Colorado Avalanche at Winnipeg Jets

The beauty of the new, improved and condensed NHL pre-season is that there really isn’t much time available to shake off the rust.

The hope with the reduction to four pre-season games is that while some veterans are getting out for their first game action since April, other prospects already find themselves at The Last Chance Café as the Winnipeg Jets host the Colorado Avalanche Monday night.

A young Jets roster put up a solid effort against the Edmonton Oilers in a 5-2 loss to Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard Saturday, but this Jets lineup features a few more regulars, including the newly-formed top line of Mark Scheifele between Kyle Connor and Cole Perfetti and the top D pair of Josh Morrissey and Dylan DeMelo.

The Avalanche opened the pre-season Sunday with a 4-1 victory over the Utah Mammoth and iced a lineup which included veterans Gabe Landeskog, Nazem Kadri, Martin Necas, Brock Nelson and Artturi Lehkonen up front and Devon Toews, Josh Manson and Brent Burns on the back end, with MacKenzie Blackwood in goal.

Viggo Bjorck, who set up a goal in his pre-season debut, will skate alongside Gabriel Vilardi and Isak Rosen in what will be his first home game in a Jets jersey.

“I don’t know if you should say surprised because you kind of think that they’re on that level, but yeah, it’s obviously a step up,” Bjorck said of the opportunity to face McDavid and Draisaitl. “Those guys are super hard to take the puck off, but you’ve just got to try your best and keep on improving.”

Bjorck joked about a moment in the game against the Oilers where he gave his stick to Tyrel Bauer after the Jets’ defenceman lost his.

“I don’t know if my stick helped Tyrel that much, though,” said Bjorck. “Bet he couldn’t even reach the ground with that one. But no, I mean, I feel like the D-men down there (need) to have a stick, to defend the net, and then I’m just trying to try to play the body on the guy coming at you.”

One of the other things to watch in this contest will be the battle on the blue line, where newcomer Jack St. Ivany gets an opportunity to play with Mario Ferraro.

With Elias Salomonsson still working his way back from off-season shoulder surgery, St. Ivany and Bauer are considered the front-runners to start the season on the third pairing with Ferraro.

St. Ivany, who was acquired in a trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins for David Gustafsson back in late June, took 27 shifts for just under 23 minutes of ice time Saturday against the Oilers.

“I love it,” said St. Ivany when asked about the heavy workload. “(Haydn Fleury) and I definitely battled a bit with a couple of two-minute shifts, but that’s going to happen throughout the season. It’s about how you work and how you respond on the next shift.”

St. Ivany has a checklist of things he’s looking to improve upon in his second outing.

“Executing on those puck plays is huge and cleaning up the breakouts,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll have the puck in the O-zone a little bit more.”

Stuart Skinner gets the call in goal for the Jets, while the Avalanche are expected to counter with Scott Wedgewood. Ilya Nabokov is scheduled to come on in relief about midway through the contest.

After Monday’s game, there will be just two more opportunities for those players on the bubble to stake their claim on a roster spot, especially since another significant round of cuts is likely coming on Wednesday or Thursday.

Here’s some other information to get you set for tonight:

—Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe

FROM THE PRESS BOX

MIKE SAYS: The Stuart Skinner era unofficially begins tonight, and I am fascinated to see how Winnipeg’s new No. 1 masked man looks between the pipes.

A ton is riding on Skinner’s performance; I’m a huge believer in goalie coach Wade Flaherty, who has got the best (obviously) out of Connor Hellebuyck, but also backups such as Laurent Brossoit and Eric Comrie.

Goaltender Stuart Skinner during a training camp session on Sunday. He will be in net for tonight‘s game against the Avalanche. (John Woods / Free Press)

Now, can he work his magic on Skinner? He’s a guy who has already been to two Stanley Cup Finals and, in my opinion, became a bit of a scapegoat for Edmonton’s failure to win the big one. I’ve liked what I’ve seen so far in training camp skates, so tonight will be another chapter in that progression.

Bjorck really stood out to me while playing on a line Saturday night with Rosen and Brad Lambert, and now we get to see him for a second time skating alongside Vilardi (and Rosen) in what could be a preview of opening night. The eighth-overall draft pick seems to have found some chemistry with his fellow Swede in Rosen, as they nearly combined for a goal against the Oilers. Rosen made a nifty move in the slot to create some time and space to get a shot off, and then Bjorck showed off his terrific hand-eye skills by batting the rebound out of mid-air just wide of the net. Impressive stuff all around.

I’m also curious to see how Vlad Namestnikov fares. He got off to a strong start last year, only to fade quickly and go through a massive offensive drought. Now 33, he’s entering the final year of his contract and, based on line rushes during training camp, he might be in a battle with young Brayden Yager for the fourth-line centre job. Yager has been impressive in camp so far, including his preseason debut Saturday, so now there’s some pressure on Namestnikov to respond.

KEN SAYS: It’s impossible not to wonder how Perfetti is going to click with Scheifele and Connor. And while it’s always important not to put too much stock in one pre-season game, Perfetti has the skill set and smarts that should help him mesh well with the top line.

Based on the morning skate, Perfetti will once again get the first crack on the first power-play unit with Scheifele, Connor, Vilardi and Morrissey.

Cole Perfetti has the skill set and smarts that should help him mesh well with Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor, writes Ken Wiebe. (John Woods / Free Press)

In a season where Perfetti is expected to be a key offensive contributor, finding a way to flourish on the top line and chip in on the power play would make it much easier for him to eclipse the career-high 50 points he had two seasons ago.

By inking a five-year extension, Perfetti won’t be worried about his next contract for quite some time and he also made it clear during a discussion last week that he isn’t about to get complacent and he’s not about to put a ceiling on his production, either.

On defence, Isaak Phillips had a strong showing against the Oilers and while he won’t be back in action until Tuesday, it’s incumbent upon St. Ivany to show well on the pairing with Ferraro.

St. Ivany has 53 games of NHL experience and brings a combination of mobility and size (6-foot-4, 197 pounds) that could help the Jets defence corps. He’s also someone who could provide a boost to the penalty kill, which is another one of the areas the Jets will be looking to improve upon.

Henry Thrun was signed for depth purposes after helping the Toronto Marlies capture the Calder Cup in the American Hockey League last season and he’s got 123 games of NHL experience with the Anaheim Ducks and Toronto Maple Leafs.

Thrun is scheduled to be on the second power-play unit this evening, so he’s someone to keep an eye on in the competition on the blue line as well.

PROJECTED LINES

WINNIPEG JETS

FORWARDS:

Connor-Scheifele-Perfetti
Rosen-Bjorck-Vilardi
Koepke-Namestnikov-Gregor
Walton-Julien-Burnside

DEFENCE:

Morrissey-DeMelo
Ferraro-St. Ivany
Thrun-Mayo

GOALIE:

Skinner
Milic

COLORADO AVALANCHE:

FORWARDS:

L’Heureux-Svechkov-Roy
Nielsen-Kelly-O’Connor
Makar-Prischepov-Hinostroza
Merkulov-Beckham-Lysell

DEFENCE:

Kulak-Malinski
Stjernberg-Juulsen
Gagne-Wolanin

GOALIE:

Wedgewood
Nabokov

NOTABLE QUOTABLE

Jets head coach Scott Arniel on what he’s watching for from 2026 first-rounder Viggo Bjorck as the exhibition season moves along:

“For all the young kids’ first camp, there’s a lot thrown at ‘em. We’re just trying to gradually have them progress. It’s systems first. Then, it’s also him just getting comfortable.”

WHAT WE’RE WORKING ON

Ken has an early story on Jets D-man Jack St. Ivany; Mike will recap the game and share his thoughts on who stood out. The stories will be available here and in Tuesday’s print edition.