Prepared for battle

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This article was published 05/10/2016 (3283 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Nothing has come all that easy for Winnipeg Jets goalie Michael Hutchinson — and that’s just the way he likes it.

Hutchinson, a third-round pick of the Boston Bruins in 2008, took the long route to the NHL, bouncing between the ECHL and AHL before finally settling in with the Jets the past two NHL seasons.

He finished the 2015-16 campaign as the club’s No. 2 goalie behind Ondrej Pavelec and inked a two-year, US$2.3-million deal with the Jets in the off-season.

But many believe he could, ultimately, wind up with the Manitoba Moose this fall — he’d have to clear waivers in order to be sent to the AHL club — while Pavelec and Connor Hellebuyck stick with the big club.

Hutchinson said the three-way battle for employment is really just the way of the world for guys in his line of work.

“Every organization you go to has the same setup. You have two guys in the NHL and you have a guy banging on the door trying to get in,” he said. “It’s nothing new. You get used to it and you realize you can only control what you can control.

“You have no control over how the other guys are going to play. And for myself, I hope that they play well and help the team win, because at the end of the day it doesn’t matter whether it’s myself in net, Helly in net or Pavs in net, as long as we work toward the goal of winning the Stanley Cup that’s all that matters.”

Hutchinson went 9-15-3 last season with a 2.84 GAA and .907 save percentage — not the kind of numbers the 26-year-old Barrie, Ont., native had hoped to post.

But he’s had a couple of solid outings in the pre-season, including a 33-save performance in a 5-1 triumph over the Edmonton Oilers last week and a 27-save effort Monday as the Jets doubled up on the Ottawa Senators 4-2.

Hutchinson said the two exhibition tests were vastly different.

“Against Edmonton, they threw a lot of pucks at the net but didn’t have as much traffic as you usually see in NHL games,” he said. “Against Ottawa, they did a really good job of sending guys harder to the net and making my job difficult to find lanes to find pucks, which is what you want in pre-season.”

Case in point was a scenario early in the third period when Senators’ forward Max McCormick barged into the crease area and sent Jets’ defenceman Brenden Kichton crashing into his own goalie.

Hutchinson said he prefers those tough days at the office.

“You want that battle to get back into that mentality, especially when in the summer you’re playing a lot of three-on-three or four-on-four games. You add that fifth skater on each side and the ice gets pretty crowded,” he said.

“So, it was good to get back into the feeling of that kind of game, just battling and finding pucks. I felt pretty happy with my game.”

Feeling confident: Josh Morrissey arrived at the MTS Iceplex on Tuesday morning feeling pretty good about things.

The 21-year-old blue-liner has been solid throughout training camp — his fourth since being drafted 13th overall in 2013 — as he works to crack the club’s 23-man roster.

Morrissey said he doesn’t fret on days when it’s clear the club will pare down its roster.

“I think throughout other training camps I definitely would have had a hard time sleeping, wondering what was going to happen. This year, for whatever reason, I’m just really trying to embrace every day and worry about what I can control,” he said. “Obviously, you know when days are coming. But I haven’t put too much worry or thought into it. It’s a mix of confidence, and you see the opportunity as well. But mostly, it’s experience.”

Back to junior: Logan Stanley, all 6-7, 230 pounds of him, is heading back to the OHL without appearing in a pre-season contest for the Jets. Still, the 18-year-old product of Waterloo, Ont., had a terrific opportunity to learn from watching and listening to the veterans, Maurice said.

“A lot of conversation,” the coach explained. “Playing defence probably as much as anything, who you are talking to in the line and what your partner is telling you has a really big impact. That was my first question for him, ‘Who did you get to know here this week?’ And he got to know Tyler Myers and Dustin Byfuglien and all the guys that are playing on that side of the ice. And he really enjoyed that and we wanted him to have as much of that interaction as he could.

“It’s going to take him some years before he’s an NHL defenceman, learning all the small things about how to position your body, how to roll off a hit, how to extend your stick, all those things. Those training camp conversations are really important.”

Healing up: The Jets still have five injured players at training camp, including right-winger Drew Stafford (upper body) who was hurt in Monday’s game against the Senators. Maurice said Stafford’s status is likely day-to-day, as are forwards Anthony Peluso and Ryan Olsen.

Centre Shawn Matthias and winger Brendan Lemieux are considered week-to-week.

jason.bell@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @WFPJasonBell