Fearless and physical, Spitfires winger dons Moose jersey tonight

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This article was published 05/04/2016 (3502 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brendan Lemieux’s professional career begins tonight.

He’ll be in the Manitoba Moose lineup for their AHL game against the Milwaukee Admirals at the MTS Centre.

The left-winger, who just celebrated his 20th birthday, finished his fourth and final junior season when the Ontario Hockey League’s Windsor Spitfires were eliminated in the playoffs, but he said after this morning’s skate he’s energized, not tired, near the end of the 2015-16 campaign.

“I’ve barely played in the last month,” said Lemieux, the first pick of the second round of the 2014 draft, who was packaged by the Buffalo Sabres to the Jets in the Evander Kane deal a year ago. “I played two and a half playoff games and a handful of regular-season games because of an upper-body injury.

“So getting back from that was easy and going into playoffs, it was unfortunate we were out so quick. I was able to get out healthy and I’m feeling fine now.”

Windsor’s exit from the playoffs was a kind of sour note for Lemieux’s junior finale.

In Game 1 of the series against Kitchener, he was ejected on the most marginal of slew-footing calls and then suspended two games. The “involved” winger, the son of four-time Stanley Cup winner Claude Lemieux, believes previous OHL suspensions — including a 10-gamer early this season – marked him to the end.

“It was tough,” he said. “That league’s changed a lot over the years and it’s hard for guys like me to survive, frankly, in that environment where you’re labelled and once you’re labelled, anything you do you’re going to get dinged for it.

“I had 37 penalty minutes (in Windsor, 65 total) and 12 games suspended so it was a tough year for me in that sense where I was really trying to play more of a skilled game and get away from the physical stuff just because of the suspension issues I kept running into.

“But in the playoff series, I’m not going to pull up on a guy because that’s just not my game or how my team’s going to win. I got dinged and it was unfortunate and you can’t really comment on the call but it was unfortunate. In the end, Kitchener had a good group and we were young and I wasn’t able to carry the load like I could have had I been there the whole time. Going down 3-0 was tough for our group.”

Physical, fearless and sometimes over the line all apply to Lemieux, though he said he has focused on his offence in the last two seasons.

The product of that focus was 32 goals in 45 regular-season games this season as he played with Barrie and then Windsor, who traded for him, and 73 goals in his last 102 games of junior.

A heart-to-heart chat with Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff early in the season also likely helped him channel his energy away from unproductive behaviour.

“I went for lunch with him after that (October) suspension, drove up to Barrie and we talked about a lot of things,” Cheveldayoff said in an interview about his prospects around mid-season. “It was a good opportunity.

“What’s going to make Brendan an exciting player is the package he brings from skill, skating and physical standpoint. That will never change. But there are rules in this game that have to abide by and to be successful, you’ll have to find a way to abide by them.

“And I think the trade had helped him experience another way of doing things, another set of coaching philosophies and systems. And he’s fit in extremely well.

“The discipline side of the game, he’s really matured. As a 19-year-old player on those teams, you’re counted on to be a leader. And I think it’s hard to lead from the box at times. He’s done his leading on the ice.”

Given his production, Lemieux was asked if the junior season was a success.

“Yes and no,” he said. “My game as a fourth-year guy in junior was definitely as a goal-scorer. I had established that the previous year. But there was a lot of other stuff and the discipline was probably the main thing that needed to improve and it did. So I was happy with that and I know the Jets were as well.

“Moving forward, it’s important for me to keep that same pace going.

“Junior’s about learning and growing as a player and person. I think I did a lot of that this year. There are a lot of good things in my game that have come along and I’m proud of so I’m excited to be here and looking forward to the opportunity.”

He said the trade that sent him to Windsor about mid-way through the OHL season was a big assist to his development.

“I got used to doing new drills every day, doing more video and it was more of a pro environment,” he said. “I was grateful I had the opportunity in Barrie to develop my creativity and skill and to get to Windsor and have that dialed in and be able to play a pro game, I think I thrived pretty well there.”

And now the next phase of his career begins.

Lemieux is considered one of the organization’s blue-chip prospects, but he arrives to join a rather large crowd of young players battling to knock down the door to a full-time spot on the Jets roster.

Jets coach Paul Maurice has liked much of what he’s seen from some of the late-season auditions but said recently there won’t be room for everybody. That implies an increasing competition for whatever jobs might be open come fall, and Lemieux said he liked the sound of that.

“Anytime you have intense competition, it means that your group is strong,” Lemieux said. “So obviously I don’t just want to play, I want to win and if I was to play, the stronger the group the better.

“I want to earn a job; I don’t just want to walk into one. I’ve seen it time and time again with other guys — my dad’s an agent and he has seen it all the time where guys walk in. It’s easier to go in and stay in but if you go in and get sent back down, it can severely hurt a guy.”

The stint here at the end of this Moose season will be a maximum six games.

“I think they have me in to get a taste of pro,” Lemieux said. “They want to get me a few games and get me ready for the next level. Whether that’s another year with the Moose next year or stepping right in at camp, that depends on a lot of different things, some in my control and some out of my control.

“But I think right now what’s in my control is to come here and show that I’m ready to play the pro style of game and I’m ready to make the jump whenever they make the call. I want to make a good impression and six games is not a lot of time but it’s a good chance to get my feet wet with not as much risk as a normal season.”

Moose coach Keith McCambridge is also eager to get on with it.

“I hope, as an organization, to get him some pro experience and to get a true indication, obviously over a short number of games, to see exactly what he can bring for the upcoming season, be it for the Winnipeg Jets or the Manitoba Moose,” McCambridge said.

”Lemieux is a guy, development-wise, closer to making that seamless transition you’re looking for. He’s one of those players that jumps off the page, seeing him in Penticton and (last year’s) development camp and exhibition games.”

Lemieux said he knows his job now is to be ready for whatever’s ahead.

“I’ve always wanted to step into the NHL at 18 but that’s not the case,” he said. “I need to work my way in and I’m ready to do so. I definitely want to make the team, no doubt about that, and I feel like I’ll be ready but that said, I understand it’s not always as simple as that and that they’re developing me the way they think is best and I just have to buy into the process and pay my dues and when my time comes it’ll come and it’s pretty clear to me they have my best interests at heart and they know I want to play.

“When that time is is really up to them. It’s up to me to make sure I’m ready when they call.”

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca