Training Camp Notebook - September 23

WINNIPEG -Pierre-Luc Dubois and his Team Steen group had a tough task on Friday.
First, they hopped on the ice for a 60-minute skate that focused on defensive structure and all the details that go into the new system head coach Rick Bowness wants the Winnipeg Jets to play.
When that was done, they moved over to another sheet of ice to take on a rested, and warmed up, Team Hawerchuk in a 50-minute scrimmage.
"It's not easy," Dubois laughed. "We're a little competitive in scrimmages, but once we get to Sunday we're playing against another team and we're even more competitive."

It ended up being a tight match-up, but Dubois' group fell by a score of 2-0, thanks to goals from Daniel Torgersson and Mark Scheifele from Team Hawerchuk.
Oskari Salminen and Domenic DiVincentiis teamed up for the shutout.
Adam Lowry was also on the losing side, but the value in the scrimmage wasn't winning (although that would have been a nice way to end the day), it was in repetition.
"You want to just be playing, you don't want to be thinking," said Lowry. "The more repetition you get, the easier it's going to come. We know there is going to be a learning curve. This is just trying to expedite the process, trying to get through it as quick as we can. We can make some mistakes, we can learn from those, then on October 14 we're not making them in a meaningful game."

In one of last year's scrimmages, defenceman Brenden Dillon threw a few big hits that ultimately led to Blake Wheeler speaking with the veteran to throttle it back just a touch.
On Friday, Dillon caught 2022 draft pick Danny Zhilkin with a hit that knocked the young forward's helmet off. Zhilkin popped up and was no worse for wear.
This year, there was no chat between Wheeler and Dillon - and for good reason.
"He's on my team this year too, so I didn't get a talking to," Dillon said with a grin. "Everybody made it through the scrimmage today, so it was good."
Scrimmages are always a fine balance, especially for players like Dillon who play a physical game.
"You're not hitting anybody for four months. Obviously, you don't want to hurt anybody and you're trying to do things as allowed (within the rules) as possible," he said. "We're getting closer and closer and we've got a pre-season game on Sunday. For all of us, as myself as a defenceman, going back for pucks, for forwards coming through the middle, Edmonton is not going to lay back on Sunday."
Considering it's only the second day of camp, Bowness liked what he saw from the group.
"We're out there to make sure we're skating and we're getting on top of what we're trying to accomplish in terms of our pressure," said Bowness. "It's going to take six games and the full 21 days or however many days we're on the ice to get as close as we can to where we want to be."

LINE COMBINATIONS
The lines remained unchanged from yesterday:
Team Hawerchuk:
Connor-Scheifele-Ehlers
Toninato-Gustafsson-Gagner
Malott-Nikkanen-Reichel
Torgersson-Zhilkin-Lambert
Morrissey-Kovacevic
Sautner-Bauer
Chisholm-DeMelo
Stanley-Gawanke
Hellebuyck, Rittich
Team Steen:
Perfetti-Dubois-Wheeler
Harkins-Lowry-Appleton
Eyssimont-Stenlund-Maenalanen
Limoges-Maier-Lucius
Samberg-Schmidt
Capobionco-Pionk
Dillon-Heinola
Kuzmin-Lundmark
Berdin, Holm, Salminen
QUOTABLES
In the first two days of camp, there has been a lot of chatter about the team having a chip on its shoulder, given how they fell short of their own expectations in 2021-22.

Lowry gave insight into the group's mindset and how even with that, the road ahead isn't easy.
"There is a belief in our group. If we commit to a solid team game, we commit to what the coach is preaching, and we have solid buy in, we can be a solid team," Lowry said. "I think we all have belief that the guy sitting next to us in this room, that they're going to do their job.
"We're in an extremely competitive division. We have the defending Stanley Cup champions and there are a lot of really good teams in our division, our conference, and this league. It's no easy task, but our goal is to get back into the playoffs. Once you're there, anything can happen. We're going to use the next 82 games to try and accomplish that."
PAIRED WITH EXPERIENCE
Dillon has spent the first two practices alongside Ville Heinola at Bell MTS Iceplex.
Now entering his second season in Winnipeg, Dillon has experience playing with Neal Pionk and Nate Schmidt, but not so much with Heinola.
It's part of an effort from Bowness to pair younger defencemen with established blue-liners.

Both Dillon and Heinola are left-handed, but the young Finn has been playing on the right side.
"He's got lots of skill. I want to give him the puck. He can have it all day long," Dillon said. "We've only had a couple of scrimmages and a couple of practices but already you can just feel when there's chemistry there."
In his experience both on the ice and off it, Bowness has found that left-handed defencemen tend to have an easier time playing on the right side than vice versa.
"It's to give him the best chance to play," Bowness said of Heinola. "Versatility on defence is good to have, there's a couple guys that can play both sides. Every team has them, you can move them to the right, if you lose a guy in a game they've got to play on the right side, you're down to five D."
Heinola played his first NHL game in 2019, and has split his time between the NHL and AHL ever since.
He has 25 NHL games on his resume compared to Dillon's 733. However, Dillon's first couple seasons also saw a split between the NHL and the AHL.
His biggest piece of advice for Heinola? Patience.
"Patience is so tough to have, especially when it feels like it's already your 10th year in the league when really, it's only your second or third," said Dillon. "He's really stuck with it. He was up a bunch last year. Maybe he didn't get into as many games as he'd want to but you can tell he's put the work in."
ICE CHIPS
Forward Brad Lambert, who led the Jets in scoring with four points at the Young Stars Classic in Penticton, BC last weekend, didn't skate on Friday.
Bowness said he hopes the forward can get back on the ice tomorrow, saying the upper-body injury is minor and that Friday was more of a maintenance day.