Harkins shines in pre-season victory

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This article was published 29/09/2021 (1488 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There will be many nights in Winnipeg when the stallions run free. Wednesday wasn’t one of them.

The Jets’ top thoroughbreds — Mark Scheifele, Blake Wheeler and Kyle Connor — rambled in the corral while Adam Lowry and Paul Stastny barely made it out of the barn.

Veterans and the pre-season. Rarely a run for the roses.

Instead, wingers Jansen Harkins and Evgeny Svechnikov set the pace with three points apiece as Winnipeg galloped past the visiting Edmonton Oilers 5-1 in an NHL pre-season matchup.

Oilers coach Dave Tippett tossed out a collection of players only their mothers and HockeyDB could love. Zach Kassian was the squad’s most recognizable participant. ‘Nuff said.

Harkins, a second-round pick in the 2015 draft, has 55 NHL games under his belt, scoring three times and adding six assists, but is doing a splendid job this fall defining himself as a reliable contributor with the Central Division club. He’s been a standout in training camp and has factored in during two straight exhibition tests (2G, 2A).

“Pretty fun, obviously. Any time you come back from a summer off-season, it’s fun to get back on the ice. The fans are pretty electric and scoring goals is one of the best things you can do out there. Yeah, a good night,” said Harkins, who suited up for only half of Winnipeg’s outings last season.

“We’ve got a lot of young guys fighting for spots, a lot of good players. We’ve generally been a pretty veteran team the last few years, so there’s a couple spots right now everyone’s really chasing for it. Competition is pretty good.”

The son of journeyman pro Todd Harkins has received high praise from just about everyone within the Jets organization, including former Manitoba Moose bench boss Pascal Vincent who never hid his admiration for the Prince George Cougars all-time points leader.

Jets head coach Paul Maurice said of Harkins just 14 months ago: “I don’t know if I have had a player that has been given less opportunity and stayed in the fight and competed as hard as he has.”

The kid nearly blew it three years ago, playing his way off the Manitoba roster and into the East Coast league. He’s light years away from Jacksonville, Fla., now.

“Confidence for any player, regardless of their age, just changes them completely on what they are capable of doing,” Maurice said. “Right now, Jansen is going to get on the ice thinking about the next good thing that could happen, not ‘I hope I don’t make another mistake.’ And that’s a completely different perspective and mind shift. You see a different player when they’re confident and, hopefully, he can keep building on this as he has been from the start of camp. 

“It’s not just about being able to score some goals, but he’s a little faster here… a little more jump on some plays because of that. We’re not asking Jansen to score 30 this year to make the team. That can’t be the qualifier for him making the team. There are lots of other parts of the game that he has to do consistently and scoring makes your whole game (better).” 

Svechnikov, meanwhile, is an intriguing story all to himself. 

A 2015 first-round pick of Detroit (19th overall) — taken 28 spot before Harkins — the 24-year-old Russian spent five seasons in the Red Wings organization, scoring five goals and 12 points in 41 games. 

He’s in the Manitoba capital on a minor-league contract with the Moose of the AHL, a loop he knows well after amassing 101 points in 186 games with the Grand Rapids Griffins. 

Svechnikov said he’s enjoying his time in Winnipeg and is relishing in the Cole Perfetti line’s early success. 

“I think we just really feel each other,” he said. “We have different things that we’re good at, so I think we kind of have that chemistry going a little bit, which is fun to be part of.” 

Svechnikov played his junior hockey in Canada and already has a close friend in Jets forward Pierre-Luc Dubois. The two played together on the Cape Breton Eagles in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, and were linemates at times. 

He had a pair of 70-plus point seasons (2014-16) with the Eagles and was drafted in between. Scouts raved about his offensive-zone work, noting his 6-3, 200-pound frame, smooth skating, hard, accurate shot and shifty hands. 

Svechnikov is well past his days as a blue-chip prospect, but could he be a late bloomer? 

“Each day, he’s kind of picked up what’s going on and implemented it a bit. He’s kind of changed and he’s picked up systems pretty quickly, which is a good sign. He’s got some hands, he’s got a great attitude. He’s been good,” said Maurice. 

The Jets led 1-0 and 4-1 at the period breaks. 

The hosts had five of their nine top forwards in uniform, four blue-liners (Josh Morrissey, Nate Schmidt, Dylan DeMelo and Logan Stanley) expected to make the regular-season roster and a goaltender just two years removed from being named the NHL’s most outstanding at his position. 

Perfetti, Winnipeg’s 2020 first-round pick, made a handful of intelligent plays, including a slick pass early in the game to Svechnikov who was positioned on the doorstep. He was denied by Russian compatriot Ilya Konovalov, but Harkins swatted in the rebound just 1:31 into the game. 

Konovalov, who played parts of the last four seasons in the KHL, was beaten three times in the second period. Svechnikov’s brilliant behind-the-back deflection of a Stanley point drive skipped in just past the two-minute mark, Austin Poganski was rewarded for some good work down low, and then Harkins burst in and roofed one. 

Brad Malone handcuffed Connor Hellebuyck late in the second, the only one of 18 Oiler shots to get past him. 

As for the top line’s contribution, Connor slammed in one of the easiest goals he’ll ever net, corralling a puck that bounced off a skate and firing it past the Oilers second goalie, a surprised Stuart Skinner, to round out the scoring in the final period. 

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca 

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell