Confidence key to Jets’ rising level of play this season

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This article was published 07/05/2018 (2734 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As the Winnipeg Jets have soared to new heights this spring, it may be easy to forget one intriguing fact about the makeup of this team.

Up and down the roster, there’s not much different about the group that took to the ice at Bell MTS Place Monday night and the one that missed the playoffs last season and had many fans and critics wondering if it was time to make major changes.

With the exception of trade-deadline acquisition Paul Stastny, every player who took on the Nashville Predators in Game 6 was in this organization a year ago. The three big free agent signings from last summer — goalie Steve Mason, defenceman Dmitry Kulikov and forward Matt Hendricks — have been non-factors to this point.

Mason has played one period in relief of Connor Hellebuyck, Hendricks has dressed for just five of 11 post-season games and Kulikov has yet to play as he recovers from an upper-body injury suffered in early March.

So what exactly changed? How did the status quo turn into what we’re now witnessing?

“Experience,” veteran forward Mathieu Perreault told the Free Press following Monday’s morning skate.

Not to mention a mix of maturity and confidence that comes with getting a taste of success, then wanting more, he said.

“We always believed in ourselves. A great group of hockey players here, we battled hard. Last year, it was just a little bounce here and there sometimes that didn’t go our way. This year, they’re kind of going our way and we always believed we were a great team and now we’ve been out there playing well,” said Perreault.

Perreault was also quick to point his finger towards the crease, as Hellebuyck’s terrific turnaround season that has included a Vezina Trophy nomination “has probably been the biggest difference.”

“Everyone is a year older with a little bit more experience. Obviously, (Hellebuyck) is making some key, huge saves for us at key moments in games. That’s definitely a big difference for us. When your goalie makes a save, you got a chance to win every night,” he said.

You’ll recall there were many questions last summer about the futures of general manager Kevin Chevelydayoff and head coach Paul Maurice. Both signed extensions late in the off-season but there was still a belief they had a short leash to start getting the desired results.

Maurice was asked Monday if there’s a sense of personal satisfaction in how much things have changed over the past 12 months.

“Playoffs are fun for coaches, it’s the best way that I can describe it. And the further you go on the more fun you have. I was never particularly worried about that last year other than it’s part of your life. Every day you’re worried, you know? Nothing’s permanent in the game of hockey and that’s something you learn over time,” said Maurice.

“Playoffs are just a whole lot more fun. You interact with your players differently. You’re not grinding guys to get more out of them. There’s not as many long-term lessons that you’re trying to teach. So it’s been an enjoyable start.”

Management has long preached the draft-and-develop model would pay off, and it appears that patience is being rewarded in spades. Maurice said that’s why there wasn’t an internal feeling last season that things needed to be blown up. Rather, the seeds were already planted. They just needed some additional time to finally sprout.

“A year, right? A year of maturity by so many young players in different roles and that includes the young guys that we don’t talk about, Mark (Scheifele) and Adam (Lowry) and (Jacob) Trouba on defence. These guys have moved into what we call that driver role, they’re still young guys but our hockey team did not have a whole lot of playoff experience and it adds 20 games a night here, so the learning process and curve is ongoing,” said Maurice.

Throw in the continued growth of young stars such as Patrik Laine, Nikolaj Ehlers and Josh Morrissey, plus the emergence of Kyle Connor in his rookie year, and you have the makings of a team where success doesn’t appear to be of the one-hit wonder variety, but rather of the sustainable kind that could see them be contenders for several years to come.

The cupboards are no longer bare, and this young, talented group that is gaining valuable experience with each passing game may only get stronger.

“There’s something to be said for staying within your routine and approaching each game the same way. You start treating things differently as you go on and you start doing things that you don’t normally do and it takes away from what’s given our group success. Stay even keel, tough losses, big wins, come back to the rink the next day excited about the next game,” captain Blake Wheeler said of the approach they’ve taken throughout the playoffs.

Sprinkle in some youthful enthusiasm and an energized city and you have all the ingredients for success.

“It didn’t take too long to get out of bed (Monday) morning. I wasn’t hitting snooze today, for sure. It’s exciting,” Morrissey said following the morning skate. “From Game 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs, it’s the best time of the year. As each game goes on, you go through adversity, wins, losses and whatever. It’s just a lot of fun. You wake up this morning, it’s a beautiful day out there, you go to the rink and have a chance to play in the biggest game of our season so far. It’s just really exciting and fun to be in this atmosphere.”

Ehlers told a story Monday of how he went out for dinner Sunday night with his brother, in town from Denmark, and met many pumped-up Jets fans along the way.

“You have people come up to you, tell you what an amazing job you’re doing. For this team, and for myself, it’s exciting. This city is going crazy. We’re going crazy here. It’s amazing. We’re all excited now,” said Ehlers.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg