Laine, Roslovic & Ehlers had goals, while Hellebuyck made 25 saves for his fifth shutout of the season in a 3-0 Jets victory Full Story
Logic tells us the Winnipeg Jets are likely to target a little bit of blue line help ahead of the NHL’s upcoming trade deadline, but Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos believes that’s not the only position on the club’s shopping list.
“Don’t be surprised if they start shopping for a top-six forward as well,” Kypreos said during Saturday’s Headlines on Hockey Night in Canada. “In a perfect world, they’d still like to maybe find someone on the left side that can go in there with [Mark] Scheifele and [Blake] Wheeler.”
The Jets are currently sitting atop the Central Division and looking like a legitimate Stanley Cup contender — something captain Blake Wheeler discussed in an exclusive interview with David Amber earlier in Saturday’s broadcast.
“Maybe, just maybe, a guy like Rick Nash would be of interest,” Kypreos said. “I don’t know whether or not that would fit in with where he is in his list of teams that he’d want to go to. But that’s the type of guy I think that Winnipeg would be looking at.”
Nash’s name has been floated as a potential rental for a little while now with the Rangers widely reported to be sellers at the Feb. 26 deadline. Per his contract, the pending UFA can submit a list of 12 teams he’d accept a trade to.
“I think when it comes to Nash, I think that’s coming any day now, where the Rangers go to him officially and say, ‘Rick, we want your list,’” said Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. “One of the story lines that is developing is there are some teams out there who believe that Rick Nash and [Michael] Grabner could get traded and then go back to New York next season. They both really like it there.”
With the fifth-youngest roster in the NHL and 10 full-time players under the age of 25 on the roster (plus another in Jack Roslovic who’s earned NHL time with Mark Scheifele out of the lineup), you would excuse the Jets if they had a depleted farm system at the moment. But on the contrary, with the immediate future looking so bright that a Stanley Cup window may be opening, the long-term outlook is still full of youngsters who look like they could crack this lineup one day.
In this month’s prospect report, we’re taking their pedigree, 2017-18 production and how far off from the NHL they are into account.
Of note: For this month, since Roslovic and Tucker Poolman are in the NHL, we’re not considering them prospects for now. If they were in the AHL still, both would crack this list.
The Next Ones Join Jeff Marek and Sam Cosentino for all the CHL and NHL prospect talk you can handle.
Kristian Vesalainen, 18, RW, HPK
Drafted: First round, 24th overall, 2017
Season To Date: 37 GP | 15 G | 19 A | 34 P | +2
Through most of his career, Vesalainen posted good numbers against his peers, but couldn’t up his game to another level against older competition. However, he has great strength and size on his six-foot-three, 203-pound frame and it seemed only a matter of time before his production would catch up at higher levels.
Vesalainen spent time with three different teams last season, but has settled into a significant role with HPK in Finland’s top league, where he’s been on fire since returning from the world juniors. He had 14 points in 10 January games and is now second on his team with 34 points in 37 games. His. 0.92 points per game rate is eighth in the Finnish league.
Mason Appleton, 22, F, Manitoba Moose
Drafted: Sixth round, 168th overall, 2015
Season to Date: 45 GP | 16 G | 27 A | 43 P | +17
The best story in Winnipeg’s pipeline keeps getting better. With Roslovic up with the NHL club, Appleton has not only taken the team scoring lead for the Moose, but he’s tied for the scoring lead in all of the AHL as a rookie. Fresh off leading Michigan State in scoring as a sophomore last season, Appleton continues to take big steps in his development. If the Jets get unlucky and more injuries hit the forward corps, Appleton isn’t far off from a call-up. He’s earned the look.
Tape II Tape Ryan Dixon and Rory Boylen go deep on pucks with a mix of facts and fun, leaning on a varied group of hockey voices to give their take on the country’s most beloved game.
Sami Niku, 21, D, Manitoba Moose
Drafted: Seventh round, 198th overall, 2015
Season to Date: 45 GP | 8 G | 22 A | 30 P | +4
One day we might look back on the 2015 draft as a crucial one for the Jets. Two players the Jets picked that year are with the team now, another two (Appleton and Niku) are on this list, and a third in Michal Spacek is also having a good first pro season. As a seventh-rounder, Niku was always a long shot, so the fact he’s fourth among all AHL defencemen in scoring and first among all rookies at the position is phenomenal. His style is exactly the kind that excels in the NHL today: a six-foot blue-liner who can skate and move the puck well.
Eric Comrie, 22, G, Manitoba Moose
Drafted: Second round, 59th overall, 2013
Season to Date: 22 GP | 14-7-1 | 2.62 GAA | .917 SP
Comrie likely won’t match his total of 51 games played from last season because Michael Hutchinson has been the better of the two in split duty, but with the latter in the NHL as Steve Mason misses time with a concussion, Comrie will be leaned on in Manitoba. Still a long-term prospect with Mason signed, the Jets just want to see improvement from the goalie, and they’re getting it. His save percentage has jumped 11 points this season as the team around him has vastly improved.
Logan Stanley, 19, D, Kitchener Rangers
Drafted: First round, 18th overall, 2016
Season to Date: 47 GP | 13 G | 22 A | 35 P | +7
After winning a Mastercard Memorial Cup with Windsor last season, Stanley was shipped from the now-rebuilding junior team to Kitchener, where he could take another run at major junior’s top prize. At six-foot-seven and 231 pounds, Stanley should be expected to dominate the junior ranks physically, but his skating is what could prove a challenge at higher levels. This will be put to the test next season, when he should make the jump to the AHL.
REASON FOR OPTIMISM
Mikhail Berdin, 19, G, Sioux Falls Stampede
Drafted: Sixth round, 157th overall, 2016
Season to Date: 25 GP | 14-6-1 | 2.56 GAA | .925 SP
If Comrie doesn’t pan out in net, the Jets have another hot goalie prospect nipping at his heels. Berdin faces a heavy workload in the USHL, where he’s faced the fourth-most shots in the league but has the fourth-best save percentage. He made it to Russia’s world junior team, but never saw a minute in net. You’ve probably seen Berdin this season, though. He’s the goalie who scored a goal in November of this season, and had an epic celebration.
"That's the next step is for him to get the contact," said Maurice. "It'll happen I think some time this week. It might be Monday -- that'll be up to medical. Once he hits that and he has to get through it -- probably a couple of days of it. He's not going to have any conditioning curve here because it's upper body because he's been able to skate and he's a real fit guy."
Head coach Paul Maurice said Scheifele would not play Tuesday against the visiting Arizona Coyotes but could return Friday against the St. Louis Blues.
Schiefele, who sustained an upper-body injury when he crashed into the boards in a game against the Edmonton Oilers on Dec. 27, participated in an optional pre-game morning skate Saturday after wearing a non-contact jersey earlier in the week.
Mark Scheifele will miss his 15th consecutive game tonight when Winnipeg hosts the Colorado Avalanche tonight (6 p.m., Sportsnet, TSN 1290) but the star centre could be less than a week away from a return to the Jets lineup.
Mark Scheifele will miss his 15th consecutive game tonight when Winnipeg hosts the Colorado Avalanche tonight (6 p.m., Sportsnet, TSN 1290) but the star centre could be less than a week away from a return to the Jets lineup.
Schiefele, who sustained an upper-body injury when he crashed into the boards in a game against the Edmonton Oilers on Dec. 27, participated in an optional pre-game morning skate Saturday after wearing a non-contact jersey earlier in the week.
Head coach Paul Maurice said Scheifele would not play Tuesday against the visiting Arizona Coyotes but could return Friday against the St. Louis Blues.
"That's the next step is for him to get the contact," said Maurice. "It'll happen I think some time this week. It might be Monday — that'll be up to medical. Once he hits that and he has to get through it — probably a couple of days of it. He's not going to have any conditioning curve here because it's upper body because he's been able to skate and he's a real fit guy."
Winnipeg's third line centre Adam Lowry will also sit tonight after aggravating an upper-body injury. Maurice said Lowry's injury is not a long-term problem.
In other injury news, defenceman Dmitry Kulikov will dress tonight after missing three games with a concussion. Maurice plans to play the left-handed Kulikov on the right side of the third blue-line pairing with Ben Chiarot. Kulikov has played the bulk of the 2017-18 season on the left side with Tyler Myers.
Connor Hellebuyck will get the start in net for the Jets while Semyon Varlamov gets the nod for the Avs. Varlamov has not played since suffering a groin injury on Jan. 2. Jonathan Bernier has started 13 straight games for Colorado, going 10-2-1 in that span.
"He's been practising for quite some time," said Avs head coach Jared Bednar about Varlamov. "So we'll throw him into the fire tonight here in Winnipeg."
The Avs are missing star centre Nathan MacKinnon who was sidelined with an upper-body injury on Jan. 30.
"Even though he's out I think they're still a dangerous team," said veteran Jets centre Bryan Little. "They're playing really well lately. I mean, I think we've rebounded well after tough losses this year and tonight's going to be another test for us to see where we're at."
Added sophomore forward Patrik Laine: "They are a good team. Obviously, MacKinnon is down now so that's a good thing for us but it's unfortunate to see somebody go down and get injured. They have a lot of skill on their team and they have a good defence and some skillful forwards so we've gotta be careful and try to win."
mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca
Twitter: @sawa14
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