Thoughts of another Cup run fuelling Jets this pre-season

Winnipeg feeling ‘urgency to get back’ to conference final, Paul Friesen writes.

WINNIPEG After 11 seasons in the NHL, Bryan Little could do some of these drills in his sleep.

But the monotony of yet another training camp has been offset by the spark of expectation for the 30-year-old Winnipeg Jet.

“I’ve seen a bunch of different (formats), more groups, intrasquad games, stuff like that; it’s kind of the same old practices and camp feeling,” Little said Wednesday. “But this year everyone has that urgency to get back.”

Back on the ice and back to the doorstep of the Stanley Cup final, where they hung their helmets last spring, one tantalizing step away from a shot at the ultimate prize.

This season, of course, the plan is to cross that last threshold. And there’s a sense this team can.

The result through six days of camp: a level of competition unmatched in years past.

“Really fierce” was how head coach Paul Maurice described it.

It’s not like there are a lot of jobs up for grabs. Just the opposite, actually.

But there’s a big difference from being on the fringes, where you might be a healthy scratch as often as you suit up, to being a regular contributor.

“You can’t just be satisfied,” Nik Ehlers said. “Because if you don’t play the right way, there’s other young guys that want to come in and take your spot.

“Everybody wants a piece of it. And that’s what makes this exciting.”

What does Ehlers have to worry about, you ask?

Likely, nothing. Unless he goes into a funk around the same time someone like rookie Kristian Vesalainen starts getting into a groove.

And Little?

If he listens closely, he can hear the swift stride of third-year pro Jack Roslovic behind him, clawing for ice time at centre.

“He was talking to me the other day about it,” Little said. “He’s still trying to get the feel for centre. Playing centre and wing can be a big difference ... but he looked more and more comfortable as the game went on the other day.”

How things have changed since Little and the rest of the Atlanta Thrashers first arrived.

Not long ago, he was the de facto No. 1 centre on a roster pocked with holes.

By comparison, this year’s team is stacked.

“There’s not a ton of spots available, but the talent we have to fill (those spots) is pretty impressive,” Little said. “It just shows how different the depth is now than it was four or five years ago here. To have those kind of options and decisions to make ... I wouldn’t want to be making them.”

Back to the wing, where Ehlers is trying to fend off the challengers — and the nightly opposition — with an improved show of strength.

“It does feel different,” he said. “In the games, in the corners, I don’t want to just get pushed away. I want to be able to keep them off me and use my speed to get out of it. But I can’t just use my speed. That’s not enough.

“So I’ve got to get stronger to be able to push them away and create some space.”

Ehlers and Little have another notch on their belts that no rookie can match: the experience of a playoff run.

You can’t measure it, but it’s a valuable intangible the Jets will need come spring.

“It’s not a completely different game, but the way it’s played is a little different,” Ehlers said. “You try to take some of the things you learned in the playoffs already into the regular season. So you don’t go to the playoffs and start from scratch.”

Forwards like Vesalainen and Brendan Lemieux can only imagine what that’ll be like.

For what it’s worth, Little has been surprised by how good Vesalainen has looked.

“I heard he was skilled, so I wasn’t really surprised to see how good he was shooting and stickhandling,” Little said. “But that surprised me how good he was, how strong he was on the puck. And obviously some of these other young guys — Roslovic and especially Lemieux last game — they look really good. They’re trying to make a name for themselves.”

This is the scenario teams try to create. Internal competition, creating a self-propelled machine.

You can’t just be satisfied. Because if you don’t play the right way, there’s other young guys that want to come in and take your spot.