FROM THE PRESS BOX
MIKE SAYS: Speed kills. And the Jets, quite frankly, haven’t had nearly enough of it this season. However, by shipping out Logan Stanley, Luke Schenn and Tanner Pearson at the trade deadline and having veteran forwards Nino Niederreiter and Vlad Namenstnikov go down with injuries, Winnipeg is moving around the ice a lot quicker these days. The return of Josh Morrissey from injury certainly helps, along with the trade deadline adds of Jacob Bryson and Isak Rosen and the call-up of Brad Lambert.
It sure was noticeable on Saturday night, where the Jets were buzzing early and often. But don’t just take my word for it: Check out what Connor had to say this morning when the subject was raised.
“These young guys are going to help us play a lot quicker and faster. We’ve talked about that all year, being a focus for us. Our lack of speed, our lack of pace in some of the games. I think these guys help us out,” said Connor.
Arniel had a similar answer when asked if there’s been one major difference in his team’s play of late.
“Playing faster with and without the puck,” the bench boss said without hesitation.
All of which makes you wonder why the Jets waited so long to find a way to get younger and faster as this season started slowly swirling down the drain, especially during an ugly 30-game segment where they only won six times. Better late than never, I suppose.
I liked what I saw from Bryson, Rosen and Lambert against the Canucks, and I can envision all three taking on bigger roles here as they (and the coaching staff) get more comfortable.
Vancouver Canucks’ Marcus Pettersson (29) defends against Winnipeg Jets’ Jacob Bryson (78) during the third period of Saturday’s game. (John Woods / The Canadian Press files)
Anaheim is a team filled with youth and speed, so I’m curious to see how this current version of the Jets can try to keep up with the kids on the Ducks. It should make for an entertaining game. Anaheim could be a bit snarly, as they are coming off a rare stinker — losing 4-0 to St. Louis on Sunday evening to close out the homestand with a 7-2-0 mark. They have Vegas and Edmonton in their division, so these games have significant meaning for them as well.
KEN SAYS: When you talk about making an immediate impact after returning from injury, Morrissey was Exhibit A. Although both Arniel and assistant coach Dean Chynoweth joked that the plan was to ease Morrissey back into action as he worked his way back from an upper-body issue, Morrissey ended up north of 24 minutes of ice time and delivered an assist on the game-tying goal on the power play, then added the overtime winner for good measure.
Not only did he secure an important extra point for a team that’s been having issues in overtime this season, Morrissey passed his old D partner Dustin Byfuglien to become the franchise leader for points by a defenceman.
Watching the evolution of Morrissey has been something else. The 13th overall pick in the 2013 NHL Draft burst onto the scene as a high point producer coming out of junior but quickly morphed into a shutdown pairing for a good chunk of his early days in the NHL. Although he still gets a lot of tough matchups, Morrissey has grown into a consistent candidate for the Norris Trophy and he’s clearly a Top-10 D-man.
The impressive thing is that he’s increased his point totals dramatically, while not letting the defensive side of his game suffer. In fact, you could make the case he’s playing some of the best defensive hockey of his career.
“He means so much to this team,” said Connor, who drew an assist on the Morrissey goal that gave him sole possession of top spot among D-men. “He’s been a great teammate, one of my favourite teammates of all time. To have the most points among defencemen in Jets history is pretty cool.
“To be a part of that, a small part of that, is awesome. He’s come back and he’s looked great. He’s the best player on the ice for us a lot of nights. It’s great to see him have that confidence going in his first game back.”
It’s been an excellent season for former Jets blue-liner Jacob Trouba. The ninth overall pick in the 2012 NHL Draft has 10 goals and 30 points in 62 games. He’s continued to bring plenty of physical play, but his offensive numbers haven’t been this good since 2022-23 and there are still 20 games left to go. He won’t match the career-best 50 points he recorded during his final season with the Jets, but Trouba has put himself in a good position to cash in as an unrestricted free agent this summer, whether he remains with the Ducks or hits the open market.
PROJECTED LINES
WINNIPEG JETS
FORWARDS:
- Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi
- Perfetti-Lowry-Iafallo
- Nyquist-Toews-Rosen
- Koepke-Barron-Lambert
DEFENCE:
- Morrissey-DeMelo
- Samberg-Salomonsson
- Fleury-Bryson
GOAL:
HEALTHY SCRATCHES: D Heinola
INJURED: D Pionk (lower body), D Miller (lower-body), LW Niederreiter (lower body), F Namestnikov (lower body)
ANAHEIM DUCKS
FORWARDS:
- Kreider-Carlsson-Gauthier
- Killorn-Granlund-Sennecke
- McTavish-Poehling-Viel
- Harkins-Washe-Johnston
DEFENCE:
- LaCombe-Trouba
- Zellweger-Gudas
- Mintnyukov-Moore
GOAL:
HEALTHY SCRATCHES: D Helleson, F Vatrano
INJURED: G Mrazek (hip), D Carlson (lower body), RW Terry (upper body)
NOTABLE QUOTABLE
Jets defenceman Dylan DeMelo on the return of blue-line partner Josh Morrissey and his immediate impact:“Not surprised at all. He does that on a nightly basis for us and on a year-to-year basis. We definitely missed him. A lot of guys had to step up to fill that void, and even then I don’t think we can fully fill it, for the impact he does for our team and in our room. So it was really nice to have him back and definitely made a lot of guys’ jobs easier out there. And to see him get rewarded with the franchise record, I think that’s an amazing accomplishment. I don’t know if that’s going to get touched. Just a phenomenal player and we’re super happy to have him back and looks great out there as always.”
WHAT WE’RE WORKING ON
Mike has his monthly Jets prospects report coming, which leads with Brad Lambert and the big opportunity staring him in the face. Ken will have the game analysis of Jets vs. Ducks from the downtown rink. You can find both pieces online at winnipegfreepress.com and in Wednesday’s print edition.
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