THAT HURTS!
Injury to Laine just latest curveball for Jets
One thing appears certain about this very uncertain NHL season: There may never be a dull moment.
I'm not even talking about the games.
One game and three days into it for the Winnipeg Jets, the juggling of bodies on and off the COVID-alert list has combined with a combination of really good news and potentially very bad to create a lineup in flux going into Monday night's tilt with the Leafs in Toronto.
The latest curveball for the Jets as they delve into the baseball-like schedule pitched by the NHL to fight off the pandemic: a Sunday practice injury to sniper Patrik Laine.
Already well on his way back to sainthood in these parts — he shrugged off his desire for a change of scenery to score two goals, an assist and a scrum in a 4-3 overtime win over the Calgary Flames in the season-opener — Laine pulled up lame early in the skate on the Christian Sabbath.
Clutching the area above his left hip and in obvious discomfort, Laine skated to head coach Paul Maurice to presumably let him know something was wrong, then left the ice and didn't return.
“He couldn't warm up right during practice,” Maurice said, shedding little light on the trouble. “I don't even know if I'm going to list him as day-to-day, yet. We'll get to tomorrow to see how he's feeling.”
At least Laine was planning to get on the plane to Toronto.
Tucker Poolman, Josh Morrissey's partner on the first defence pair, wasn't.
Poolman spent his second day on the COVID-alert list and won't make the threegame trip out east, where the Jets face Ottawa on Tuesday and Thursday.
It was Poolman's issue (flulike symptoms, presumably, or perhaps a close contact) that caused the Jets to cancel Saturday's practice.
Maurice says he didn't have to cancel, that the Jets were just being extra careful. Better safe than sorry, especially these days.
If potentially having your scoring star out and your top defence pair halved isn't enough, first-line winger Nik Ehlers didn't practice on Sunday because he's still dealing with symptoms that produced a negative COVID test which allowed him to play the first game against Calgary, Thursday.
Ehlers made the trip to Toronto.
Dylan DeMelo did not, and this is where the good news comes in.
One of the Winnipeg's top defensive defencemen, DeMelo and his wife had a baby that kept him out of Thursday's game.
The pandemic prevents the couple from getting any help, though, so dad is staying home to help with the new addition.
Maurice says mom and baby are doing fine, so that's a plus.
The Jets survived DeMelo's absence just fine in Game 1. Compounding it with Poolman's will add to the challenge.
The two options to replace Poolman are Logan Stanley and Dylan Samberg, neither of whom have ever played an NHL game.
Expect the towering Stanley, of Waterloo, Ont., to make his debut against (gulp) Auston Matthews and Co., at least based on the praises Maurice sung his way Sunday morning.
“Dylan Samberg, we don't know,” Maurice began “I mean, we've had him at development camps. But he kind of worked his way into the main group after three or four days ... he looked strong and he's fit right in out here.
“Logan made a major, major commitment this summer to his fitness level and really showed right from the start that he was at a completely different place than at any point since we've had him.”
Stanley is likely to skate with Nathan Beaulieu on the third pair, leaving Sami Niku as Morrissey's partner on Pair 1 for the second straight game.
“You just have to adjust on the fly and be ready for anything,” Morrissey said of the off-speed pitches already coming the Jets' way. “It's tough, obviously, for everyone. We all love playing the game, but obviously there's something a lot bigger going on right now in the world.
“It really takes a lot of mental toughness.”
Hockey players are nothing if not creatures of habit.
So two days off in a row just didn't feel right.
“You don't see that at all during a normal season (being) off the ice or outside the facility,” Morrissey said. “If I've learned anything over the past 10 months, you have to adapt.”
Playing Sunday after two days off, Morrissey acknowledged, would have been tough. Playing at all, though, is what they live for.
“When you hit the ice, everything stops,” Maurice said. “All the outside noise stops. Whether it's practices or the game, those are the best parts of our day.”