Lowry auditioning wingers

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This article was published 05/01/2021 (1709 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There have been no “Dad, you’re embarrassing me in front of my friends” moments so far for Adam Lowry. Nor does the Winnipeg Jets’ shutdown centre expect any.

Instead, it’s been plenty of hard work, along with a few laughs, as Lowry and his teammates hit the ice for training camp this week under the watchful eye of a coaching staff that includes new addition Dave Lowry, who was the bench boss of the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings last season.

“It’s a real exciting opportunity for him. I know it’s a unique experience for us but it’s one our family’s looking forward to, competing together and having the chance to ultimately try and win the Stanley Cup,” Adam Lowry said following Tuesday’s skate at Bell MTS Iceplex. “I think he’s going to come here and help us. Hopefully we take a step forward this year.”

Lowry is expected to lead the team’s third line, which often gets the heavy assignments to try to shut down the opponent’s top scorers. Andrew Copp is likely to be on one of his wings, but the other spot is up for grabs.

Jack Roslovic played the role for much of last season, but the restricted free agent has yet to sign a new contract, has asked for a trade and remains at his off-season home. Mathieu Perreault got the first crack during Monday’s first on-ice session, but the oft-injured winger came up hobbling following a drill and was ruled out of Tuesday’s skate with an undisclosed ailment.

That opened the door for Mason Appleton to move up, at least for now. Kristian Vesalainen took his spot on the fourth line Tuesday along with Jansen Harkins and Nate Thompson. C.J. Suess, Joona Luoto and Kristian Reichel formed a de facto fifth line.

Two other forwards, Trevor Lewis and Dominic Toninato, didn’t skate for a second straight day for undisclosed reasons but are to push for depth work. David Gustafsson, 20, wore a yellow no-contact jersey as he rehabs from a lower-body injury suffered last month in Europe. And another potential option, Marko Dano, cleared waivers Tuesday while also recovering from a broken hand.

“I really like our team. You look at how teams win and it’s usually from the goalie out. With (Connor Hellebuyck) coming off his Vezina year, he’s been incredible for us for the past several seasons. We have extreme confidence on not only (Hellebuyck) but (Laurent Brossoit) as well. I look at the additions we’ve made on defence, and with guys getting another year older, hopefully we’ll be able to stay healthy back there and move the puck,” said Lowry.

“We’re going to be a team that’s going to be able to roll four lines. I’m really looking forward to it. It’s going to be an extremely competitive division. It’s going to be a lot of fun for fans to watch and I’m looking forward to enjoying the challenge.”

BACK-END BATTLE: the most intriguing competition for work is happening on Winnipeg’s blue line. But the picture may become a bit clearer as early as Wednesday, when Tucker Poolman is expected to join the main group after dealing with a minor injury the first two days of training camp.

Some eyebrows were raised when Sami Niku was thrust into the top six right off the hop Monday on a pair with Josh Morrissey. Many assumed Dylan DeMelo would be in Niku’s spot. Instead, DeMelo was skating with Nathan Beaulieu. The other duo was Neal Pionk with Derek Forbort.

Jets head coach Paul Maurice said Tuesday there’s going to be some movement with Poolman’s pending return, implying that Niku has basically been a placeholder and might slide right out of the starting mix, at least initially.

“I’ve got (Niku) solid in the top eight. That’s like me not answering your question, right? He’s bigger, he’s stronger, he’s more competitive, he’s developing. This is never as black and white as you think. With some of these younger players, we’ve had so many of them it’s like ‘You don’t like the guy’ or ‘You don’t play him.’ I’ve got lots of time for Sami Niku as a player and he’s right on a nice path,” said Maurice.

“He’s going to be in our lineup for the Winnipeg Jets this year. If he takes off while he’s in there, he’ll get to hang on to that job. I need a certain number of penalty killers so we can win the game. I need a couple of guys for power plays so that we can win the game. And he’s going to slot himself into one of those two at some point. So he looks good. I’m happy with him.”

The most likely scenario is reuniting DeMelo and Morrissey, keeping Forbort with Pionk and sliding Poolman in with Beaulieu. Luca Sbisa would be additional depth, and Niku would round out that so-called top eight. Things could get even more crowded when Ville Heinola arrives Wednesday from the World Juniors. He, along with forward Cole Perfetti, won’t be able to skate until they serve a seven-day quarantine.

“I think, with our defensive group — and that includes me — we’ve got to make sure that we limit chances. The grade A chances — you hear the term “the house” or the slot — we gave up far too many chances, not only to Calgary in the playoff series but during the regular season, so that’s something that we’ll be working on and we’ll be making sure that we keep pucks outside of that area,” said Pionk.

 

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg