Growing pains will continue

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/03/2016 (3553 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The march to a disappointing out-of-the-playoffs finish now has 16 games to go and Winnipeg Jets coach Paul Maurice made it clear again today his message has turned bigger-picture.

After the team held an optional practice at the MTS Centre ahead of its flight to Detroit and Thursday’s game against the Red Wings, Maurice was asked about the Jets’ overall plan.

“It would be fairly close to exactly what Kevin (Cheveldayoff, GM) said in our very first conversation,” Maurice said, his team last in the Central at 27-34-5 heading into Thursday’s game. “We’re going to identify what we have, and there’s a very real possibility we’re going to have to get to be a young team to develop that core.”

“(No change), not in terms of a change of the origin plan. We had to develop a core here of players that can drive the team for quite a while. And we’ve got some good young players who have come in here and done that.

“There have been some growing pains to go through that. To be quite honest with you, it’s probably going to continue.”

The coach told reporters today he believes fans support what the Jets are doing in that long-term picture.

“I think our fans are quite a bit more sophisticated than maybe you give them credit for,” he said. “And then the other thing is that it’s our job to be right, to take that strong belief and conviction of the direction we’re going, and Kevin has that, and Mark (Chipman, co-owner) has that, and I certainly believe in the group that’s coming in and the group that’s here now that it’s the right direction.

“We need a strong core developed and we have players to do that. They’re early on in that development.”

The team will continue this week with some of that influx of prospects, given that important veterans like Bryan Little and Mark Stuart are out, and now youngsters Nikolaj Ehlers and Joel Armia are also sidelined.

“We’ve lost 47 goals out of our lineup in the last few weeks, so what we’re able to accomplish on the ice is going to look a little bit different,” he said. “We’re going to have to be better in the defensive parts of our game.

“When you come off after a game giving up four and say you like the way your goalie played, you’ve got quite a bit of room defensively that you need to get better.”

Indeed, the Jets have again been more than suspect in this area.

They’ve given up 45 goals in their last 13 games, an average of 3.46 per game, which is well above their already poor 2.93 mark for the overall season.

And in those 13 games, their record, not surprisingly, is 3-8-2.

Today’s drills will become commonplace over the final month of the season, which has the team playing every other day until the finish. Optional skates will be the norm and many players will simply not practise.

“Everybody’s carrying something now so there will only be a handful of guys staying on the ice (for practice),” Maurice said. “And we’re going to need some big efforts from some of the guys who have come up, that you’re here to do more than just play. We’re going to need some pucks to go into the net and and we’re going to need to grind hard to keep them out.”

The Jets are back home after the Detroit game and meet the Colorado Avalanche Saturday.

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca