Bowness wants more offence from defence, Pionk happy to oblige

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This article was published 29/09/2022 (1121 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg Jets head coach Rick Bowness has vowed the cavalry is coming this season, with a focus on having his defencemen join the rush and getting more involved in the offence.

All of which is music to the ears of a player such as Neal Pionk, who believes he has much more to offer from the back-end.

“Absolutely. It’s exciting. You can’t play run-and-gun and careless and reckless. But anytime we can help the offence, that’s a benefit for our team,” Pionk said following Thursday’s training camp session at Bell MTS Iceplex. “If we can transition the puck and have the puck more, that’s better. The best defence is when we have the puck. They can’t score. If we can shut down those plays with an aggressive style, so be it.”

Like so many of his teammates, Pionk is coming off a season he’d rather forget. His stats took a dip, with 34 points (three goals, 31 assists) in 74 games. And that production was hampered by a foot injury he suffered last February in Dallas while blocking a Jamie Benn shot that was otherwise headed into an empty-net.

“I guess the mentality I have is if I can skate, I’m going to play,” said Pionk. “Everyone’s playing through some kind of bump, bruise, injury. How you define that is up to the trainers. But there’s obviously a pain tolerance. The trainers gave me the choice. I could skate under the circumstances, so I played.”

Pionk ultimately remained in the lineup as the Jets were pushing for a potential playoff spot, but he wasn’t the same. There were other injuries as well which piled up.

“He played banged up all year. He kept that quiet. So you give him a lot of credit for that,” said Bowness. “He’s not having the year that maybe people expect, but internally everyone knows he’s playing hurt. He never once complained, never made an excuse. That tells you all you need to know about the kid’s character too.”

Bowness believes the new style of play he wants to see will suit someone like Pionk to a tee.

“I remember when he was with the Rangers, the first time we played against him, that’s what I remember. Just, ‘Wow, look at that kid go,’” said Bowness.

“He’s got a good shot. He’s a guy that’s going to benefit, (Josh Morrissey), all of them. Again, 24 goals from your defence (last season) isn’t close to good enough. We have to get it up in that 40 range. They have to get used to coming up. Even on defence when we’re defending the rush, but as soon as it goes the other way, go. Don’t watch, go. We’re going to activate them a lot more.”

After coming over in the Jacob Trouba trade, Pionk posted a career-high 45 points (six goals, 39 assists) in 71 games in the 2019-20 campaign. He parlayed that into a four-year, US $23.5 million contract extension and is hoping to regain that kind of form this season. He’s encouraged by what he’s seen so far during the first week of camp as the defencemen work in tandem with the forwards to get the new systems down.

“It’s just a constant read off each other. Whether we’re going down and the forwards are covering for us, or vice-versa,” he said. “I think they want us to get involved, too, because it gives them an extra option for a pass. So it’ll be a work in progress, but we’ll get it.”

Pionk spent much of last year on a pairing with Brenden Dillon. He’s also spent some time in training camp with fellow Minnesotan Dylan Samberg, who is pushing for full-time work this year.

“He’s a physical freak,” Pionk said of Samberg. “He’s one of the better athletes I know. He comes into training camp in great shape every year. He’s 6-4 and can skate, he can shoot and think the game. He’s off to a good start.”

With Pionk, Brenden Dillon, Josh Morrissey, Nate Schmidt and Dylan DeMelo all slotted in the top six — barring an injury or trade before the start of the regular-season on Oct. 14 — Samberg is in a fight for the other starting job along with the likes of Logan Stanley, Ville Heinola and Johnathan Kovacevic. Other young blue-liners such as Declan Chisholm and Leon Gawanke, and journeymen including Kyle Capobianco and Ashton Sautner, have given the coaching staff plenty of options to consider.

“Very competitive,” is how Pionk describe the log jam. “I think we have a good blue line, too. We got a good mix, guys that are older with a lot of experience, guys like myself in the middle of the pack with a few hundred games experience, and then we’ve got young guys that are pushing for a spot. It’s a good mix all around.”

Bowness will no doubt be leaning heavily on Pionk, who also has a bit of a bulldog mentality on the ice and isn’t afraid to take a healthy run at an opponent.

“He’s a very competitive guy,” said Bowness. “Not the biggest guy out there, but again, the first time I saw him play when he was with the Rangers. He stood out for me in those areas.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg