoffs, but remains the No. 1 stopper.
• Worth noting: Picked up a shutout April 10 in Colorado, giving him a career-best five blank sheets. Four of his five shutouts came after March 20… Started 13 of the Jets’ final 14 regular-season games and all four playoff contests. Prior to that he hadn’t made back-to-back starts dating back to Nov. 20 and Nov. 23… Set a franchise record for the longest shutout streak at 187:05 from April 6-9.

The Muscle

No. 22: Chris Thorburn

• No. 14: Anthony Peluso
• Position: Right wing/nuclear weapon
• The role: Fighting is continuing a downward trend in the NHL, but that doesn’t stop coaches from craving guys who had handle themselves when their mitts hit the ice. Thorburn is a regular on the fourth line, having dressed for 81 games last season. Peluso — to steal a line from TSN 1290 — is their nuclear weapon; a guy Maurice can deploy when it looks like an opponent is also dressing a heavyweight or taking liberties with the Jets’ skill players.
• Their qualifications: Thorburn led the Jets with eight fighting majors last season, followed by Peluso at six. Hockeyfights.com had Thorburn’s record in those scraps at 2-4-2; Peluso was 5-0-1 according to the same website.
• Worth noting: The Jets had 26 games last in season in which at least one of their players picked up a fighting major. The Jets’ fight tally: Thorburn (8), Peluso (6), Jim Slater (4), Blake Wheeler (3), Dustin Byfuglien (2), Andrew Ladd (2), Ben Chiarot (2), Adam Lowry (1), Mark Stuart (1), Jay Harrison (1), Eric O’Dell (1) and Evander Kane (1).

X Factor

No. 42: Nikolaj Ehlers

• Position: Right wing
• The role: That’s the thing about X Factors… no one is sure what role Ehlers might play this season. He’s seen as a rookie-of-the-year candidate — Betting site Bovada has him listed at 16-to-1 (Edmonton’s Connor McDavid is 4-to-7) to win the Calder — and looks to start the season on the right side of Mark Scheifele and Mathieu Perreault. If the Danish dynamo is in the Calder conversation come spring, Jets’ brass will be doing cartwheels. And even if he just sticks with the big club, his long-term upside seems enormous.
• His qualifications: The Jets’ first pick in ’14 owned the QMJHL while with the Halifax Mooseheads over the last two years, cranking out 86 goals and 205 points in 114 games. He was the Q’s rookie of the year and won the Mike Bossy Trophy as the league’s top professional prospect in 2013-14. He was on the league’s first all-star team last season while winning the Paul Dumont Trophy as the loop’s “personality of the year.”

Microscope Man

No. 39: Toby Enstrom

• Position: defence
• The role: Not so much a role as a guy on the hot seat. The Jets pay Enstrom a lot of money — his salary this year is third-highest on the club behind Byfuglien (US$6M) and Wheeler (US$5.8M) — to be a puck-moving D-man with some offensive punch. Trouble is, his point totals are dropping — from 44 in his last year in Atlanta to 23 in 60 games played last year.
• His qualifications: The Anaheim Ducks threw the puck into his corner consistently in the playoffs last spring and then went after him hard. Jets D-man coach Charlie Huddy has long said you have to study the use of Enstrom’s stick and his first pass out of their zone to appreciate him, and his defensive partners constantly rave about how playing with him makes the game easy. But… that’s a lot of change for a club trying to re-sign Ladd and Byfuglien and with an eye on their future core in Scheifele, Jacob Trouba, and Adam Lowry — all of whom will become restricted free agents next summer.
• Worth noting: Did not miss a game in his first three NHL seasons from 2007-08 to 2009-10. Since then he’s played just one full season — 2013-14 — and missed 22 games last year… Led the Jets in average ice time last year at 23:31.

Mr. Sandpaper

No. 5: Mark Stuart

• Position: Defenceman
• The role: Does a ton of things that don’t show up on the stats sheet and a few that do, such as leading the club in blocked shots with 135. He’s a third-pairing defenceman who makes life miserable for forwards in front of the net, will drop the gloves if he has to, and keeps the opposition from getting too cozy anywhere near the Jets’ net.
• His qualifications: He’s now played in 567 NHL games and likely didn’t finish one of them without a bruise of some sort. Let’s just put it this way: opponents know when No. 5 is on the ice.
• Worth noting: Has represented the United States five times internationally: one U-18 worlds, two world junior championships and two world championships. Was the team captain at the 2011 worlds… Drafted by Boston 21st overall in 2003, ahead of Ryan Kesler (23) and Corey Perry (28).

Swiss Army Knife

No. 38: Nic Petan

• Position: Right/left wing; centre
• The role: A guy who can provide a little bit of everything in a variety of roles. Score, defend, contribute on special teams and line up at more than one position.
• His qualifications: It’s dangerous to read too much, if anything, into the pre-season, but Petan has played anywhere from the first line to the fourth and on both wings in the last few weeks. This from a guy who scored a ton of points as a centre in junior — 322 in 188 games over the last three seasons. Has consistently proven at every level his size (5-9, 175) doesn’t diminish his ability to get it done.
• Worth noting: Played the wing for Canada twice at the world juniors and once finished tied for first in scoring with teammates Sam Reinhart and McDavid with 11 points.

Rising Star

No. 8: Jacob Trouba

• Position: Defence
• The role: The Jets have a gaggle of younger talent, many whose careers could still be represented by upward arrows. Put Trouba, the 21-year-old D-man, at the top of that list.
• His qualifications: It’s hard to believe at times he already has 130 NHL games on his resumé and is now entering his third pro season. But if you were to poll 29 NHL GMs as to which Jet they could pluck off the roster, most, if not all, would choose the young rearguard who seems to still be just scratching the surface.
• Worth noting: Wonder what the 2012 NHL Draft would look like if teams had a do-over? Trouba was selected ninth, after Nail Yakupov (1. Edm); Ryan Murray (2. Clb); Alex Galchenyuk (3. Mtl.); Griffin Reinhart (4. NYI); Morgan Rielly (5. Tor); Hampus Lindholm (6. Ana); Mathew Dumba (7. Minn) and Derrick Pouliot (8. Pitt)… Has missed 17 games in each of his first two pro seasons due to injury… A slam dunk to be on Team North American Young Stars at next year’s World Cup.

The Shadow

No. 17: Adam Lowry

• Position: centre
• The role: There is some serious star power at the centre position in the NHL and, in particular, in the Western Conference. Limiting the production of those men falls to the role of the shadow, a defence-first thinker who can contribute offensively, too.
• His qualifications: Scored 11 goals in his rookie season, primarily as a third-line centre, but also saw some game at wing. He’s 6-5, 207 and has the physical game to be a tough matchup for the likes of Ryan Getzlaf, Jonathan Toews, Anze Kopitar et al. All of this isn’t lost on Maurice, who might be Lowry’s biggest fan.
• Worth noting: Led the Jets with 252 hits… His father Dave, who appeared in more than 1,000 NHL games, is now the head coach of the Victoria Royals and will be the bench boss for the 2016 world juniors… Was the WHL’s player of the year for the 2012-13 season.

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @WFPEdTait