Ehlers taking nothing for granted

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This article was published 12/09/2016 (3306 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There was a time during his rookie season in 2015-16 when Nikolaj Ehlers felt he lost himself.

The Winnipeg Jets forward’s first month in the National Hockey League brought with it early murmurs of a run at the Calder Memorial Trophy for the league’s top rookie.

Ehlers, just 19 years old when he stepped onto NHL ice for the first time last October, had four goals and four assists in his first 11 games that month. His first NHL tally was a seeing-eye howitzer, teed up from the right circle and immediately delivered to the top corner behind “King” Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers, and at Madison Square Garden to boot.

His start set a tone Ehlers wanted to continue, but when November hit, the well and his rich vein of form ran dry. The slick-skating Dane, bearer of a lightning-quick release, scored just once in 27 games from the tail end of October and into 2016, including an 11-game pointless streak.

“I started really well, and that might have been bad for me,” Ehlers said Monday morning at the MTS Iceplex, fresh off his first skate with a mix of roughly 30 Winnipeg Jets veterans and prospects. “It’s not that I stopped trying to work hard, that’s not it. I don’t know what happened. I don’t want to sound arrogant, but that’s never happened to me.”

Ehlers was a prolific goal scorer and all-around point producer during his junior days with the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s Halifax Mooseheads, scoring 86 times and adding 119 assists in 114 games over two seasons.

His silky-smooth scoring touch came naturally. That is, until it didn’t.

“You start thinking a lot of thoughts in your head,” he said. “It doesn’t help you on the ice when you’re thinking too much. You just have to go out there and play the game and have fun.”

The 20-year-old spent time playing with his weight during the season, too, adding 10 to 12 pounds — weight he admits did more to hinder his game than improve it.

“I couldn’t move like I wanted to,” he said. “I was slower. For other guys, it’s normal (to add mass) but I didn’t feel normal.”

Dealing with the unknown and unsure how to break the vicious cycle, Ehlers enlisted the services of his teammates, particularly centreman Mark Scheifele and winger Blake Wheeler, who steered the first-round pick in the right direction.

“They helped me through it,” he said. “This is a team sport, so having guys to help you through tough times is great.”

Ehlers found himself playing a simpler style roughly 10 games into the slump, at the behest of his mentors.

The tendencies from junior hockey — to try and take on two defenders with a one-goal lead late in the third period — gave way to dumping the puck, knowing he might not get it back, but also knowing it shaved time off the clock in a tight game.

“I want to be the guy who is playing with five minutes left in the game,” he said.

Perhaps a tad humbled by the experience during his rookie season with the Jets, Ehlers heads into his sophomore campaign with a lot to prove, by his own admission.

Furthermore, he believes he hasn’t yet secured a spot on the team, despite playing 72 games with the Jets last year and closing out the season on the top line with Scheifele and Wheeler.

“I’m just 20,” said Ehlers. “I played a full season last year, it helped me a lot to get ready for this year.

“Until I’m 26 years old and have played five years in the league, then I can maybe say, ‘OK, this is where I belong.’ Until then, I got a lot to prove and a lot to show.”

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @scottbilleck