Jets have unfinished business Early playoff exit still a sore spot after successful regular season By: Mike McIntyre Posted: 5:41 PM CDT Thursday, Sep. 12, 2024

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This article was published 12/09/2024 (375 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Here’s the thing about being a professional hockey player and how it differs from the rest of us: You want your summer holidays to be as brief as possible.

Playing well into June is the ultimate goal — one the Winnipeg Jets came painfully short of. So how have these past few months been for members of the hockey team?

“Longer than we expected. Longer than we want,” captain Adam Lowry said Thursday.

Indeed, vacation started early — April 30 to be exact — as the Jets were beaten in five games by the Colorado Avalanche during their opening-round series. A promising regular season in which they finished fourth overall and won the Jennings Trophy as the stingiest defensive squad was over in the blink of an eye.

Clearly, that development still burns with Lowry, who’s been focused on more than just rest and relaxation while away from the rink.

“That’s where the reflection comes in,” he said. “(What) are ways we can tweak our game? (What) are ways we can improve and use that extended time off to get better so that, come the spring time… last year we put ourselves in a great position to have success, we had a great regular season, but now find ways to have success in the playoffs.”

The search is already underway, with nearly the entire Jets team already in town for informal daily skates, which will continue until training camp officially begins with on-ice sessions next Thursday. They’ll play six preseason games starting Sept. 21, then get the new 82-game campaign underway on Oct. 9.

Lowry, who is about to enter his second season with the C on the front of his jersey, has some ideas based on not only what his club experienced, but what he saw from watching far too much playoff hockey this past spring.

“I think you can certainly take things from teams that are able to go far,” said Lowry.

“Even when you look at how Edmonton was able to, how their penalty kill wasn’t one of the elite ones in the regular season, they go on that run. All of the way through the playoffs, they’re scoring big shorthanded goals at big moments, winning games strictly on winning that special teams battle.”

Ultimately it was the Florida Panthers standing tall, led by former Jets coach Paul Maurice. You don’t need to remind Lowry that Winnipeg and Florida both had 110 points during the regular season last year before embarking on starkly different playoff paths.

“The intensity ramps up that much more. The importance of every shift,” Lowry said of what changes on a bigger stage.

“Last year, we took a big step forward in terms of our defensive game, five-on-five and limiting changes. We had another great season from (Connor Hellebuyck). Now, it’s building on that, building on that foundation we’ve established here. That’s our message, our feeling going into camp.”

Winnipeg’s roster will be similar to the one that started last season, with only defencemen Brenden Dillon and Nate Schmidt and backup goaltender Laurent Brossoit moving on. Trade deadline additions Sean Monahan and Tyler Toffoli weren’t re-signed, either.

Lowry is on board with the approach taken by general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff which should allow some younger players to take on bigger roles while also banking on internal improvements — particularly when it comes to the struggling power play and penalty kill.

New head coach Scott Arniel and new assistants Davis Payne and Dean Chynoweth will all play big roles in that.

“As we approach training camp, as we approach the start of the regular season, that’s our mindset — how can we improve on the solid regular-season success we had last year so it translates into post-season success,” said Lowry.

One big change from a year ago is how comfortable Lowry now feels as the face of the franchise.

“Last year around training camp time, it was a bit of a whirlwind,” he said.

“The playoffs are a completely different style. I think we’ve learned that the last couple years.”–Kyle Connor

“Fortunately, we didn’t have too many blips. It was a pretty smooth regular season. We have a great supporting cast. A lot of great leaders in the room that really makes my job easy. Approach it similarly to how I did last year. Try and bring the effort and show up for my teammates every day and every day, try and maintain our focus on our end goal, and that’s winning a Stanley Cup. There’s a little more experience that comes along with having done it for a year, but I don’t expect things to change a whole lot.”

As of Thursday, only Hellebuyck and forwards Nikolaj Ehlers and Nino Niederreiter have yet to arrive in Winnipeg. All are expected by this weekend.

Kyle Connor was the newest addition to the group after arriving from Michigan, where his busy summer included getting married.

“It was a great time. We had a lot of guys come out. Family, friends. It was a lot of fun,” he said. “It’s good to compete and push each other here in these skates before camp starts. It’s nice to see some of the new faces as well, catch up on everybody’s summer and kind of get that out of the way before camp starts.”

Connor, 27, will be trying to replicate a hot start he had last year, one that was then derailed by a serious knee injury he suffered following a dirty hit in Anaheim that cost him 17 games. Still, he finished with 61 points (34 goals, 27 assists) in 65 contests, then added three goals and two helpers in five playoff games.

“The playoffs are a completely different style. I think we’ve learned that the last couple years,” said Connor.

“You have to peak at the right time. You look at Colorado, we beat them every game them in the regular season but couldn’t find a way to beat them in the playoffs.”

After scoring a career-high 47 goals in 2021-22, Connor believes his best is still to come following his action-packed summer that included training back home in Michigan with numerous NHL players.

“Obviously we’ve got a new head coach this year with Arnie taking over. For me, it’s just getting better at what I can control. Want to get faster, stronger, working on shooting the puck, all the stuff that I’ve continued to work on every year,” he said.

Cole Perfetti, who is a restricted free agent currently without a contract, was back on the ice Thursday with teammates after being the Jets representative at the NHL media tour in Las Vegas earlier this week. He has yet to speak locally but told reporters in Sin City he’s optimistic a deal will soon be worked out between his agent and the team.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X: @mikemcintyrewpg