Jockeying for position on the depth chart

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This article was published 27/03/2025 (193 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Logan Stanley has done this dance before.

For a multitude of reasons over the course of his career, Stanley has been in and out of the Winnipeg Jets lineup, whether it’s related to injury or performance.

When you’re jockeying for position on the depth chart, having the right attitude and putting in extra work is the rule, not the exception.

“We’ve got a good team and lots of good players, so it’s going to take everyone down the stretch, and you just want to stay sharp,” said Stanley, who is tracking to be in the lineup as the Jets face the New Jersey Devils on Friday.

“And stay mentally engaged when you’re not playing and when you are playing, to try and stay into it. Try and work on your game in practice and be ready for when the puck drops.”

When healthy this season, Stanley has mostly been a regular, appearing in 53 of 72 games.

But after the arrival of Luke Schenn in a deadline deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Stanley was a healthy scratch for five consecutive games before returning to action last Sunday against the Buffalo Sabres.

Stanley chipped in two assists against the Sabres, then had two hits and a shot on goal in 12:24 of ice time in Tuesday’s 3-2 overtime win over the Washington Capitals.

“I’m just trying to move pucks and get it into the forwards hands and play good D, play physical,” said Stanley, who is battling for ice time on the third pairing with Colin Miller and Haydn Fleury. “There’s lots of stuff to improve on in everyone’s game, including mine. So just try to be consistent and play good defence.”

Stanley completed several crisp zone exits, including a couple through the middle of the ice.

When he’s making smart decisions and playing an assertive game, Stanley can be an effective player.

“I think it’s been solid,” said Stanley, asked to assess his performance this season. “There’s room to grow everywhere in every aspect of my game.

“But, trying to ramp it up for playoffs is huge. And as a team, that’s what we’re trying to do.”

Stanley had his ice time reduced in the third period of a game against the Carolina Hurricanes on Mar. 9, but Jets head coach Scott Arniel likes the way he’s responded.

“He’s been great for us since he’s been back. His plays with the puck have been real good,” said Arniel. “I like the way that he was real physical. First and foremost, it’s making that first pass, getting back for pucks and retrievals and he’s done a good job of that.”

 

Ice time rising

One of the many benefits for Alex Iafallo being promoted to the top line is his significant increase in ice time.

Iafallo isn’t a prototypical fourth-liner, as he’s part of both special teams units, but as he skated alongside Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor on Tuesday, he took 19 shifts for a season-high of 17:28 of ice time.

It was just the second time this season that Iafallo played 17 minutes, the other on Dec. 31 against the Colorado Avalanche when he played with Adam Lowry’s line and was tasked with trying to help contain Nathan MacKinnon.

“It’s a big change,” said Iafallo. “Just keep playing my game and changing at the right time.”

Iafallo was held off the scoresheet but he played a big role in the Jets first goal from Josh Morrissey, whose shot caromed in off Capitals blue-liner Martin Fehervary as Iafallo battled with him in front of the net.

Arniel liked what he saw from Iafallo, though he concedes that he’ll need to monitor his ice time — which means he could see a reduced role on either the power play or penalty kill.

“I’m in a little argument with my two assistant coaches, one on the power play, one on the penalty kill,” said Arniel. “Because I told them it’s going to get reduced one way or another. I’m just not sure which one we’re going at, yet.

“But he did a great job the other night managing it. If you get into a game where it’s crazy, power plays, penalty kills, you get into the four or five on each side, then it might get a little bit tough. I’ve got to manage it, make sure we handle it correctly.”

Iafallo has 11 goals and 24 points in 72 games this season.

 

The tour guide

There was a smattering of red jerseys in the crowd with the Capitals in town, but five of those jerseys were Swiss national team sweaters worn by close friends of Jets forward Nino Niederreiter.

“It’s awesome. A couple of them are my childhood friends,” said Niederreiter. “I didn’t know exactly what they were going to do or exactly what they were going to wear. When I saw the five Swiss jerseys, I thought ‘here we go again.’

“Every year, they try to do something different. This year, they went with the Swiss jerseys. When they turned around, it was priceless.”

The friends traveled more than 7,000 kilometres from Switzerland to spend time with Niederreiter.

“It’s fun. It just speaks to how close of a group (we are),” said Niederreiter. “It’s cool they came all the way this way to spend some time together. They seem like they’re enjoying the city. They went everywhere they could possibly see.”

One of the off-day activities on Wednesday was curling in St. Adolphe, which was set up by Jets head athletic therapist Rob Milette.

Niederreiter was asked for a scouting report of his work on the pebble.

“Not bad,” he said. “A lot of room to improve, but it was a lot of fun.”

Niederreiter’s friends are staying at a short-term rental property, which allows the Jets forward to stay with his game-day routine.

Niederreiter is currently riding a three-game point streak and is up to 15 goals and 33 points in 72 games this season.

New dad

The Jets had four players absent from Thursday’s skate, but all of them are expected to be available on Friday.

Arniel said that Jets winger Kyle Connor became a father on Wednesday, as his wife gave birth to a daughter.

Jets defenceman Luke Schenn was given some time to head to Nashville to be with his family, while Morrissey and Rasmus Kupari used Wednesday as a maintenance day.

Defenceman Neal Pionk (lower body) and forward Gabe Vilardi (upper body) remain sidelined with injuries and are in the week-to-week category.

 

ken.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

X and Bluesky: @WiebesWorld