Connor shows he doesn’t like view from press box

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This article was published 27/10/2016 (3265 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

IT’S not a view he wants to get used to — but Kyle Connor believes a brief stint in the press box might prove beneficial in the long run.

The Winnipeg Jets rookie found himself a healthy scratch Tuesday night in Dallas for the first time in his young career. Head coach Paul Maurice wanted him to see the game from another angle after a sluggish start to the regular season.

“Obviously it’s tough, you want to be in there every single game you can. They just told me maybe look for something that you wouldn’t see up there,” Connor said Thursday.

So what did he see?

“You always watch how the star players like Jamie Benn, who led the league the past couple years in scoring, how he finds ice out there and how he plays defensively as well.” said Connor. “It’s a different perspective, obviously not being on the ice there. You pick up little things that maybe you don’t see when you’re down on the ice all the time.”

Connor was back in the lineup Thursday night, as an injury to forward Drew Stafford created an opening. He skated on a line with Nikolaj Ehlers and Mathieu Perreault — and scored his first NHL goal late in the first period after a feed from Ehlers during a two-on-one rush.

Connor had a quick start to his pro career, scoring goals in three consecutive pre-season games. But he was held to a single assist and a -5 rating through his first five regular-season contests prior to Thursday night.

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“They come out of a league where they were able to do it a certain way, and they get to the best league in the world and those opportunities aren’t there, the same quality that they’re used to,” Maurice said Thursday of the learning curve many young players experience. “There’s less offence generated by the elite players in this league on an average night than those guys think. Every time they touch the puck something magical doesn’t happen. And they don’t need to do that to be a good offensive player and stay in the lineup.”

Little a month away

The Jets are targeting a late November return for injured centre Brian Little, who went down during the season-opener earlier this month. Maurice also said Thursday the team is hopeful forward Drew Stafford won’t miss much time after getting injured during Tuesday’s game against the Stars. He sat out Thursday night’s game and is considered “day-to-day” at this point.

With no extra healthy forwards on their roster, the Jets were expected to call up a member of the Manitoba Moose before flying to Denver or Saturday’s game against the Avalanche.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Mike McIntyre
Reporter

Mike McIntyre is a sports reporter whose primary role is covering the Winnipeg Jets. After graduating from the Creative Communications program at Red River College in 1995, he spent two years gaining experience at the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 1997, where he served on the crime and justice beat until 2016. Read more about Mike.

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