Ehlers says he’s ready for opener

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This article was published 09/10/2023 (729 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Nikolaj Ehlers eased his way into the answer, though he was resolute by the time he was done.

After dealing with a neck issue since the opening day of training camp – one that prevented him from getting into any of the six pre-season games, the Winnipeg Jets winger declared himself willing and able for Wednesday’s season opener in Calgary against the Flames.

“Yeah, think so. Feel good,” said Ehlers. “Yes, I am ready to go.”

Ehlers left the ice early 17 minutes into the first on-ice session of camp after feeling discomfort during the first drill, then endured a number of stops and starts during the past several weeks.

His frustration has been evident throughout the healing process, even though he’s done his best to put on a happy face.

“It’s just been a lot of back and forth, just trying to figure out how to best deal with this thing and not make it blow up like it did in the beginning. Try to get it to settle down and make it feel good enough,” said Ehlers. “Yeah. It’s been a (crappy) camp, there’s no doubt about it. I had a really good summer trying to get over the past few injuries. And then, finally got over those and you get here feeling as good as …I haven’t felt this good in years.

“Coming here and then starting the camp out like I did is definitely not fun. I see it as pretty much any other injury. It could have happened in Game 1, too. It is what it is. I’m ready to go now for Game 1. Obviously I wanted to play a couple pre-season games, but I don’t think those games are going to decide if we make the playoffs or not.”

Ehlers opens the season on the second line with Cole Perfetti and Nino Niederreiter and isn’t worried about the lack of game action as it pertains to the process of building chemistry.

“Us three, we know how to play hockey. We can go out there and can score three goals in the first game and everyone’s going to say ‘Ah chemistry, you don’t need that.’ We haven’t played a game together,” said Ehlers. “We could go out there and do absolutely nothing the first game and everybody’s going to say ‘Ah, you needed the chemistry and you needed to play and all that.’ It is what it is. We go out there, we play the same game.

“We try to obviously support each other in all areas of the ice, and we try to read off each other. It’s a game that happens so fast, there’s going to be new situations all the time that you have to read them. Obviously the more you play together the more you get to know each other. I think, this early, we’ll figure it out.”

After the Jets got down to their opening-night roster on Sunday, head coach Rick Bowness was downright giddy at the seeing all three players (goalie Collin Delia, defenceman Kyle Capobianco and forward Axel Jonsson-Fjallby) clear waivers on Monday, so they could be assigned to the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League.

“They’re all important pieces to us even though we had to put them on waivers,” said Bowness. “You’ll see Axel up here, you’ll see Capo up here and you’ll see Collin up here. It speaks volumes for the depth that we now have in our organization.”

Bowness also said that defenceman Ville Heinola underwent successful left ankle surgery and that his timeline for recovery remains between eight-and-12 weeks.

ken.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

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