Arniel likes what Barron brings down the middle, particularly with his ability to use his speed. The move could also help the Jets in the faceoff circle, where they’ve been looking for better results, especially with their other centres taking on plenty of draws.
It will be a great opportunity for Niederreiter, who has been a healthy scratch for the past three games.
“I mean, I haven't played with both of them in a long time. Didn't really get the chance to practice with them as well,” said Niederreiter on Monday.
“So, today was the first day, but at the same time, I'm looking very much forward to it. Try to add what I can to that line to hopefully be successful.”
The Jets are hoping that the second line starts to produce some offence, Vilardi has not scored yet in the first five games and is a little frustrated with that.
"Last year and the year before that even, I didn’t score or start necessarily the way that I wanted. You come in from the summer – you go into the summer with things you want to work on – and you address those things and then, you come here (for training camp)," said Vilardi.
"I feel like I did that and I was feeling pretty good. And then, like I said, to start the year I felt good the first few games and I was getting some chances and not scoring."
Niederreiter brings some size and a willingness to get to the tough areas around the net, something the Jets have done a pretty good job of through their first five games.
“Everybody needs to recognize that the goals that are scored in the NHL now are getting scored inside there,” said Arniel.
“Whether that's a screen, a tip, a rebound, that's loose puck retrievals, those are the things that we just got to continue to make sure we did. We did work on it today a little bit. Just showed some video on it as well. That's just a mindset that you go in there, good things happen.”
Niederreiter is sitting one point shy of 500 in his NHL career, he is looking to become the third Swissborn player in NHL history to reach 500 career points, joining Roman Josi (785) and Kevin Fiala (528).
“I definitely have something else on my mind there,” said Niederreiter.
“But I mean, definitely, hopefully, I can get that. It'll be great.”
Stuart Skinner will get the start in goal tonight after putting in a fantastic effort against the Colorado Avalanche in his last appearance, a 32-save performance. At the other end for the Wild, who played last night, will be former Oiler teammate Calvin Pickard. The two former WHLer’s have never gone head-to-head in the NHL.
“The one time we had the chance was Pitt against Edmonton and (Tristan Jarry) was playing. This is going to be our first time,” said Skinner on Monday.
“I actually texted him (Sunday), ‘you couldn’t have written it up better.’ It’s going to be a lot of fun and I’m sure that he’s going to be asking me for my tickets for his family to come.”
Josh Morrissey was not at morning skate and Arniel mentioned that he remains day-to-day with the upper body injury.
The Wild played last night at home and beat the Vegas Golden Knights 4-2.
"You’d rather play a team on a back to back. There’s travel involved, they’re tired, they played last night while we were here resting watching the game," said Cole Perfetti.
"You want to play teams like that. But at the end of the day, they’re going to come out and have a good push and play well. So our mindset can’t change."
The Jets had the upper hand against Minnesota last season, going 2-1-1 in four meetings. Winnipeg has also had plenty of success against the Wild lately, posting an 8-1-1 record in its last 10 games and going 3-1-1 in the last five.
Kyle Connor has been a steady producer against Minnesota, picking up points in eight of his last 10 games with five goals and six assists. Mark Scheifele has been even more dangerous, recording five multi-point performances in his last seven games against the Wild, including a four-point effort the last time these teams met.
Puck drop is scheduled for 7:15 CT.
