Jets Notebook: Next-man-up mentality to be tested vs. Blues
Right off the bat of the 2024-25 playoffs, the Jets are forced to adopt a next-man-up mentality. Playing short of two top-six forwards — who are also weapons on the power play — puts a microscope on not only the team’s depth but Arniel and his staff’s willingness to make adjustments.
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WINNIPEG — Walking into a playoff series without two 60-plus point scorers stings.
And unfortunately for the Winnipeg Jets, life without Gabriel Vilardi and Nikolaj Ehlers could become the norm throughout their first-round series against the St. Louis Blues.
Ehlers, who has been sidelined with a right-foot injury since Saturday’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks, was listed as “week-to-week” by Jets coach Scott Arniel on Tuesday.
Vilardi hasn’t played since sustaining an undisclosed upper-body injury against the Buffalo Sabres on March 23rd. He hasn’t taken part in a full team practice since.
Right off the bat of the 2024-25 playoffs, the Jets are forced to adopt a next-man-up mentality. Playing short of two top-six forwards — who are also weapons on the power play — puts a microscope on not only the team’s depth but Arniel and his staff’s willingness to make adjustments.
The latter has been a source of pride for the Presidents’ Trophy winners, who managed to stay atop the league’s standings all year despite various stretches where they were without Dylan Samberg, Adam Lowry and Neal Pionk.
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“Now, it’s obviously a bigger stage,” Arniel said after Friday’s practice. “But I expect them to do the exact same things they have been doing to this point.”
All eyes turn to Alex Iafallo and Cole Perfetti.
Iafallo has filled in admirably for Vilardi, recording seven points in 11 games and providing a defensive conscience to the top-line duo of Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor.
Perfetti, on the other hand, is the key to Winnipeg having a second wave of attack beyond Scheifele’s line. Fresh off a career-high 50-point campaign, the 23-year-old played some of his best hockey down the stretch — recording 25 of those points in his final 33 games — and has found a way to be engaged in all areas of the ice.
On paper, both Perfetti and Iafallo have shown enough to make Arniel confident enough in keeping his top-six depth chart (relatively) the same. But this time of year, things can change in an instant.
“The one thing about playoffs, especially if you get in a long series, you have to make adjustments,” Arniel said.
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But when push comes to shove, will Winnipeg make the hard decisions?
If Scheifele and Connor struggle against Robert Thomas’ line and their makeshift second line of Perfetti, Vladislav Namestnikov and Nino Niederreiter can’t generate anything — will Arniel split up his dynamic duo, creating a more balanced top-six?
While Scheifele and Connor have been attached by the hip virtually all year, the way Blues coach Jim Montgomery rolls his lines may pose a matchup nightmare.
“With (Jordan Kyrou) being with (Brayden Schenn), and then there’s (Pavel Buchnevich) and (Robert Thomas), that’s two heavy, heavy lines of offence,” Arniel said on Thursday.
Hellebuyck
Remember when Connor Hellebuyck said after last year’s first-round collapse that he felt he should play more of a team game and was putting too much on his shoulders?
Scrunch that up and toss it in the garbage.
“I scrapped that real fast,” Hellebuyck said after Thursday’s practice. “Not saying that I am putting everything on my shoulders, but my goal throughout my entire career is to get a shutout every single night. That is what makes me, me. And that is what I feed off of.”
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The Jets need a motivated Hellebuyck. And boy, are the stars ever aligning for a revenge tour: the way the last two playoffs went. Losing in the gold medal game at the 4 Nations. Plus, the recent NHLPA player poll, where he was voted in as the third-best goalie in the world, trailing Andrei Vasilevskiy and Igor Shesterkin.
“Obviously people aren’t watching the Winnipeg Jets enough,” Cole Perfetti said after Tuesday’s practice.
One thing to note — the poll was conducted before the Christmas break.
Home ice (dis)advantage?
Winnipeg will have home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs.
“It limits travel to start a series,” Lowry said after Thursday’s practice. “You’re able to keep your routine. Obviously, the start times are all over the place, but you control the matchups in-game. If you don’t have the momentum, you’re able to have the crowd bring you back into the game. There’s a lot of different factors playing at home. We’ve been a really good team playing at home and we’re looking for that to continue. Obviously, the playoffs are a different animal.”
While the Jets have the third-best home win percentage over the last three seasons (.711), they’ve won just one of their four home playoff games through that span.
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Blues notes
- Montgomery confirmed on Friday that Robert Thomas — who exited Tuesday’s game against the Utah Hockey Club with a lower-body injury — is good-to-go for Game 1. During the Blues’ post-4 Nations break heater, Thomas led the NHL in scoring with 40 points in 26 games.
- From the trade deadline to the end of the regular season, St. Louis ranked first in penalty kill percentage (87.8 per cent). Through that same span, the Jets’ power play ranked 23rd (17.4 per cent).
Friday’s practice lines
Kyle Connor — Mark Scheifele — Alex Iafallo
Nino Niederreiter — Vladislav Namestnikov — Cole Perfetti
Brandon Tanev — Adam Lowry — Mason Appleton
David Gustafsson — Morgan Barron — Jaret Anderson-Dolan
Josh Morissey — Dylan DeMelo
Dylan Samberg — Neal Pionk
Logan Stanley — Luke Schenn
Connor Hellebuyck
Eric Comrie
Extras: Colin Miller, Haydn Fleury, Ville Heinola, Dominic Toninato, Chris Driedger
Injured: Nikolaj Ehlers, Gabriel Vilardi, Rasmus Kupari
