Rookie trio fitting in with Jets and winning over skeptics
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/10/2015 (3644 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
It lasted all of 10 seconds, but it’s a scene that really resonated with yours truly. And it might also best encapsulate the last week for the Winnipeg Jets.
There was captain Andrew Ladd, having just wrapped up a session with a couple of reporters following Tuesday night’s 4-1 win over the New York Rangers, making a bee-line across the Jets dressing room at Madison Square Garden to Nikolaj Ehlers.
“Congratulations,” said the captain, sticking out his hand to the young Dane, who had just scored his first NHL goal in spectacular fashion. “I’m sure that’s the first of many.”
Yes, the big-picture look at the Jets and their 3-1 start will focus on the wins and where it puts the local hockey heroes in the Central Division standings, right there with the pack instead of in chase mode in hockey’s toughest neighbourhood.
They got superb goaltending from Ondrej Pavelec and Michael Hutchinson and flashed some of that resiliency that became their trademark a year ago in beating the Blueshirts Tuesday night after looking so mediocre Monday against the New York Islanders. They also received contributions, one way or another, from everybody in the lineup.
Those are all critical storylines for a team trying to return to the post-season, a feat many predicted a few weeks ago will fall short next spring.
But the first four games were also a coming out of sorts for Ehlers and, to a lesser degree, Nic Petan and Andrew Copp — the three rookies in the Jets’ forward crew.
Ehlers, simply put, was electric. And from Boston through New Jersey, Brooklyn to Manhattan his confidence seemed to grow with every shift. Now, it’s not so much his speed and touch around the net that jumped out — we knew that was key to his game and he already leads the Jets in shot attempts — but also his vision in setting up Mark Scheifele for a goal, his ability to make smart reads and move around the ice without taking serious hits and, most importantly, his commitment to being responsible in his own end.
The same goes for Petan and Copp, although their potential impact on each game is limited in comparison to Ehlers because of their roles on the fourth line. That said, Petan also picked up his first goal — it was hardly as dramatic as Ehlers’ bar-down howitzer against Henrik Lundqvist, with a Copp pass glancing off his skate in the season-opening win in Boston — while Copp looks capable enough to play a sturdy and responsible game.
The rest of the dressing room couldn’t help but notice all of the above.
“First of all, they bring a lot of speed, a lot of skill,” said Jets defenceman and alternate captain Mark Stuart when asked about the newcomers’ impact. “But the most important thing is they’ve come into our system, they play it well and have been able to pick it up. I mean, we need that.
“It’s cliché, but the way we play is definitely a team game and they fit in well with that. That’s really important.”
It’s significant, too. It can’t be easy being a 19- or 20-year old trying to find a place on a team stacked with been-there/done-that pros with a ton of NHL games under their belt. Acceptance into the room is one thing, but being welcomed to the team also comes as much from blocking a shot or racing back to bust up a two-on-one as it does scoring.
As coach Paul Maurice said early in the trip, it’s the defensive plays that makes fans of everyone on the bench.
“The two Nicks are a little different than Copper,” said Ladd of the rookies’ impact. “(Copp’s) game is real mature for a guy who only has five games under his belt. He always seems to be in the right place and with his work ethic he’s on the puck all the time.
“Those other two… they have skills that can turn a game around with just one play, on top of the fact they’ve been really strong from our end out. With young guys that’s that the biggest thing you’re worried about, especially the way the game’s played now — you’ve got to be good from your end out and they’ve delivered on that front.
“And then when they get the puck in space they can let it fly.”
That’s a huge slap on the back from the captain. And in a league where rookies are often given the mushroom treatment (kept in the dark and fed (crap), it speaks volumes of how quickly they’ve earned the respect of the dressing room.
Remember, these three are replacing three long-serving veterans in Jim Slater, Jiri Tlusty and Lee Stempniak, all of whom had a piece in last spring’s run to the playoffs. But it also says something of the Jets’ commitment to their blueprint and their youth that they chose to fill those spots internally — even knowing the risks that come with promoting youth. Slater, a respected pro, is in Geneva. Tlusty and Stempniak are in New Jersey on a team trying to reclaim some of its previous glory but, in the interim, stuffing stop-gap players into the lineup while growing their prospect pool.
And if that sounds familiar, it should. That’s exactly where the Jets were four years ago, even a week ago, before Ehlers & Co. opened everyone’s eyes.
Twitter: @WFPEdTait