Comrie, Lipon, Howden among eight Jets cut

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This article was published 04/10/2016 (3283 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Jets trimmed their training camp roster to a more workable number Tuesday, sending eight players to the farm and returning one to his junior club.

Goaltender Eric Comrie, defencemen Kevin Czuczman, Jan Kostalek and Brenden Kichton, and forwards Quinton Howden, Scott Kosmachuk, JC Lipon and Jack Roslovic are all headed to the Manitoba Moose.

Howden, Kichton, and Lipon must clear NHL waivers.

Logan Stanley, a late first-round pick in June, is going back for another season on defence with the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League.

The Jets still have 21 forwards, nine defencemen and three goaltenders in training camp, and need to get down to 23 before the season opener.

“We wanted to get to one group, a manageable group, to prepare differently for our last two exhibition games, closer to things that we’ll look at, (but) still experimenting,” said Jets head coach Paul Maurice Tuesday afternoon. “We’re probably at the maximum number for a single group.”

Maurice, who did not have his team skate Tuesday, said the decisions weren’t easy, adding players demoted are still a huge part of the organization.

“The tough part of the cuts is that they all worked so hard, and they’re going to look at the numbers and they’ll naturally say, ‘that’s the depth chart then, clearly, and that’s where I rank,’ and that’s not accurate at all,” Maurice said.

“There are other situations, waivers, all those things. There’s pools of players, they all do something differently. You may be closer to the Winnipeg Jets but you’re also not competing with a more skilled player. If you’re a grinder, you’re not trying to take Mark Scheifele’s job, you’re trying to take somebody else’s job.

“The next round of cuts will be even more difficult because everybody left can make a pretty solid argument they’re good enough to play. But they’re going to have to fight their way into the lineup.”

Winnipeg heads to Edmonton to play the Oilers in pre-season action Thursday and finishes up the exhibition schedule with a stop in Minneapolis to face the Wild Saturday.

“The tough part of the cuts is that they all worked so hard.”-Winnipeg Jets head coach Paul Maurice

The team opens the 2016-17 regular season Thursday, Oct. 13 at the MTS Centre against the Carolina Hurricanes.

“We’re getting down to the nitty gritty of it,” said Jets captain Blake Wheeler. ‘It’s exciting to wrap this thing up and get into the meaningful games next week.

“You want to get everyone on the same page. We’re trying to build a philosophy and a culture in our room of what we’re going to look like every single night.”

jason.bell@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @WFPJasonBell