Clearly, there are a number of veterans in Josh Morrissey, Neal Pionk, Dylan DeMelo, Brenden Dillon, and Nate Schmidt, which leaves a lot of competition for very few spots - depending on how many defencemen the Jets carry on their roster.
Outside of those five blue liners, the defencemen left in camp include Samberg, Kovacevic, Ville Heinola, Logan Stanley, and Kyle Capobianco. All of them have NHL experience, making the competition fierce.
"You can't complain about that. You just got to come out and prove yourself every single day," he said. "Even just looking to make your push, show them that you belong and show them what you can do. Do the things that you can do good. That's all you can do at the end of the day."
For his part, Samberg played 15 games and had five assists in NHL action last season. Like Harkins, he sees competition as a good thing and knows it makes everyone else better.
As for Kovacevic - Samberg's main partner on the Manitoba Moose blue line last season - the 25-year-old skated in four games for the Jets last season and is still searching for his first NHL point.
While it can be tempting to try and do something on the ice to stand out, Kovacevic is focusing on his own details and his own game, instead of trying to be something he's not.
"For me that's keeping it simple, playing hard defensively, having a good stick. Just kind of knowing you are as a player and a person and bringing that to the rink," said Kovacevic. "You've got to know what you bring to the table."
LINE RUSHES
With Harkins and Pierre-Luc Dubois re-joining the team for practice on Tuesday, the line rushes looked like this:
Connor-Scheifele-Ehlers
Harkins-Dubois-Wheeler
Barron-Lowry-Appleton
Perfetti-Toninato-Lambert
Maenalanen-Gustafsson-Gagner
Morrissey-DeMelo
Dillon-Schmidt
Stanley-Pionk
Samberg-Heinola
Capobiance-Kovacevic
POWER PLAY FOCUS
Assistant coach Brad Lauer will focus a lot of his attention on the team's power play, which finished 17th in the NHL last season at 21.1 percent.
While a lot of the personnel is expected to look the same, where they slot in could change as Lauer looks to optimize both units.
"The thing we talked about this summer, as a group, is how do we get that extra 3 or 4%, how do we get those extra 10 or 12 goals," said Lauer, whose NHL resume includes stops in Anaheim, Ottawa, and Tampa Bay. "If we get a little bit more motion on it, be a little bit more unpredictable with it, that will get us to that level."
With the numbers in camp still relatively high, the Jets haven't done much focused work on special teams, instead opting for more five-on-five, three-on-three, and four-on-four play.
However, in the limited viewing from Monday's practice, Nikolaj Ehlers seems to be one player that will spend time on the unit that includes Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor, Blake Wheeler, and Josh Morrissey.
"That's another guy that when we looked at the goals, we can get another couple goals out of him on the power play this year, a few more points," Lauer said. "That's where you start looking at getting some more production. He's a high-end, skilled player and he's proven himself."
Monday's second unit included Nate Schmidt, Neal Pionk, Brad Lambert, Adam Lowry, and Cole Perfetti, and Lauer is confident that no matter how things shake out when the final roster is submitted, the Jets will have two units that can provide a special teams spark when needed. These units could also change given the fact Dubois wasn't on the ice on Monday and spent all of last season on the first unit.
"If they're going and they're working and they're having success, they go over the boards," Lauer said. "You've got to let them be creative. They're the best players in the world and they have those instincts."
One thing that Lauer is preaching is more motion than what the Jets have used in the past, but he said those on-ice decisions ultimately come down to the players.
"I think you give them a few options, but then you let them play. They're very intelligent players, they'll make plays," Lauer said. "It's a lot of movement, a lot of interchanging pieces and that's a big part for our group this year is to try and get those rotations. It's a process, it takes time but with the guys that we have, we'll be fine."
