Jets taking care of business

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This article was published 23/10/2023 (713 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s 11 a.m. sharp when Scott Arniel blows his whistle, signalling that practice is officially underway.

The Winnipeg Jets’ collective mood on this rainy Monday morning at Canada Life Centre isn’t quite as upbeat as you’d expect, coming off an emotional high of a 3-2 overtime win Saturday evening in Edmonton and a day off Sunday.

Hockey has taken a bit of a back seat to the difficult news that head coach Rick Bowness is stepping away from the club to be with his wife, Judy, who was hospitalized on Sunday evening after suffering a seizure.

Arniel, the interim bench boss, gathers the 22 skaters at centre ice — captain Adam Lowry is sitting this one out for maintenance — to quietly deliver some instructions.

The huddle disperses and it’s time to get to work, with a big divisional game against the St. Louis Blues on tap Tuesday.

It’s been said practise makes perfect, and the Jets have made it a priority to spend more time working on their craft this season. A more forgiving schedule, with fewer back-to-back games, will help the cause.

What actually goes on during these sessions? Here’s a detailed breakdown of Monday’s on-ice workout:

DRILL 1: The group is evenly broken up between white jerseys and blue jerseys, and they head to opposite ends of the rink.

This one is all about the players getting a feel for the puck, and goaltenders Connor Hellebuyck and Laurent Brossoit facing a healthy dose of rubber.

Skaters come in groups of three, both ends going simultaneously, with no worries about the forward/defence mix.

The first player passes to a coach standing at centre ice, takes a return feed and then goes wide right to fire a shot on the goalie. The second, a few seconds behind, also plays give-and-go with the centre coach, but then goes wide left as he breaks all alone. The third passes to a coach stationed at the far blue-line, then curls back towards his own end after getting the puck back.

There’s no head-hunting happening here. It’s all about getting the goaltenders warmed up, so players are encouraged to work the pads, glove and blocker. After a few moments, players switch sides (but remain in the same end of the rink) to maximize the different angles.

The entire drill lasts about five minutes.

DRILL 2: White and blue jerseys remain at opposing ends. Once again, they go in groups of three.

The first skater in white, going without a puck, takes a pass from a blue skater at the opposing end, then curls back towards his own end. He’s joined by the second skater in white, in what is now a 2-on-0. After taking a shot, the two then skate back to centre, now curling back for a 2-on-1, with the third skater in white defending.

After that, the two skaters in white send a pass back to the point, where the third skater in white is waiting. He then takes a shot, with the other two providing a screen/deflection.

The blue group is doing the same thing at the same time, creating all kinds of action at both ends of the ice.

After close to 10 minutes, Arniel gives an extra-long blow of the whistle which signals players to do one hard lap, then grab a quick water break.

DRILL 3: Assistant coach Brad Lauer gathers the group around a whiteboard as he scribbles out instructions.

It’s a five-on-five drill. Blue start with the puck, with three forwards and two defencemen breaking down on a forward line and blue-line pair in white. This continues until either they score a goal, or white manages to wrestle possession of the puck away.

At that point, white now goes down in a group of five, where a different set of five skaters in blue are waiting to defend.

This is a staple of Jets practice, with Bowness and company wanting to create game-like situations as often as possible.

The whistle blows after about six or seven minutes to end the drill. Several players now swap jersey colours as they take sips of water.

DRILL 4: Special teams is often the name of the game, and the Jets try to spend time on both the power play and penalty kill each practice.

Winnipeg is currently converting at 19.1 per cent with the man advantage through five games, which is 15th out of 32 NHL teams. They are just 71.4 pre cent when down a man, which is tied for 24th in the league. In other words, plenty of room for improvement in both.

In this exercise, a coach dumps a puck in at one end, with the five PP skaters breaking out of their own end uncontested and making an offensive zone entry. There, the four PK skaters are waiting in the typical box formation.

Lauer and Arniel, who run the respective units, occasionally blow the play down to correct and/or instruct on something they’re seeing.

The highlight of this one is a blistering Kyle Connor one-timer that draws plenty of “ooohs” and “aaaahs” from everyone on the ice.

Perhaps underlying the importance, this drill is the longest of the day, lasting about 15 minutes.

DRILL 5: After another water break, both nets are set up in the same corner of the rink — on at the goal-line, the other just above the top of the circle.

It’s time for some small-area fun.

Puck protection is the key, and it begins as a two-on-two battle between skaters in white and blue. There’s all kinds of creativity on display, including from some unusual suspects.

Towering defenceman Logan Stanley, for example, drags the puck through the feet of Nino Niederreiter, which has everyone cheering. Seconds later, Niederreiter throws a bit of a hip check on him, sending him to the ground.

Body contact is encouraged, but nobody is taking runs at their teammates here.

The goaltenders get in on the act, with Hellebuyck and Brossoit routinely making breakout passes and, at one point, firing shots at each other given the close proximity.

Eventually, the drill morphs into a 3-on-2, and there appears to be some kind of competition given that, at the very end, the apparent “losing” team is forced to do pushups.

It’s now 11:45, and the whistle goes to signal practice is officially over. That’s a standard length when there is a game the following day.

Many players will hang around to work on individual skills well after the fact, especially since there’s nobody else waiting to take the ice (such as during a morning skate, when that night’s opponent is up next).

Rasmus Kupari is working on stick-handling while making hard cuts back and forth. Mark Scheifele appears to be tutoring Nate Schmidt on picking up pucks along the boards and making outlet passes. Others, such as Neal Pionk and Dylan Samberg, are working on their one-timers.

Plenty of coach-player conversations are happening at the same time. Arniel is chatting with Morgan Barron. Wade Flaherty with Brossoit. Lauer is running a faceoff drill for those interested in some extra reps.

“It was obviously a big road win for us in Edmonton. We’ve gained some momentum off of that game that we want to carry over,” Arniel said of the mindset coming in to Monday’s skate.

“The players talked about making sure we were sharp today, that we did all of the right things to make sure we’re ready for St. Louis. I thought it was a good practice.”

Brossoit, Scheifele, Barron, Niederreiter, Samberg and Cole Perfetti are the final six off the ice, close to 30 minutes after the formal part came to an end.

At that point, media interviews are underway in the dressing room while Lowry — who is an ambassador for Toba Centre — is showing some families and children around the venue.

Despite the tough news about the Bowness family, the mood is a bit lighter now, with one little boy drawing huge laughs as he walks up to Nate Schmidt and says “You’re bald!” Brenden Dillon is also having a flexing competition with another young visitor.

“It’s about us taking care of our job out there and here in the locker room. I think we did that today and had a good practice,” said defenceman Josh Morrissey. “We’re taking care of what we need to do.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X: @mikemcintyrewpg