On the bright side…

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This article was published 11/03/2016 (3493 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Already 10 players have played for both the Manitoba Moose and Winnipeg Jets in 2015-16.

And the Jets have seen six different players play their first NHL game this season.

If more of this is to come — and with both teams out of their respective hunts for playoff berths, it will have no serious standings implications — who will the Jets consider for auditions, glimpses into the future or simple reward recalls?

The NHL team has 15 games remaining starting with tonight’s home game against Colorado, so in no particular order, here’s a list of six you could look for:

C Nic Petan

The rookie pro started the season with the Jets but ran into common obstacles, mainly that there wasn’t a place for him in a mostly offensive role, which is his bread and butter, and traffic and intensity in games increased.

The decision to send him back to the AHL was based on playing time and Petan has received plenty. He has been near the top of the Moose scoring chart, now with 32 points in 45 games.

The fact Petan has had two excellent NHL training camps in a row and his poise and quickness is only improving, not to mention he’s an established person on head coach Paul Maurice’s radar, could lead to another opportunity with the Jets.

RW Austen Brassard

Coming to the end of his entry-level deal, the 23-year-old has found his play improving significantly this season with the Moose.

Those two factors could make him a candidate for a look-see in an NHL game or two and even if there are no more injury openings, it may be in the Jets’ best interest to have an impression of him against the best competition.

Brassard struggled for large parts of his first two pro seasons, recording just three then six goals for the St. John’s IceCaps. This season, he’s had a more dynamic element to his game and has already hit for 13 goals and 30 points.

Production was not why the Jets drafted him in the first place in 2011. That more rounded, physical, solid game is re-appearing.

D Brenden Kichton

Defence could be the Jets’ most acute need this week, with Dustin Byfuglien unable to finish Thursday’s 3-2 loss in Detroit.

The team was only carrying six blue-liners, so if Byfuglien requires any down time, the call will go to the Moose.

Twenty-year-old Josh Morrissey, the organization’s first-round pick in 2013, is currently unavailable due to injury so that could open the door for a long-awaited chance for Kichton, the 23-year-old who is in his third pro year and is actually on the Moose’s high half if you cut the team across in the middle in terms of experience.

When scouts and other prospects experts speak of Kichton, they almost always point out his footspeed is what holds him back.

Nobody ever questions his desire or his ability to move the puck or his knack at creating some offence.

The 2013 seventh-round pick, a former WHL defenceman of the year, is the Moose’s top-scoring defenceman this season with 29 points.

D Julian Melchiori

Like Kichton, Melchiori will be an RFA at the end of the season. He’s in his fourth pro year, and having been once thought of in the prospect chart as shoulder-to-shoulder with current Jets defenceman Ben Chiarot, he has not developed at the same pace, but it may be time to again gauge Melchiori in an NHL game or two.

The 24-year-old played one in 2013-14.

Melchiori is a big man on the back end but in contrast to Kichton, is much more of the stay-at-home type, so numbers don’t always tell his tale.

G Connor Hellebuyck

Hellebuyck’s 26-game stay with the Jets while No. 1 goalie Ondrej Pavelec was injured had all kinds of good but didn’t end all that well.

The 22-year-old continues to make a case that he might be the organization’s best overall prospect and his development has continued this season in both the NHL and AHL.

The Jets have to know that Hellebuyck has the physique, the temperament and the tools to eventually be an NHL starter. They’ll have to decide if anything at all would be gained by adding another NHL game or two to his year.

G Eric Comrie

Comrie’s first pro year will be judged a success, without doubt.

Expected to be fighting to gain some playing time while Hellebuyck was the clear Moose No. 1, Comrie was thrown into the deep end during the Pavelec injury and he more than survived.

An energetic and technically driven athlete, Comrie has given his teammates chances to win on most nights.

His numbers don’t say “all-star” but the Moose and Jets know the true value of his development this year. If the Jets are into carrots or rewards, they might contemplate a late-season game for their second-round pick of 2013.

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca