Ehlers enjoying time with family during NHL pause

While most hockey players would love to be the thick of the playoff fight in mid-May, the pause has given players an opportunity to spend precious time with family.

Nikolaj Ehlers is taking advantage.

"It's been nice," said Ehlers from his home in Aalborg, Denmark.

"We're taking precautions, but this is still something I'm not able to do during the season as much," said Ehlers

Ehlers left for Europe soon after the NHL season came to a pause and much like a lot of his teammates, he has spent time on the golf course and bonding with family - especially with the newest member.

"I've been down to see my brother and my nephew (10 months old), and I've been spending not too much but some time with my parents and my sister as well," said Ehlers.

"I told them (his brother and sister-in-law) that after all this I would take him (his nephew) for a weekend but then I went down to spend two days with them. It's a lot harder than (taking care of an infant) looks. He's amazing. He's so fun to be with. I try to be the fun uncle but it's a lot of work too. I can see why they are so tired sometimes and going to bed at like 10 o'clock."

With all the family time, Ehlers said nobody is getting on anyone's nerves as of yet.

"I don't think anyone is annoyed by each other yet but it's also, we're (Denmark) slowly opening up. It gives a little more freedom; I think that helps."

On the ice, Ehlers pushed his way into fourth on the all-time scoring list for Danish NHL'ers with a solid 2019-20 season. He passed Jannik Hansen with an assist in the Jets' final game and now has 257 career points. Only the Caps' Lars Eller (294), the Sens' Mikkel Boedker (327) and the Red Wings' Frans Nielsen (467) have more points.

Reaching the top of that list would be something he would be proud of for Ehlers.

"I think it's something that any young Danish player dreams of. You know, the first dream was to make it to the NHL and being able to stay there," said Ehlers.

"It's not something that I'm chasing. I think the only real goal that I have, and most other guys have, is winning the Stanley Cup. That is the dream and everything else are things that I will be proud of but it's not the main thing on my mind."

That Stanley Cup dream is on hold, for now, but it doesn't take away from the season that Ehlers was having. After missing 20 games last season and putting up a career low 37 points, the Danish forward bounced back recording his fourth consecutive 20 goal campaign (25) and had 58 points.

Jets head coach Paul Maurice said back in April that he noticed a big change in Ehlers' game.

"He was starting to drive, and he was starting to be able to compete real hard and change kind of the way he played," Maurice said, lauding the winger.

"He was becoming a man. So those kind of hard things, the small skilled guys on our team were starting to buy into. We needed that to happen this year to give ourselves a chance to win with the injuries that we did have. And it forced some players maybe out of their comfort zone."

Ehlers said he worked hard during the summer, studying his game and that played a large part in his resurgence.

"I think those small things I was able to do better than I was last year and it showed. I think for me I really took a step forward this year and the small details in the game," said Ehlers.

"The rest of it you are still going to make mistakes every single game. There is no doubt about that but limiting those mistakes and just get better every single day, I think I was able to do that. It gives you some positivity and I was excited about that. It's something I'm going to work hard at this summer and we'll see if this season continues or not but I'm going to be ready for it."

When the NHL resumes play - it's in the realm of possibility that players could return to the ice in the summer months. A foreign, yet welcome concept for a player who has spent his whole career in Canada.

"You are going to walk outside and it's going to be 80 degrees out and you will walk to the rink in shorts. I know that some teams are used to that but we aren't," said Ehlers.

"But it's still the same game, it's still hockey and that's not going to change. We'll see how it goes."