Silver lining to squashed season

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This article was published 18/01/2021 (1782 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In a normal NHL season, schedules can be hectic. But with COVID-19 forcing teams to play a truncated, condensed 56-game campaign, the Winnipeg Jets find themselves playing the kind of stretches of hockey the likes of which many players have never seen before.

Consider their upcoming schedule: the Jets play six games over the next nine days, including five over the next week. But as rough as it might sound, Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey has uncovered a silver lining.

“Obviously it’s going to be a lot of hockey, for sure. We don’t have a ton of experience with, maybe, that many games in a short time, but I do recall a few years ago we had a pretty hectic start to our season. Obviously not the same, but I think one of the things that should be favourable for us, across the board, across the North Division, is we’re oftentimes going to a city and playing a couple of games, two or three games in that city,” Morrissey said following Sunday’s practice.

“So, even from a rest and recovery standpoint, predominantly we go on a road trip, we have three games in four nights on the road. We’re usually in three different cities and flights after the game, into the hotel late, two o’clock in the morning and it sort of throws you off a little bit, so that can be pretty challenging. Not to say that this isn’t going to be challenging, but even looking ahead to this road trip, being in Ottawa for the two games with a day in between, it just allows a little bit better sleep after the first game, a little bit better rest and not an extra flight that you’d normally see in there mixed in. I think that’s something we’ll try to take advantage of. It’s whoever can handle those challenges the best and recover the fastest will be having that advantage.”

The Jets (1-0-0) are coming off a 4-3 overtime win over the Calgary Flames Thursday night. They boarded a plane Sunday and will kick off a three-game road trip through Ontario that begins with the Toronto Maple Leafs (2-1-0) Monday night. Winnipeg will then wrap things up with a pair of games against the Ottawa Senators (1-1-0) Tuesday and Thursday.

Jets coach Paul Maurice said although this season will offer some unusual stretches of hockey many young players have yet to experience, the NHL wasn’t always kind to some teams in the past. He also agrees with Morrissey on the benefit of playing back-to-back games in the same city.

“For most of these guys, they haven’t seen it. But it was something that was in the league, I’d seen it before early on, probably in the early or mid-2000s. It happened, but it didn’t happen a lot. You kind of got one a year. You can manage it,” Maurice said.

“You’re probably not skating your team on off days and you’ve got to balance your ice time and you’ve got to be real careful about pushing players early. But if your game is right and you’ve got enough depth, it can be a good thing. Players get into a rhythm, you just do. Injuries become a problem for you, if you get into that kind of situation and get banged up, it can be a challenge. But it’s all about recovery and rest, making sure that they get enough rest.”

MINUTE MUNCHER

Mark Scheifele paced his teammates in ice time, logging a whopping 26 minutes and 21 seconds in the victory over the Flames. Only four other times over Scheifele’s seven years in the NHL has he been asked to shoulder such a load.

Of course, Scheifele, a self-professed hockey nerd, wasn’t complaining.

“I work all summer to be in the best shape of my life. So if the day calls that I play a lot, then I play a lot. And if I don’t, then I don’t,” said Scheifele, who scored seconds into the second period to help cue the comeback over the Flames.

“I try to leave it all on the ice every single day. That’s the fun about hockey. We go out there and you just go and play and hope for the win. I spent a lot of time, a lot of effort, a lot of money on recovering and taking care of my body so I like to think I can handle that pretty well.”

Maurice isn’t shy playing his top guys, especially Scheifele, who not only centres the top line with wingers Nikolaj Ehlers and Blake Wheeler, but is on the top power-play unit. But even he was shocked by the final number.

‘I work all summer to be in the best shape of my life’– Mark Scheifele (front), on logging big minutes

“I told Mark today that I can usually tell at the end of the game, within a minute or two, of where the player ended up. That one surprised me,” Maurice said.

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

twitter: @jeffkhamilton

Jansen Harkins

“I think there was an overlap maybe with he and Patrik (Laine), but (Laine) was in the box for four minutes, so that affected it. No, that’s absolutely not the plan going into five (games) in seven (nights). One of the key pieces that made it work, first of all he’s a very fit guy but his shift length at five-on-five was just slightly over 45 (seconds) and that’s the key driver. He recovers very, very well. You are going to see – basically, whoever double (shifts) on the power play with what we’re running right now, his minutes are going to be high. But those minutes are going to be power play minutes. He was at about seven minutes on the power play – and that’s a big, big number. As long as they’re not breaking the puck out an awful lot and going up and down the ice, he can certainly handle it.”

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

twitter: @jeffkhamilton