Jets taking police-by-committee approach this season

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This article was published 26/09/2017 (2908 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

NO one’s walking the beat for the Winnipeg Jets this season.

The Central Division team, making final preparations for the start of the 2017-18 NHL season in a week’s time, neither has nor intends to create the position of resident tough guy on the roster.

To a man, the players say they will police by committee.

“We’re going to have to stick up for each other and that won’t fall on any one guy,” Winnipeg captain Blake Wheeler said Tuesday. “If there’s any liberties individually, we’re going to have to stand up for each other.

“Generally, (the NHL game) seems to be going away from that kind of stuff, but there’s still guys who are going to tow the line a little bit. It’s great to have as many guys stand up for one another as possible.” 

Gone is the one player who, limited skills notwithstanding, could be counted on to consistently answer the bell for the Jets. Chris Thorburn was assessed 55 major penalties for fighting during the six season he spent wearing No. 22 for Winnipeg. He dropped the mitts 13 times — nearly half of the Jets’ 27 fighting majors — during the 2016-17 season, tying him for fifth-most in the league. 

Now 34, the right-winger is plying his trade with the St. Louis Blues, assuming the role of enforcer left vacant when Winnipeg product Ryan Reeves was dealt to the Pittsburgh Penguins for the 31st pick of the first round of this past summer’s NHL draft in Chicago.

Clearly, the Penguins put stock in employing a bodyguard to protect prized assets such as forwards Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel and blue-liner Kris Letang.

The Jets, who have also parted ways with others who weren’t afraid to trade punches such as defenceman Mark Stuart and winger Anthony Peluso, are taking a more judicious approach to filling their roster spots.

Matt Hendricks, signed late in the off-season to a one-year contract after four seasons with the Edmonton Oilers, is regarded as a gritty checker, solid faceoff guy and effective penalty killer, but he’s also the logical choice for the role of heavyweight in Winnipeg.

With 81 NHL fights under his belt, he gets it by acclamation. But he’s 36 now and only had one scrap in 42 contests a year ago with the Oilers, and doesn’t expect to dance just because the heat on the ice reaches a fever pitch.  

“The way the game’s going now, you look around the league and for the large spectrum of teams now it’s done by committee,” said Hendricks. “In the short amount of time that I’ve been here, we’ve got guys that can stand up for themselves, guys that can stand up for their teammates as much as needs to be done.

“I don’t think not having that one or two heavyweights in our lineup will or should make us timid going up against other teams or in any arena in the league.”

A couple of regulars have demonstrated in the past they’re willing to fight if the cause is right. Dustin Byfuglien had three majors a year ago, while fellow defenceman Jacob Trouba and centre Adam Lowry had two apiece. Lowry also had three bouts in 2015-16.

So far in the pre-season, youngsters Brendan Lemieux and JC Lipon have engaged in a couple of fights on behalf of the Jets, while Byfuglien lost his cool Monday night at Bell MTS Place and took on Calgary Flames’ heavyweight Luke Gazdic.

“You look at Lipon and Lemieux and what a great job they’re doing, working hard in camp every day, definitely battling hard, and you see they take on some tough customers. I just think they’re part of a group of guys that really care about one another,” said forward Shawn Matthias.

Matthias jumped Cody McLeod in mid-March after the Nashville Predators forward delivered a questionable open-ice hit on Lowry. It’s worth noting Matthias had only had seven fights in 524 games over parts of nine seasons, while McLeod, who hails from Binscarth, Man., led the league in fighting majors (19) last year and has 130 since he broke into the league during the 2007-08 campaign.

Matthias was injured during the fight and was done for the season. 

“When you see one of your brothers take a cheap shot or someone takes a run at you, yeah it pisses you off,” said Matthias. “The one I was in last year, I thought the guy stuck his knee out, so I went in there and, unfortunately, my bad shoulder got a lot worse after that one. But when you see a guy you care about in that instance, my linemate for most of the year, he would have done the same for me.”

Jets head coach Paul Maurice admires his players’ loyality and protective instincts, but said turning the other cheek is also part of the team’s plan to spend less time in the penalty box.

“There are going to be clean hits that we let go, that aren’t answered right away, and we’re going to have to learn to take it when the score says we need to,” he said. “And then, most importantly, stick together and by committee make sure that we take care of each other on the ice.

“The Western Conference still has lots of guys on teams who do that for a living. We just won’t go into the season with one. We think that we’ve got enough guys that can handle it if we need to. But I don’t think we have anyone getting to the puck second because of it, and that’s the No. 1 concern.”

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell