Jets’ new name a familiar face

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This article was published 15/12/2022 (1053 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Karson Kuhlman figures it won’t take very long to feel right at home with the Winnipeg Jets.

It helps that the club’s newest player is just the latest member of the so-called “Minnesota Mafia,” which is slowly but surely taking over the dressing room.

“I was like ‘Give me his phone number please,’ and I see a 218 number right away and was like ‘I know where that is!’,” Jets coach Rick Bowness joked about getting team officials to help get him in touch with Kuhlman, who was claimed off waivers from the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday afternoon.

Kuhlman, 27, didn’t exactly need an introductory name tag Thursday morning as he joined the Jets morning skate. A pair of former college teammates at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, Neal Pionk and Dylan Samberg, were there on the ice to greet him. A third, Dominic Toninato, is currently with the Manitoba Moose.

“It’s obviously competitive there. We were pretty fortunate to have some great teams and obviously a lot of great players that are still playing today. I think we all push each other there, and it shows with how many guys made it to the next level,” said Kuhlman, who flew into Winnipeg late Wednesday night after a whirlwind couple days.

Forward Blake Wheeler and defenceman Nate Schmidt are no strangers either, having been born in the State of Hockey just like him.

“It’s nice to see some familiar faces,” said Kuhlman. “It helps… when you’re coming into somewhere new. And somewhat close to home as well, so that’s all nice.”

Kuhlman hails from a town called Esko, located in the northeastern part of the state near the west shore of Lake Superior. Wheeler, 36, is from Plymouth, Schmidt, 31, is from St. Cloud, Samberg, 23 and Pionk, 27, are from Hermantown and Toninato, 28, is from Duluth.

“He introduced me well to the college hockey game and we kept in touch over the past couple of years with training back in Duluth,” Samberg said Thursday of Kuhlman, a former captain of UMD. The two men played together in 2017-18.

“Great leader. Yeah. I loved him. He was a captain that brought a lot to the locker room. He was vocal in ways and he would get on you if needed, which was great. He helped out a lot of the young guys since had a such young team that first year. He was great and helped a lot of us succeed at the college level.”

The 5-10, 184-pound Kuhlman went undrafted after putting up 80 points (39 goals, 41 assists) in 166 NCAA games between 2014-18. He signed as a free agent with the Boston Bruins, splitting time between the NHL and AHL over parts of four seasons. He was then claimed on waivers by Seattle last January.

“It’s good to see guys that put in hard work move on,” said Samberg. “It’s good to see, especially having four or five guys here from UMD, especially a couple of guys that I played with when I was there. It’s good to see a smaller program like UMD produce, have guys in the NHL.”

Kuhlman has 26 points (10 goals, 16 assists) over 114 big-league games, including a goal and two helpers with in 14 contests with the Kraken this year. A log-jam at forward pushed him off the roster earlier this week.

“We were in Tampa Bay on a little road trip there with Seattle and obviously found out. Jumped on a plane and got to Minneapolis, then got in (Wednesday) night,” said Kuhlman.

“Gotta go get a parka and a little heavier coat than I had in Tampa Bay. But yeah, excited to be here, a great group of guys and a team that’s winning. So I just want to come in and help that as much as I can.”

He will get his chance, likely this weekend when Winnipeg plays back-to-back road games. The Jets are shorthanded up front, with Nikolaj Ehlers, Mason Appleton and Saku Maenalanen all currently dealing with injuries. Ehlers skated on Wednesday for the first time since having sports-hernia surgery three weeks ago, but is at least another two or three weeks away. Appleton and Maenalanen could be another month, or longer.

“A lot of good reports on his skating and his compete. He’s a good penalty killer. We picked him up to play him,” Bowness said. “Great skater, a very competitive guy for not the biggest guy.”

Winnipeg’s bottom six has been a work-in-progress, especially with so many different faces in and out of the lineup. Bowness is still trying to find third and fourth lines he can count on.

“I think I take responsibility in the D-zone. I work hard and want to play up and down the lineup wherever I can help out,” said Kuhlman. “Hard on the forecheck and finish some checks. So I look forward to bringing that to this group. Win my puck battles and get some pucks in. Hopefully I can contribute to this team right away.”

Kuhlman has no hard feelings about Seattle letting him go (the Kraken planned to send him down to their AHL team had he cleared waivers), but is anxious to prove he’s still a regular NHLer.

“It was a great place. Obviously a great opportunity. They do things the right way, and you can tell with how well everybody is playing there this year. Very grateful for meeting all those guys and the opportunity they gave me there,” he said.

Kuhlman won’t have to wait very long to see his now-former teammates. The Jets play in Vancouver this Saturday, then head to Seattle Sunday. It will also give him a chance to grab a few items from his residence as he tries to get settled on the fly in Winnipeg.

“Obviously the most important part is here at the rink. Taking care of that and everything else will fall into place, so it’s not that big of a headache with the organization helping out,” he said.

“Just taking it one day at a time, doing my work and helping out any way I can. It seems like they’ve got great leadership here with a lot of guys that have played a lot of games in this league. So it’s going to be awesome to learn from them.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg