Ford impresses, Hellebuyck never stresses

That Connor Hellebuyck was so nonchalant about the subject of his absence earlier in the week came as little surprise.

But when a routine question about why he left Monday’s skate was brought to his attention on Thursday, the Winnipeg Jets goalie provided an unexpected revelation.

“Well, I had a rib out of place,” said Hellebuyck, who will be back between the pipes on Friday when the Jets close out the exhibition season against the Calgary Flames. “All I needed was a good back cracking and no one could do it here so I had to get off the ice. It was skeletal so I couldn’t really move.

“I went and saw the chiropractor and he put me back in place in like five minutes and I was back here just as practice was ending. You can’t fight through that when you can’t move.”

Was this rib issue something Hellebuyck routinely deals with?

“Have you ever slept wrong and woken up a little sore? It happens,” said Hellebuyck. “It is not that big of a deal. You just pop it back in and continue to move on. It was odd that no one here could do it before the skate. It is normal.”

Hellebuyck made his exhibition debut on Tuesday in the 3-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild, finishing with 16 saves.

“I felt pretty good getting some of the rust out,” he said. “You get sick of practicing all the time and I wanted to see some game action and now it is kind of falling into that season routine.”

Hellebuyck is gearing up for next Thursday’s season opener against the Dallas Stars and feels he’s right on track.

“It is more figuring out what part of my game I want to focus on a little more,” said Hellebuyck when asked what was on his training camp checklist. “It changes from year to year and I can’t tell you if there is an exact science one way or another every year but right now I am working on some patience and looking at some tape with the time we have and find the details I want to work on right now.”

One of the interesting developments in Thursday’s on-ice workout was that Parker Ford was at centre on the fourth line with Cole Koepke and Tanner Pearson, while the fifth line included a rotation of Brad Lambert, David Gustafsson, Walker Duehr and Nikita Chibrikov.

Essentially, there are six players battling for the final two roster spots up front — provided the Jets start with two goalies, eight defencemen and 13 forwards.

Ford scored a goal against the Flames last Saturday and has done a nice job since being moved to the middle.

He’s an energetic player that plays with high intensity, finishes checks, he’s done a nice job in the face-off circle and has seen time on the penalty kill — all things that are important for a role player.

“Well, he’s still here,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel. “He impressed us last year, with his details, his work ethic. There’s a lot there that we like. He’s still in the fight. That’s all you ask of these kids, put your best foot forward and he’s done that.”

The Jets’ 23-man roster is due on Monday afternoon, though players who require waivers need to be subjected to them by Sunday.

Loose pucks

Defenceman Kale Clague and forwards Jaret Anderson-Dolan and Samuel Fagemo cleared waivers on Thursday and were assigned to the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League.

In terms of the rest of the line rushes on Thursday, with Toews not on the ice, Vladislav Namestnikov moved up with Cole Perfetti and Gustav Nyquist, and Morgan Barron skated with Alex Iafallo and Nino Niederrieter. The top line of Mark Scheifele, Gabe Vilardi and Kyle Connor was reunited. On the back end, Josh Morrissey was with Dylan DeMelo, Neal Pionk was with Logan Stanley, Luke Schenn was with Haydn Fleury and Colin Miller was with Ville Heinola.

ken.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

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