The Jets are trying to shake off the taste of Tuesday’s 2-1 loss in St. Louis and turn the page quickly, because Dallas is waiting tonight and the Stars have built themselves into a brutal challenge.
Winnipeg held practice on Wednesday, and the biggest sign coming out of it was that prospect Brayden Yager appears ready to make his season debut. The team will also have an optional morning skate at 11:30 AM CT, with puck drop set for 7 PM CT.
That game in Dallas brings a matchup that doesn’t exactly promise easy offense. The Stars have allowed only 15 goals in nine games, the fewest in the NHL by a wide margin.
Winnipeg, meanwhile, is still searching for more consistent production beyond Kyle Connor and Cole Perfetti, who have looked like the clearest sources of scoring touch so far. The rest of the lineup has not given the same kind of threat.
The timing is notable for a Jets team that is still in the early stages of sorting out its first real rough patch. The Winnipeg Free Press described the club as hitting its first stretch of early-season turbulence, and the numbers back up the idea that the last few games have been a real stumble. The point there is not to overreact, but it is also not a stretch to say Winnipeg needs to steady itself before the Heritage Classic weekend and before tomorrow’s Connor Hellebuyck suspension comes to an end.
The conversation around the Jets also includes a speculative note from Daily Faceoff about what the dynamic might look like if Connor Hellebuyck returns to the team. The source reporting was blunt on that front: “I honestly don’t understand why this assertion is being put forth!
There is no way the Jets organization is letting Connor Hellebuyck anywhere near their team. Just to qualify the emphatic statement I just made it assumes Hellebuyck does not make a full throated retraction of his trade request (which if he was prepared to do, would already be done).
So there is no point in discussing this hypothetical because it ain’t happening.”
There was also action on the Moose side of things, and it didn’t break their way. Manitoba opened a six-game road trip against a strong Grand Rapids team and saw the game swing back and forth before coming up short in a 4-3 loss.
The home side scored first, the Moose answered with two straight to grab the lead, then Grand Rapids responded with three unanswered goals. Manitoba pulled within one but could get no closer.
That leaves the Moose at 5-2-0, with both of their losses having come against the Griffins.
That result, along with Winnipeg’s current slide, leaves plenty for the coming days on the Daily Dose of the Illegal Curve Hockey Show. The Jets and Moose both have enough in motion right now to keep the discussion moving well beyond tonight’s game in Dallas.
In Other News...
Jets Prospect Shuffle Suddenly Matters For Winnipeg Depth
The Manitoba Moose opened a six-game road trip with a stop against the Grand Rapids Griffins, but the bigger development for Winnipeg came from the roster movement around the affiliate. The Jets recalled forward Brayden Yager from Manitoba, giving the organization another look at one of its young forwards and continuing a season in which the Moose have been an important pipeline for depth help.
Elias Salomonsson also rejoined Manitoba after being loaned back from the Jets, a move that keeps the blue line in flux as the Moose settle into the trip. With players like Nikita Chibrikov and Henry Thrun drawing attention for their recent work, the affiliates day-to-day performances are carrying more weight than usual for a Winnipeg team that has already shown it will dip into those options when needed. [Read more 🡒]
Jets Prospects Put Manitoba In A Tough New Central Division Spot
The Manitoba Moose got another hard look at where they stand in the Central Division race, dropping a 4-3 decision to the Grand Rapids Griffins in a game that featured plenty of Jets prospect intrigue. It was the Mooses second loss of the season, and both defeats have come against Grand Rapids, a matchup that has quickly taken on an outsized feel for Manitoba as it tries to sort out the early-season pecking order.
Manitoba made some lineup tweaks before puck drop, assigning Walker Duehr to the team and inserting Fabian Wagner into the lineup, but the night still turned into a tight special-teams test between two of the AHLs best units. Even with notable performances from several Jets prospects, the Moose came up just short in a game that again left Grand Rapids with the edge and Manitoba looking for answers the next time these clubs meet. [Read more 🡒]
Brady Tkachuks Ottawa Return Turned Ugly In A Game Jets Fans Noticed
Brady Tkachuks return to Ottawa had all the edge youd expect from a former franchise face walking back into a building that has not forgotten him. The Senators turned the night into a one-sided statement, rolling to a 5-1 win over Florida behind goals from Tim Stutzle, Claude Giroux, Shane Pinto, Warren Foegele and Stephen Halliday, while the Panthers three-game winning streak came to an abrupt halt.
For Winnipeg fans keeping an eye on potential postseason noise in the East, the uglier subplot mattered just as much as the score. Ottawa also had to absorb an early scare when Linus Ullmark left in the third period after making a pad save, though the group barely missed a beat from there, and the tension around Tkachuk only kept building as the game wore on. [Read more 🡒]