Pionk gets Jets Masterton nod

Neal Pionk is no stranger to playing with — or through — pain.

When you play the junkyard dog style the Winnipeg Jets defenceman brings to the ice on a regular basis, there is a physical toll that isn’t always easy to endure.

When Pionk received news his best friend and former University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs teammate Adam Johnson had passed away after a gruesome skate-cut injury on Oct. 28 of 2023 while playing in England as a member of the Nottingham Panthers, there was an emotional burden that wasn’t easy to process.

Dealing with that personal tragedy was one of the reasons Pionk has been chosen by the Winnipeg chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association as the nominee for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, an award handed out annually to the NHL player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to ice hockey.

“It’s a prestigious honour. Obviously a lot of guys have gone through some stuff and I’ve certainly had loss in my life in the last year,” said Pionk. “I just thank the guys for helping me through it.”

Pionk is one of 32 nominees for the award, which is voted on by members of the PHWA.

An undrafted free agent who is in his sixth season with the Jets after coming over from the New York Rangers in a trade for Jacob Trouba, Pionk is having one of the best seasons of his NHL career, chipping in nine goals and 37 points in 66 games.

Johnson was someone who kept Pionk grounded with pointed barbs and was also someone who supported him on virtually every step of his professional hockey journey.

“The first initial shock of it is tough. Tough for everyone,” said Pionk. “Where it gets tough is when the noise settles down and I know some people have had it way worse than I’ve had. Specifically talking about his family, so that’s the thing I keep trying to reach out to them. Even in the past couple of weeks, because obviously everyone reaches out right away and even a couple of weeks after that but there is a time where the noise settles down. That’s where you kind of got to regroup and reach out again.”

The emotional burden of dealing with that horrible loss was evident throughout last season, but Pionk has found hockey has been an important part of the healing process.

“It’s a little bit of a distraction. Kind of like I said last year, it was nice having some of the guys on the team knew him, whether it was from college or other pro teams,” said Pionk. “We could bounce stories off each other. So that was nice right away in the locker room. It kind of keeps your mind off of it. When you go home, that’s what you think about. When you come to the rink it’s a distraction, a good distraction too, because there were a lot of good memories we had.”

To help Pionk and others who knew Johnson process his passing, the Jets sent a private jet so those individuals could attend the funeral in Duluth, Minn.

During the next game, Pionk scored a goal and after he returned to the bench, he was overcome with emotion.

“To be able to be around their families and all of them share that moment,” said head coach Scott Arniel, who informed Pionk and the Jets the news after a game against the Montreal Canadiens on the night of Johnson’s passing. “Then, coming back to that St. Louis game, P scored and I think it probably hit him on the bench there when he broke down. For everybody and his teammates, how they rallied around him — and not just him, everybody felt it.

“We talked about being a family and going out and doing it for Adam and those guys. Making sure that we were sticking behind those guys, that we were supporting them as much as possible.”

Arniel is proud to see the support that has been provided throughout the organization since the tragedy took place.

“We’ve all been through it. You lose your best friend. You lose a parent. You lose a sibling. Whatever it might be. Those are extremely difficult times. You just don’t get over them in a year or two,” said Arniel. “(Pionk) is an extremely popular guy. He’ll be in the middle of most arguments. It has a lot to do with all the pools or the NFL (fantasy) thing. He’s certainly one of our leaders in this room.

“He’s been here a while and knows how we go about our business; it’s family first. Everybody knew that, and I knew that everybody would be there to have his back.”

Pionk, 29, has missed the past 12 games with a lower-body injury, but will be a game-time decision for the Jets showdown with the Dallas Stars on Thursday at American Airlines Arena.

“Yeah, we’ll see,” said Pionk, noting the final decision rests with Arniel. “I feel good, I’m ready to play and we’ll see what (Thursday) brings.”

How does this injury compare to some of the injuries that Pionk has gone through before?

“Pretty similar,” he said. “I just feel like we were in a good position and it was significant enough for me to take some time off to let it heal before the playoffs. That’s kind of where I’m at right now.”

Pionk has been a full participant at practice in recent days and was running the second power-play unit on Wednesday morning, a sign he looks ready to return.

One of the things Pionk has appreciated in recent weeks was the opportunity to remain on the road with his teammates while working on his recovery.

“Absolutely. It lets me have a pulse of where the guys are at and it’s fun being around the guys, especially on the road,” said Pionk. “Just hanging out, playing cards or whatever it is. You feel like you’re not left out, you feel like you’re part of the team.”

As for the potential of playing his first game in a month against a team pushing the Jets for top spot in the Central Division, Western Conference and Presidents’ Trophy, with four games remaining in the regular season, Pionk plans to let his instincts take over.

“From a mental side of things, (it’s) just getting back to the battle level. You don’t really get that doing (conditioning) skates and practising on your own,” said Pionk. “There’s a competitive side and it’s natural in me. It will come out during the game, but that’s the mental thing that you have to prepare for.”

ken.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

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