Maurice has full confidence in Little

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This article was published 19/03/2018 (2734 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

At first glance, it seems like a pretty major fall from grace.

Bryan Little, not long removed from being the No. 1 centre on the Winnipeg Jets and fresh off signing a six-year contract extension last fall for nearly US$32 million, is now skating as a bottom-six winger?

But a thorough look at the move reveals there’s more than meets the eye here. For one, both Little and head coach Paul Maurice hinted Monday that the veteran is dealing with an injury issue that isn’t serious enough to keep him out of game action but enough to re-evaluate his current position in a deep lineup.

“What happens when you have a lot of guys out of the lineup, the bigger problem is the guys in the lineup are dealing with small things. Guys that absolutely can play games, so I would say they’re not injured. But we keep them off the ice, strains, bruises, things like that, to heal them in their off days,” said Maurice, without offering up specifics on the injury.

In Little’s case, whatever is ailing him is likely impacting his ability to be effective in the faceoff circle. He’s been noticeably absent lately in several morning skates and practices, including Monday.

Little, 30, has one goal and two assists in his last dozen games as he grinds through a long season. Little’s 14 goals and 25 helpers in 72 games represents his lowest point-per-game total in eight seasons.

Maurice had Little on the wing in Sunday’s 4-2 win over the Dallas Stars on a line with Andrew Copp at centre and Mathieu Perreault on the other side. He played just 11:41, which was seventh most among Jets forwards.

Maurice said “at some point” he may flip Little back to centre and move Copp to the wing. And he stressed Monday he had a long chat with Little to ensure he was comfortable with the move.

“I really value Bryan as a player. And he’s just as good a pro and a good man. If there was real strong difficulty and he was adamant, I wouldn’t do it. So he’s had some success playing in the NHL on the wing. I don’t see it long term necessarily,” said Maurice. “But having Andrew Copp get more time there, there’s real value to that, because it keeps me from having to move (Blake) Wheeler into the middle if we lost a centre. Giving Andrew a little bit more time there, more reps, there’s a payoff to this.”

Little told the Free Press Monday he’s fine with playing the wing, noting he scored 31 goals playing that position in his second pro season in Atlanta.

“I think we’ve been pretty lucky. We have a lot of forwards that can switch from centre to wing, or vice versa. We have the depth to move pieces around and still have four really good lines. It’s a product of the guys we have in here,” said Little.

Little stressed he’s willing to do whatever it takes to help the team win. Considering he’s one of the few originals left on the team from the move to Winnipeg, he’s clearly enjoying the current path they’re on after just one playoff appearance.

“For a lot of years, this time of year we’d basically be playing for nothing right now, just finishing out the season. And right now we’re all focused on these last games but we’re all focused on the next step after the (regular) season’s over,” he said.

The one season Winnipeg did make the playoffs involved having to scratch and claw their way to the wild-card spot, only to be eliminated in four straight games by a powerful Anaheim Ducks squad in the first round of the 2014-15 playoffs.

“I think it was pretty draining, looking back on it. You were playing the last month, month and a half, every game was a huge game, a must-win game. I think we went into those playoffs a little drained from that mentally. It takes a lot out of you,” said Little. “But you get that feeling, even though we’ve had injuries, we seem fresh and still ready for the next step, and I think we’re all preparing to play a lot of hockey.”

Little said there won’t just be a “happy to be here” feeling this time around.

“Our goal is to win the Cup, and to have a long playoff run. We know we don’t have a lot of experience with that. But you get the feeling in here we’re all prepared to play for another couple months. I think anything less than our goal would be disappointing,” he said.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg