Training Camp Notebook: Sept. 30, 2023

WINNIPEG – The Jets returned to training camp on Saturday looking a lot closer to the group that will take the ice against the Calgary Flames on October 11^th.

Rick Bowness and the coaching staff still have two groups going at hockey for all centre with the first group featuring the regulars and those who still have a chance at the opening night roster.

Nikolaj Ehlers was once again out of the yellow jersey and into a white jersey to skate with linemates Cole Perfetti and Nino Neiderreiter. Perfetti took a late hit against the Flames on Wednesday night and says he feels fine and was never concerned about it being an issue.

“Obviously, there’s a concussion spotter or whatever that sits up in the stands and they’re doing their job. They seem the aftermath or whatever. It’s their job and they’re trying to keep us safe. I appreciate that. Obviously, it’s frustrating because I wanted to come back and play. But you don’t want to mess around with your head, obviously safety first,” said Perfetti after practice today.

“Frustrated but I appreciate having the spotters, the NHL doing that. It’s nice to know people are taking your health first. Obviously, I wanted to play and come back, everything was all good. But the docs here and everyone here was just being extra cautious and making sure, you don’t want to mess around with your head.”

Most importantly to the 21-year-old, it was good to work with Ehlers and Niederreiter to prepare for opening night for a second straight day.

“It’s exciting. Obviously a little delayed. We practiced yesterday together and then today, so two days now. Slowly finding little tendencies that are working. Me and Nino obviously practiced together before at the beginning of camp, so we’ve already started that,” said Perfetti.

“Fly, with what he brings, that speed and his skill and vision, I think it’s going to be really exciting. I’m excited to play a game together. Just happy that we’re all together and able to start learning each other’s games and playing with one another.”

Bowness has been pretty quiet when it comes to barking at his team about execution for the majority of training camp but this afternoon there were a couple of times where you heard the Jets coach raising his voice.

“Execution. That’s all it was. Throwing pucks away. We’ve been talking about it since the first day of training camp. If we want to play fast, we’ve got to get the puck out of our zone. It’s not just the defence, it’s the forwards. They’ve got to get that puck moving and they got to make the right play. If they don’t, then we’re spending time in our zone. If you go back to last night’s game, there’s 18 seconds to go and we’re making a pass into our slot and a guy is walking in and nobody is near him because everyone is going north,” explained Bowness.

“So those things have to be corrected. We’re trying to get ready for the start of the season. We start in Calgary in 10 or 11 days, and we’ve got to get ready. You come to practice, it’s all about paying attention to details and getting that stuff out of our game.”

Nate Schmidt was still wearing a yellow jersey during today’s skate and remains day-to-day with a lower body injury.  Kyle Connor and Gabe Vilardi were not on the ice so the Jets top line was not together Saturday and there’s a small chance they might not be on Monday when the team heads to Calgary for preseason game number five.

“Unfortunately, Gabe and KC were sick today, so we kept them home. They’re fighting some kind of a bug, I’m not even sure they’re going to be able to skate tomorrow and if they’re not going to skate tomorrow, then they’re probably not going to play Monday,” said Bowness.

“We were hoping to see that line together in Calgary. But whatever it is, we’ll deal with it and put the best lineup we can on Monday night in Calgary.

HEINOLA WORKING OFF SOLID EFFORT FRIDAY

Ville Heinola has had a solid camp so far and played some heavy minutes against the Senators last night after Elias Salomonsson had to leave the game in the first period leaving the Jets with five defencemen.

“I like when I get to play a lot, you know, it’s way easier to play,” said Heinola.

“You are just in the zone all the time, you don’t really think of anything, you are just playing. Yeah, I love it.”

Heinola says this is the most confident he has been in his game since he was selected by the Jets in the first round in the 2019 NHL Draft.

Yeah, 100 per cent. You know I’m a little older now than I was a couple years ago,” said Heinola.

“I feel like I’m a little stronger, bigger, so yeah, I’m definitely confident.”