Ehlers elevated to top line
The issue threatens to chase Patrik Laine, one of the team’s marquee stars and the franchise’s highest draft pick, out of town.
Yet, two other Winnipeg Jets wingers can swap spots on the top two lines with little more than a shrug of their slender shoulders.
Through four days of Camp COVID, Nik Ehlers has taken Kyle Connor’s place on the left side of Mark Scheifele on the top line.
Judging by their reactions on Thursday, you couldn’t tell who had been promoted and which one was demoted.
“Get out there and play the best I can. It doesn’t change how I play,” Ehlers said. “It doesn’t matter who I’m playing with.”
Minutes later, Connor got behind the Zoom mic and sounded like an echo.
“For me, it doesn’t really matter,” he said. “Whoever the coach tells me to play with, I’ll play with and put my best foot forward.”
The inability to put both feet alongside Scheifele has been Laine’s No. 1 gripe, even pushing his agents to tell the Jets their client would be better off with a change of scenery.
Instead, general manager Kevin (Don’t Push Me Around) Cheveldayoff got some new/old scenery and brought it to Winnipeg, in the form of centre Paul Stastny.
Many just assumed that Stastny would be asked to recreate the chemistry he developed with Laine and Ehlers in the 2018 Stanley Cup playoffs.
But coach Paul Maurice is trying the swap: K.C. for the man they call Fly. The pushback the boss got from Connor had all the bite of a mosquito. Apparently, it didn’t even demand a sitdown.
“You would if the personality dictated that you had to,” the coach said. “But no, not with Kyle. It’s not an issue for him. I told him what line he was going on and he said: ‘Hey, that’s great.’ And that was it.”
It’s a not-so-subtle switcheroo, though, which could have not-so subtle ramifications for opponents.
Where before it was pretty clear which Jets line could burn you the most, this combo spreads some butter on both sides of the bread.
“They’re going to look at the firepower on both lines as something they need to keep a check on,” Maurice said. “I would agree that it’s not as easy to sort out. I don’t know on an offensive output that you can pick which one’s
going to score more goals yet.”
With Connor, a perennial 30-plus goal man, replacing Ehlers, coming off three straight seasons with 20-plus, on Line 2, it could be interesting.
“I have some familiarity with Patty and we’ve got some great chemistry right from the get-go last year,” Connor said. “And even years past, we’ve been together for a limited time.
“Just kind of getting to know Staz. I hadn’t really played with him much when he was here for that playoff run a couple of years ago.”
Ehlers has more familiarity with his new centre, of course.
But given how long it’s been since the Jets have been together — their summer fling with the post-season was short-lived, after all — it’s almost like starting over.
“It’s maybe a little different,” Ehlers said. “But we know what our game plan is, as a whole team. We know what our game plan is as a line.”
Ehlers spent the extended off-season at home in Denmark, doing his best to stay in shape, despite a couple of close run-ins with COVID.
“I did three or four tests and was in self-isolation two or three times, where I’ve been in close contact,” he said. “You work hard and then you end up with a small break where you can’t do anything, and then you go back to working. It’s been a little bit on and off.
“But I’ve been able to see my family and my friends who I don’t see much during the season. It’s a weird world right now, but a good offseason.”
The weirdness has only begun. Short training camps with no exhibition games will quickly lead to a schedule exclusively against the other six Canadian teams, often with two or three games in a row.
“It’s going to be extremely different,” Connor acknowledged. “Even just the vibes from what we’re dealing with coming here, it’s just got a different feel.”
And a different look on the left side.