Jets get back to work ahead of three-game road trip

WINNIPEG - One day after cancelling practice out of an abundance of caution, Winnipeg Jets head coach Paul Maurice and his team hit the ice at Bell MTS Place in preparation for a three-game road trip that begins in Toronto on Monday.
Tucker Poolman and Nikolaj Ehlers weren't on the ice when the skate began. Patrik Laine was, but didn't make it through the full skate.
"Tucker Poolman is in the Covid Protocol, he won't make the trip," said Maurice. "Patty couldn't warm up right during practice. I don't know if I'll list him as day-to-day yet. We'll wait until we get to tomorrow to see how he's feeling. Nikolaj isn't in the protocol. We expect him on the plane today."

Another Jet who won't make the trip is Dylan DeMelo. The defenceman did practice on Sunday - and stayed on the ice for extra work with Dylan Samberg, Nelson Nogier, and Mikhail Berdin - but didn't play in Winnipeg's season opening overtime win over Calgary on Wednesday.
"He's going to stay back with his wife and new baby, who are fine," said Maurice. "As you can imagine, getting people in to support and help right now is very difficult with all the quarantining issues. So Dylan is going to stay home."
For Josh Morrissey, who was paired with Sami Niku on Sunday with Poolman unavailable, Saturday's practice cancellation is a continuation of a lesson that the team, and the population as a whole, has been going through over the last 10 months.
"If I've learned anything over the last 10 months, you have to adapt and you have to be willing to adapt," said Morrissey. "It's the necessary component to our lives right now."
So, the Jets adapted.
The line rushes looked like this:
Copp-Scheifele-Wheeler
Connor-Stastny-Perreault
Harkins-Lowry-Appleton
Vesalainen-Thompson-Lewis
Morrissey-Niku
Forbort-Pionk
Stanley-Beaulieu
Samberg-DeMelo
The challenge that lies ahead for the Jets is unlike anything they've seen schedule wise.
They'll play five games in seven days - six in nine including the match-up with the Edmonton Oilers on Jan. 26 - so recovery will be key on the rare day they're not battling for points in the North Division.
"One of the things that should be favourable for us across the board, across the North Division, is often times we're going to a city and playing a couple of games - two or three games - against a team in that city," said Morrissey. "Even from a rest and recovery standpoint, predominately we go on a road trip - if we have three games in four nights on the road, we're usually in three different cities."

Mark Scheifele played 26:21 in the 4-3 win over Calgary on Thursday. That led all Jets skaters with the next closest being Morrissey at 24:56. In fact, Scheifele was nearly five minutes clear of the next closest Jets forward (Blake Wheeler) and over the course of the first three days of the NHL season, only one player - Connor McDavid - had more ice time in a single game than Scheifele.
"I work all summer to be in the best shape of my life," said Scheifele. "If the day calls that I play a lot, then I play a lot. If I don't, I don't. I try to leave it all on the ice every single day. That's the fun about hockey. You go out there, you go out and play, and hope for the win."
Maurice usually can estimate, within a minute or two, what each individual player's ice time was after a game. He admits that Scheifele's number surprised him a bit.
"One of the key pieces that made it work, first of all he's a very fit guy, but his shift length at five-on-five was just slightly over 45 (seconds). That's the key driver. He recovers very well," said Maurice, adding that 7:06 of that was power play time.
"(That's) a big number. As long as they're not breaking the puck out an awful lot and going up and down the ice, he can certainly handle it."

After Sunday's skate, the Jets hopped on a plane to Toronto. They'll play the Maple Leafs (2-1-0) on Monday, the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday, and the Senators again on Thursday to wrap up the trip.
"Toronto certainly, they're a little bit like us," said Maurice. "They have some young, high-end players that are coming of age. So they're exciting to watch and they're dynamic to watch. Usually when our teams play, there is a good reason to watch the game, it's pretty darn exciting."
ICE CHIPS
Prior to practice starting, the Jets recalled defenceman Nelson Nogier and forward C.J. Suess from the Manitoba Moose to the taxi squad.
With Poolman and DeMelo unavailable on the road trip, Maurice will announce which of the Jets young defencemen will see game action tomorrow
"Dylan Samberg, we've had him in development camps, he worked his way into the main group after three or four days with the smaller group. He looked strong and has fit right in out here," said Maurice.
"Logan (Stanley) made a major commitment this summer to his fitness level. He really showed, right from the very start, he's in a completely different place than at any point since we've had him.
"Both are certainly in consideration now when there is an opportunity to go in the line-up."