Also in the line-up against Edmonton will be Logan Stanley and Sami Niku. Stanley played 17:38 against Minnesota in his second career preseason game, while Niku - who made his NHL debut last season against Montreal - played 19:07 and registered an assist on the game's opening goal.
"They're very probably both going to play for us at some time. They have to go down. For Logan it's his first year pro. When he makes himself available to come back up, we'll see. Sami is now a guy that's on the radar as a call-up guy, so we need them in these games," said Maurice, citing the team's depth on the blue line has been tested in previous seasons.
"We have eight guys that you know have played in the NHL, and we know that hasn't been nearly enough bodies for us. We've gone five deep into our American League system. We need to learn about those two players, and we also need to get them as much time as we possibly can."
After Thursday's game against Edmonton, the Jets are back on the ice the next night against the Calgary Flames.
"We'll come back with probably Scheifele and Little in that next game, so we can get one of our power play units some time on the ice," said Maurice. "Then you'll have Lowry and Roslovic in that other group, then we'll build the lines out there."
ICE CHIPS
Three players didn't skate with the main group this morning at Bell MTS Iceplex.
Nic Petan asked for a personal leave of absence to deal with a family situation, and Maurice said there is no real timetable for a return.
Dmitry Kulikov and Dustin Byfuglien were also no on the ice with "minor ailments" according to Maurice.
"We would hope we may see them all tomorrow or the next day," said Maurice. "In Dmitry's case, we knew around day four or five we would pull him from a day and get him back out tomorrow."