Coach not happy giving hard news to Harrison

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/10/2015 (3652 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

JETS coach Paul Maurice called Monday a hard day after giving the news to veteran defenceman Jay Harrison he is the odd man out at this time.

Harrison was placed on waivers and the team will know today whether he’ll be leaving the organization or can be assigned to the AHL’s Manitoba Moose and be kept within the organization as a valuable depth option.

“That’s a tough day today,” Maurice said. “It’s tough if it’s any player that you’ve coached, but when you have the relationship we’ve had, the time spent together, it was a tough one.”

The coach said the choices were difficult when deciding how to go from nine to eight defencemen. Adam Pardy and Paul Postma stayed with the Jets’ main roster to start the season.

“Not very much (difference),” the coach said. “Arguments were made pro and con. There are lots of pieces to a decision and not all of them need to be hammered out in public. They’re all positive in a way for the three guys. That’s the decision we made.”

Teams are required to be cap-compliant and submit an opening roster of a maximum of 23 players by this afternoon.

 

Raffl decision today

 

MONDAY, the Jets were continuing to discuss a contract with Thomas Raffl, his agent and his Austrian club, the Salzburg Red Bulls.

The NHL and Austria have a transfer agreement so the Red Bulls will be paid a development fee if the Jets sign the 29-year-old winger. As a free agent, he would not require waivers. He did play one game for Salzburg this season, but it came before the NHL season started.

Maurice suggested a deadline today was in play.

Raffl also indicated Monday the next 24 hours would tell the tale.

He couldn’t say Monday if he’d take a two-way contract.

“I’ll have to talk to the team and my agent today and we’ll have to make a decision,” Raffl said. “It depends how my team… agrees on the terms of that. That’s the thing my agent, they go between my (Austrian) team and the Jets and they’re going to find a solution and we’ll see what it all looks like.”

The fact he was still there Monday was a good sign, Raffl said.

“It was good. Obviously a good feeling for me, still with the team and practising with them,” he said. “Now we’ve just got to go step by step and we’ll see how the day’s going to turn out.”

 

No Euro-faction friction

 

DANISH-BORN rookie Nikolaj Ehlers will be part of the Jets this season.

No worries, veteran defenceman Toby Enstrom, a Swede, said.

Though Swedes and Finns are known to have quite a rivalry, Swedes and Danes get along fine.

“Yes, actually they do,” Enstrom laughed. “It’s fun having him here, another European kid. I remember myself when I was that young. It’s fun. And it’s fun seeing these kids, how hard they work to get there. I’m looking forward to seeing them play.”

 

We can sense an ESP line

 

MAURICE was asked Monday about his likely forward-line combinations to open the season.

It looks to be Ladd-Little-Wheeler; Perreault-Scheifele-Ehlers; Burmistrov-Lowry-Stafford; Petan-Copp-Thorburn as the top 12.

He said the starting point for him was establishing Lowry and his trio as a go-to group defensively, so the Jets had two reliable units that could deal with opposition elite players.

It’s one reason Drew Stafford is on Lowry’s line, Maurice said.

“He knows there’s some minutes on that job,” Maurice said. “It’s not a 13-minutes-a-game job. It’s a bigger job than that.”

Another reason was he thought Wheeler’s’ best spot was with Andrew Ladd and Bryan Little on the top line, a combination that’s been quite successful.

Maurice said he didn’t want a rookie or young player there just yet.

“I don’t want one of those young kids playing on that top line yet,” he said. “It’s too many minutes, too much responsibility.”

 

Burmi getting feel for it

 

BURMISTROV, back after two years in the KHL, is feeling better about his game and his opening role on Lowry’s line, he said Monday.

The 23-year-old Russian played in five pre-season games and said he’s finally getting his bearings.

“The last two games, I feel like I played a lot better than the first games,” he said. “I felt like more my game, the speed and just learning the game more right now. I think I’m ready to go for the season.”

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca