Jets missing five from practice, including Ladd

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This article was published 24/02/2016 (3514 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Their captain is twisting in the wind and their fleeting playoff hopes fading by the day.

And so it’s not exactly all sunshine and lollipops around the Winnipeg Jets these days, especially as they head out on a two-game road trip to Dallas and Pittsburgh and with the uncertain status of Andrew Ladd in advance of Monday’s National Hockey League trade deadline still hovering overhead like the darkest of dark clouds.

It’s also an experience many Jets have already been through.

“There’s nothing worse than losing and being out of the playoffs,” said Jets winger Drew Stafford, who spent the first 8-1/2 years of his career with the Buffalo Sabres before last season’s trade to Winnipeg. “It’s a taste that you don’t want to have when you play. Last year when I came here it was in middle of the playoff hunt and to be able to make the playoffs again and feel what that was like was such a great experience.

“Unfortunately, we’ve got our work cut out for us but there’s no quit in here.”

Do they ever. In order for the Jets to get to 99 points – the franchise record they set last year – they would have to go on a 22-0-1 run in their final 23 games. They would have to go 17-4-2 just to get to 90 points and, even then, sportsclubstats.com has their playoff chances at only 57.4 per cent.

The Jets practiced at MTS Centre this afternoon before heading out to Texas minus five skaters: Mathieu Perreault, Adam Lowry, Blake Wheeler, Bryan Little and Ladd. Little will not make the trip to Dallas after test results revealed a ‘red flag’, but he could join the team in time for Saturday’s matinee in Pittsburgh if the next round of tests give him the green light.

As for Ladd, rumours continue to swirl about his future with the team. Chicago Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman was in attendance for Tuesday’s 5-3 loss to the Dallas Stars while Florida Panthers co-owner Doug Cifu spoke glowingly of the Jets’ captain earlier this week.

“He’s a great player, a character guy, obviously (Panthers GM) Dale (Tallon) knows him very well,” Cifu told the Florida Sun-Sentinel. “I’m not going to comment on discussions, but he’s a great character, a great hockey player. He really is.”

That kind of talk – and the expected interest in Ladd from any number of NHL teams making a playoff push – isn’t new in advance of the trade deadline. But given the team’s poor record – 25-30-4 – and the fact the speculation involves the captain does crank up the distraction volume.

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“There’s obviously outside noise with some of the people in the dressing room, but that’s always the case every year,” said Chris Thorburn. “You guys write your stories and make your predictions, but at the same time we just keep our focus and go out there and play hockey. It’s who here today. It’s a business. I’ve been around for awhile to understand that anything can change any day.”

The biggest challenge now for Paul Maurice & Co. is to find motivation with the playoff line fading. That topic, everyone should be warned, will be bludgeoned to a pulp between now and the end of the regular season.

“The challenge is always in your room to get yourself to that level,” said Maurice. “You’re going to face three kinds of teams. There’s the real good teams that are at the top end of the league and while their desperation level isn’t at playoff intensity, there’s a reason they’re at the top end of the league and they’re going to beat you on talent alone. Then you’re going to have a big chunk of teams in the middle either fighting for their lives to get in or fighting for their lives to hang on. Matching their intensity level when you don’t have that in your room going into games is a challenge.”

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPEdTait