Dano, Jets excited for new opportunity

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This article was published 26/02/2016 (3564 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

PITTSBURGH — He’s got one practice under his belt and he barely knows his new teammates’ names, much less how they play.

Here’s hoping Marko Dano is a quick learner.

The newest member of the Winnipeg Jets — acquired Thursday evening as part of a trade package that shipped Andrew Ladd to Chicago — will make his Jets debut here Saturday afternoon against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Dano — who was in Cleveland Thursday evening with the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs when he learned he’d been traded — arrived here Friday morning in time to join his new team at a brisk afternoon practice session at the Consol Energy Center.

Jets head coach Paul Maurice had Dano taking rushes on a line with Adam Lowry and Joel Armia and the club formally called him up from the AHL on Friday, clearing the way for him to play tomorrow.

Lowry said he was impressed with what he saw at practice in Dano.

“I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do with him tomorrow,” said Lowry. “We have a lot of young guys so he’ll fit in with a lot of us here. It’s important that you get your first couple shifts together, kind of get acquainted and hopefully moving forward we can develop some chemistry.”

Maurice said he thinks Dano is a good fit with Lowry and Armia, who had a monster three-point night in Dallas Thursday that included a highlight reel goal in the third period.

“(Dano) moved well on the ice and he moved the puck smartly,” said Maurice. “So we’ll give him a game and absolutely not draw any conclusions from that game.

“Lots of nerves. But you know what? He’s got 20 new friends. It’s like kids going to a different school. They figure out how to get along.”

Dano is not particularly tall — he’s listed at 5-11, but that seems more aspirational than reality. What is striking about him physically, however, is what can best be described as a rectangular build, which is to say he is exactly the right kind of guy to go fishing pucks out of corners.

“I think I’m a two-way player with good hockey sense,” said Dano. “I have a thick body, so I can protect the puck well in the corners. And I’m not scared to go to the hard areas in front of the net.

“That’s pretty much it.”

Dano got into 13 NHL games with the Blackhawks this season, notching one goal and an assist. He also had four goals and 19 assists in 34 games with Rockford.

A former first-round draft pick of the Columbus Blue Jackets, Dano is still just 21-years-old and has now already been traded twice.

He said he was stunned Thursday night when Hawks GM Stan Bowman called him while he was having dinner with teammates and told him he’d been traded again.

“I had no idea. I was just following that Chicago was trying to get Andrew Ladd. But I wasn’t expecting that I’d be part of the trade.”

The trade will come as a mixed blessing to someone like Dano. While he’s moving from a perennial Stanley Cup contender in Chicago to something very different in Winnipeg, he will also get a chance to be an everyday NHL player with the Jets that he would have had a hard time finding with the Blackhawks.

“Chicago has a team with great players and a lot of old(er) players. Whereas here is a lot of young guys and a good group of guys I’ve heard. And there’s opportunity to get a lot more ice time for me (in the NHL),” said Dano.

“I’m 21 years old and that’s what every player wants to have when he’s growing up, not playing in the minors. I’m looking forward and excited about this chance.”

Dano was born in Austria but grew up in Slovakia and considers himself Slovakian. His father, Jozef, played for the Slovakian national hockey team in two Winter Olympics.

JETCETERA: Maurice said Michael Hutchinson will get his second straight start in net — and third in four games — against the Penguins… D Tyler Myers and F Mathieu Perreault didn’t skate Friday but are expected to play Saturday… Maurice said no decision has yet been made on who will replace Ladd as Jets captain.

email: paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @PaulWiecek