Logan Stanley Activated; Neal Pionk Unavailable
The Winnipeg Jets have activated Logan Stanley from injured reserve and will insert him back into the lineup for the first time since January 20. The big defenseman is coming at the perfect time since Neal Pionk is unavailable. Pionk tested positive for coronavirus ten days ago with the team on the road and though he has played in the last two games, can’t travel back with the Jets to Canada until tomorrow.
Stanley, 23, is one of the most physically imposing players in the league, standing 6’7″ and weighing in at 228 lbs. Though it took the 2016 first-round pick some time to grow into his potential, he’s become a regular with the Jets this season, averaging just over 15 minutes a night through 35 games. With the team struggling to keep pace in the Central Division, another step forward in Stanley’s progression would certainly be welcomed.
In fact, the deployment of the Jets’ defense down the stretch will be an interesting thing to watch, especially if they fall completely out of the playoff race. The veteran group of Pionk, Josh Morrissey, Nate Schmidt, Brenden Dillon, and Dylan DeMelo are all signed through at least the 2023-24 season at cap hits of at least $3MM, but the team has young defensemen like Stanley and Ville Heinola pushing for more playing time. If the management group decides to start looking forward to the future, perhaps someone from that veteran group will start appearing in trade talks with contending teams.
For now though, Stanley jumps back into a group that is desperately trying to find a way to put wins on the board. The Jets took Saturday’s game against the Nashville Predators and now have a winnable match against the Chicago Blackhawks. A team that was considered a Stanley Cup contender before the season began, Winnipeg sits sixth in the Central with a 20-17-8 record.
Pionk, Dubois, Poganski Enter COVID Protocol
The Winnipeg Jets need a big second half to climb their way back into playoff contention, but things aren’t off to a great start. As they return from the All-Star break, three players have ended up in the COVID protocol. Neal Pionk, Pierre-Luc Dubois, and Austin Poganski are all unavailable to the team as they prepare to take on the Minnesota Wild tomorrow night. The Jets have recalled Declan Chisholm, Ville Heinola, Johnathan Kovacevic, and Kristian Reichel from the Manitoba Moose.
That trio includes two of the team’s most important players in Pionk and Dubois, not a great way to start things up after a week off. The former plays more than 22 minutes a night, just a few seconds shy of Josh Morrissey for the team lead, and the latter is the team’s second-leading scorer with 33 points in 42 games. Given the fact that Nikolaj Ehlers, Logan Stanley, and others are already out with injuries, losing players like these will really test the depth of the Jets for the next few games.
It’s a group of young players that will try to replace them, though that’s quite the task given how inconsistent the rest of the roster has been this season. The Jets are 18-17-7 for the year and have lost eight of their last ten games. For some teams that could even mean raising the white flag and starting to sell off expiring assets, but Winnipeg was expected to not only compete for the playoffs but the Stanley Cup this season. It’s hard to abandon that goal after just 42 games, even though it might have to end up being the eventual decision.
Chisholm, Kovacevic, And Gawanke Recalled From Taxi Squad
- The Jets announced (Twitter link) the recalls of defensemen Declan Chisholm, Johnathan Kovacevic, and Leon Gawanke from the taxi squad. To make room for them on the roster, Nathan Beaulieu was placed on injured reserve.
Beaulieu To Miss Road Trip, Morrissey And DeMelo Not Yet Ready To Return
- Jets defenseman Nathan Beaulieu has been ruled out for their two-game road trip due to a lower-body injury, reports Scott Billeck of the Winnipeg Sun (Twitter link). Meanwhile, they’ll have to wait for at least one more game to get blueliner Josh Morrissey back from his stint in COVID protocol while defenseman Dylan DeMelo has resumed skating but also won’t be ready to suit up on Saturday in St. Louis.
Jets Announce Several Roster Moves
Prior to their game tonight against Florida, the Jets announced (Twitter link) quite a few roster moves. Defensemen Dylan DeMelo and Logan Stanley were both placed on injured reserve while fellow blueliner Josh Morrissey entered COVID protocol. That resulted in the recalls of rearguards Ville Heinola and Johnny Kovacevic from the taxi squad as well as forward Kristian Reichel. In order to get cap-compliant to make those moves, goaltender Mikhail Berdin was sent back to the taxi squad while center David Gustafsson was transferred to LTIR.
DeMelo suffered an upper-body injury back on Saturday against Boston and has been listed as day-to-day since then; if the IR placement was backdated, he will be eligible to return as soon as this weekend. As for Stanley, he was injured back on Thursday with interim head coach Dave Lowry telling reporters, including Sportsnet’s Ken Wiebe (Twitter link) that Stanley’s designation is longer than day-to-day. At this point, the fact that they didn’t see fit to place him on LTIR should at least be considered as some cause for optimism as that would have forced him to miss 10 games and 24 days. That’s what will happen for Gustafsson although he last played nearly three weeks ago and assuming his placement was backdated, he could be back as soon as next week.
The loss of Morrissey will certainly be a big loss for the Jets in the short term as he logs just shy of 23 minutes a game on the back end, the most of anyone on the team. He’ll be out for at least five days as a result of this placement as long as it’s for a confirmed positive test.
As for the recalls, Heinola is the most experienced with 13 career games under his belt although none of them have come this season as Winnipeg has opted to have the 2019 first-rounder develop with a consistent role in the AHL where he has chipped in with 16 points in 24 games. Reichel made his NHL debut last month and has played in five games overall this season, picking up his first career NHL goal in the process. Meanwhile, Kovacevic is in his fourth season in Winnipeg’s system and this is his first career recall to the big club. He has 14 points in 32 games with AHL Manitoba so far in 2021-22.
Injury Notes: Zucker, Allison, Raffl, DeMelo
According to CapFriendly, the Pittsburgh Penguins placed forward Jason Zucker back on long-term injured reserve after returning from injury for just one game. He played last Monday against the Vegas Golden Knights, so the team placed him retroactive to January 17th. He’ll now have to miss another 10 games and 24 days, of which he’s already missed two and five, respectively. Zucker had been on LTIR for almost a month already after suffering a lower-body injury. He is once again week-to-week. Zucker is again struggling during his second full season in Pittsburgh, posting just 13 points in 31 games.
More injury news from around the league on this Sunday:
- Philadelphia Flyers forward Wade Allison suffered an MCL sprain during yesterday’s game against the Buffalo Sabres, per head coach Mike Yeo. Allison, one of Philadelphia’s better forward prospects, had already suffered an ACL tear that kept him out at the beginning of the 2020-21 season. Yeo notes, that he believes this MCL injury is on a different knee. It was Allison’s first game of the season for the Flyers after posting four points in seven games with the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms. He’s listed as week-to-week.
- Dallas Stars head coach Rick Bowness says forward Michael Raffl is out between 10 days and two weeks with a lower-body injury. Raffl’s seen a lot of ice time this year, his first in Dallas, in a checking role alongside Radek Faksa and Luke Glendening, posting nine points in 37 games. Dallas will need to call up a forward to replace him, likely Rhett Gardner or Riley Tufte.
- Winnipeg Jets defenseman Dylan DeMelo sustained an upper-body injury during yesterday’s loss against Boston, per team play-by-play man Dennis Beyak. DeMelo has just four points through 36 games but has still been above the norm defensively. There’s no current timeline for his return.
What Your Team Is Thankful For: Winnipeg Jets
In the spirit of the holiday season, PHR has been taking a look at what teams are thankful for as the season approaches the midway mark. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. We’ll examine what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the Winnipeg Jets as we wrap up our series.
What are the Jets thankful for?
Their deep top end of their forward group. Pierre-Luc Dubois has been much better in his first full season with Winnipeg, giving the Jets a strong one-two punch with him and Mark Scheifele. Kyle Connor is having a standout season, averaging a point per game while playing in all situations. Nikolaj Ehlers and Blake Wheeler are still top-six options while Andrew Copp is on pace for a career year (while logging over 20 minutes a game). Paul Stastny is a versatile player that can play both down the middle and on the wing and is still capable of playing in the top six when called upon. That’s seven quality top-six forwards at their disposal, a luxury that not a lot of teams have.
Who are the Jets thankful for?
For the last three seasons, he has led the league in shots faced and as Winnipeg makes up their games in hand over the coming months after having several postponed games, there’s a good chance that he makes it four in a row. At a time where many teams are looking more favorably at the idea of a platoon or tandem situation, Hellebuyck has been the old-school starter, logging heavy minutes. His numbers are down a little bit this season but still above average but he’s only two years removed from winning the Vezina Trophy while he finished fourth in voting last year. He still has two years left on his contract at a very reasonable price $6.167MM for someone that logs the minutes he does.
What would the Jets be even more thankful for?
Getting more from their defense. Kevin Cheveldayoff spent a lot of resources over the offseason to rebuild their back end after it was exposed as a weakness last season with the additions of Nate Schmidt and Brendan Dillon. They were supposed to complement a pair of strong offensive defenders in Neal Pionk and Josh Morrissey to give them a well-rounded group. However, Winnipeg hasn’t received a lot of production from their back end with just ten goals in total, half of which came from Morrissey. As a result, the effects from that upgrade really haven’t been felt – they’ve been better defensively but that has been mitigated with a drop in output. Getting the production back would give them the best of both worlds and really give them a boost heading into what will be a busy second half of the season.
What should be on the Jets’ wish list?
There’s a big difference here between what they will want and what they can actually do. Once Wheeler is able to come off LTIR (which will be in the next few days), their cap space will be gone and they’ll have to soon drop to close to a minimum-sized roster to get back to compliance. So while they’d undoubtedly love to try to add (either up front or defensive depth), they’re going to be very limited in what they can afford as they’ll have to match money or add someone making close to the minimum and send someone down to make room. That means they’ll be forced to shop more for depth pieces. Adding some veteran depth up front would be beneficial and while finding a cheap goalie will be a tough, an insurance policy behind Eric Comrie is something Cheveldayoff should want to do.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Blake Wheeler Could Return This Weekend
- Jets winger Blake Wheeler could return to the lineup this weekend, reports Sportsnet’s Ken Wiebe. The captain has missed nine straight games with a knee injury, an amount that could have been much higher had it not been for the COVID-related postponements. Wheeler has only scored once in 22 games this season but had 16 assists which is still tied for third on Winnipeg despite missing more than a month.
Paul Stastny Enters Protocol; Cole Perfetti Recalled
The Winnipeg Jets have lost another key player, as Paul Stastny joins his teammates in the COVID protocol. It’s not all bad though, as the team has recalled Cole Perfetti from the taxi squad under emergency conditions. The team has also brought Mikhail Berdin, Jeff Malott, and Austin Poganski from the AHL to the taxi squad, giving them some extra bodies ahead of tonight’s game.
Stastny joins Kristian Reichel, Nikolaj Ehlers, Jansen Harkins, Ville Heinola, Logan Stanley, Nathan Beaulieu, and Dylan DeMelo in the protocol, sapping the Jets of a huge amount of depth before returning to the ice. The team hasn’t played since a 7-1 bloodbath against the Colorado Avalanche on January 6 and after tonight won’t have another game until January 18.
With that light schedule, it does give them a chance to work through this recent COVID outbreak and get some players back. Harkins and DeMelo could both play tonight depending on health, but Stastny certainly won’t. The veteran center actually has 16 points in 24 games this season, a strong pace despite having turned 36 a few weeks ago. He’s been mostly playing on the wing after a long career in the middle of the ice, but has still been a solid contributor. Losing that, along with so many others, will make it a tough test against the upstart Red Wings this evening.
Later in the day, head coach Dave Lowry announced some further bad news. Brenden Dillon and Eric Comrie have both been added to the COVID protocol, leaving the Jets even further shorthanded.
Several Jets Placed In COVID Protocol
Jan 11: Nathan Beaulieu, Ville Heinola, Logan Stanley, and Kristian Reichel have all been added to the protocol today. The Jets will be severely shorthanded for Thursday’s game, should it go on as scheduled.
Jan 10: The last time the Winnipeg Jets were on the ice, they were run out of the building by the Colorado Avalanche in a 7-1 massacre. Connor Hellebuyck needed to make 35 saves to even keep it that close, while Andrew Copp, Mark Scheifele, and Nikolaj Ehlers all logged more than 20 minutes for the Jets injury-riddled lineup. Now, the latter of those three will be unavailable for the team moving forward as Ehlers has entered the COVID protocol.
He joins Jansen Harkins, Dylan DeMelo, and Arvid Holm in the protocol for the Jets, who are scheduled to return to action this Thursday against the Detroit Red Wings. If Ehlers has tested positive, he’ll miss at least that game as he isolates away from his teammates.
Losing one of their top-line players at a point like this is obviously a big blow for the Jets, who were already using several inexperienced options like Cole Perfetti and Kristian Reichel. With Blake Wheeler and Paul Stastny both out, a forward group that was once considered among the deepest in the league now has more than a few band-aids.
The Jets meanwhile are falling further and further behind in the Central Division, now sitting at 16-12-5 on the year and seven points behind the Minnesota Wild. They’ve gone 3-2 since Dave Lowry took over the coaching responsibilities following Paul Maurice’s resignation.