Lowry, Perreault can’t go, Pavs not ready

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This article was published 26/01/2016 (3519 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

IT’S been a while since the Winnipeg Jets had their full arsenal at their disposal and that ugly trend will continue heading into their last game before the National Hockey League all-star break.

While the news on injured players is improving, the Jets will still be without centre Adam Lowry, centre/winger Mathieu Perreault and goalie Ondrej Pavelec for toight’s home game against the Arizona Coyotes.

Lowry hasn’t returned to practice and Perreault has been ruled out after leaving Saturday’s game against the New Jersey Devils with a lower-body issue. Jets coach Paul Maurice said Monday Perreault’s tests came back as pretty good news, but he wouldn’t play against the Coyotes.

That absence will give the forward a nine-day break before he plays again, Feb. 2 at home against the Dallas Stars, the first game after the all-star break.

Pavelec, meanwhile, has been a participant in regular practice twice and Maurice indicated the goalie isn’t far away from action. He said in the next few days the team will tackle the question of giving Pavelec more rigorous workouts before playing him in a game, or asking him to play a game or two in the AHL for the Manitoba Moose before he resumes NHL action.

The Jets did get a bit of a scare Monday when No. 1 centre Bryan Little left practice early, but Maurice said the issue isn’t a concern.

“With Bryan, it’s nothing,” said Maurice. “If he loosens up he’s fine for (Tuesday). If not, we’ll see.”

 

WHAT DISTRACTION?

RAISED again Monday was the issue of whether the unresolved status of impending free agents Andrew Ladd and Dustin Byfuglien is a factor in the Jets’ struggles through the first 48 games. No one, of course, would admit as much publicly.

Here’s winger Blake Wheeler’s latest take:

“Those are veteran guys and they’re great professionals. It’s like I said about our whole group, those guys come into our room every day and work extremely hard. They’re two of our leaders, great voices in our room. We haven’t seen anything that would indicate (it being a distraction). We’re just trying to get this thing on track as a group and the rest of it takes care of itself.

“Those two guys have signed contracts in the past, they know how it works. We’re not the only team going through that. There’s players all over the league that are unsigned and doing a good job and these guys are doing a good job about being pros about it. Whenever that gets resolved it gets resolved and we can all turn the page.”

 

POSTMA RETURNS

DEFENCEMAN Paul Postma was back in his usual spot for the Jets Monday, fresh off a seven-game conditioning stint with the AHL’s Moose. He’s played just two games for the Jets this season.

The 26-year-old has been more or less the team’s utility defenceman for four seasons now. He was asked Monday if he’s worried about slipping back into that largely forgotten role.

“It kind of creeps in the back of my mind but I try not to worry about that kind of stuff,” he said. “I’ve been around this team long enough. All these guys are my best buddies and it’s good to be back here seeing them again. Now that I’m back, hopefully I’ll get a chance to play, but I’ll take it day by day and make sure I’m ready if I get the chance.”

He said he’d be eager to see something change between now and the NHL’s trade deadline.

“Obviously the role I have right now isn’t where I want to be in my career,” he said. “Hopefully some sort of change happens for the better, whether it’s me leaving or someone getting hurt or someone else leaving, though you’d never wish that on anyone. We’ve been lucky so far with no injuries, so that’s amazing.

“But all of that stuff is out of my control. I don’t have any say over that. Management knows where I stand on everything.”

Postma put up a goal and two assists for the Moose over two weeks and loved the action.

“It was just nice to be part of a game action again and feel like you’re part of team a little bit more,” he said. “A good bunch of guys down there and a lot of fun. They’re really young and they’re going through a learning curve right now. They’re really inexperienced so it was a different role for me going down there, being one of the older guys.”

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @WFPEdTait/@FPTimCampbell