WINNIPEG JETS Notebook

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 24/01/2012 (4982 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

RALEIGH, N.C. — The NHL has gone elsewhere for a replacement for Winnipeg Jets all-star selection Dustin Byfuglien, leaving the team with no player representation at Sunday’s all-star game in Ottawa.

The league announced Monday that Pittsburgh’s Kris Letang will replace Byfuglien in the annual all-star affair, terminating what little hope there was that a Jet would participate.

The Jets will be the only team not represented on the ice this weekend.

Twelve Eastern Conference teams have players in the actual all-star game and two others, Carolina and New Jersey, have skaters in the rookie skills competition.

From the Western Conference, 13 teams have players in the game and the other two, Columbus and Colorado, have players in the rookie event.

Byfuglien has been out since Christmas, troubled by a knee injury. He is back skating, but he didn’t accompany the team on its two-game road trip this week. Both he and coach Claude Noel had said last week Byfuglien would need to play for the Jets before he attended the all-star game and it was clear that wasn’t going to happen when Byfuglien stayed home on Sunday.

There had been some speculation the league was interested in Jets forward Evander Kane as a replacement for Byfuglien, but when Kane came up with a concussion last week, that was the end of that possible storyline.

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THE Jets face one of their biggest demons tonight.

They play their eighth instance of a game on a second straight night when they visit the New York Rangers. Winnipeg is 0-7 in its first seven attempts at the back end of back-to-backs.

“There are no easy games. Let’s be real. Whether you’re playing the Rangers or anybody, on the road it presents a challenge for us and there are no easy games,” Noel said.

“You’re going to have to manage your energy and (have) short shifts. Those are going to be key in that game. Short shifts will be one of them. It’ll be interesting to see if we have any energy.”

The Rangers are first in the Eastern Conference but Jets winger Kyle Wellwood said every game has to be looked at as an opportunity.

“We haven’t played on the road and we haven’t won a back-to-back game so I think for confidence going into the break, we need to get something out of it,” Wellwood said, referring to the team’s all-star break, which begins after tonight’s game.

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THE Carolina Hurricanes are out of the Eastern Conference basement, at least temporarily, with last night’s 2-1 win over the Jets.

Does that mean they’re listening to new coach Kirk Muller any more than fired coach Paul Maurice?

“That’s a tough question to answer,” said Canes defenceman Bryan Allen, who played two seasons (2001-03) with the Manitoba Moose. “I think Paul’s a great coach. He was in a tough position. As a team we didn’t perform well enough under what he was doing. When you start off the season like that, with higher expectations, you can’t sit around and wait.

“We knew something was going to happen, a trade or something, and unfortunately it was Paul that took the brunt of the blame. Which I don’t think was fair.”

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MULLER, for his part, said Monday he has given some focus on trying to get captain Eric Staal out of his funk.

“I think he needed to know he is the leader,” Muller said. “It’s not all about him as far as carrying the whole weight of everything.

“I just asked him … just work hard, be my hardest-working guy and give me that body language like we’re going in the right direction.”

Staal appears to be playing better, but still has the worst plus-minus of 822 players in the NHL, at minus-23.

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca