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Winnipeg Jets providing blueprint on handling devastating injuries

By Scott BilleckJan 30, 2018, 12:30 PM EST

The injury bug paid a visit to Winnipeg and left a six-to-eight week piece of adversity on the doorstep of the Jets on Monday

The Jets announced that top defenseman Jacob Trouba will be sidelined for up to two months with a lower-body injury he picked up last Thursday, handing the Central Division-leading Jets the third such lengthy diagnosis this season.

Losing your No. 1 center and your top-line defenseman in a span of a month is less than favorable, but if any team has shown the blueprint to dealing with seemingly massive blows to a roster this season, it’s the Jets.

They’ll certainly need to refer to it going forward.

Perhaps the most impressive trait when it comes to their ascent to the top of the Central has been their ability to navigate the harsh realities that come with each and every NHL season.

Injuries have, are, and always will be a mainstay for every team. It’s a fact of life in the NHL and one teams try to prepare for with depth. Some succeed while others fail.

The Jets are proof this season that the latter is attainable despite some significant knocks to key players.

Here is the lengthy list of other Jets who have gone down this season:

  • Mark Scheifele — injured after falling into the end boards following a hit from Edmonton Oilers defenseman Brandon Davidson in the second period on Dec. 27. Diagnosis: 6-8 weeks with a shoulder injury
  • Adam Lowry — an upper-body injury likely sustained against the Buffalo Sabres on Jan. 5. Has missed eight games (will return to the lineup on Tuesday).
  • Dmitry Kulikov — injured after getting drilled from behind by San Jose Sharks forward Tomas Hertl on Jan. 23. He’s out indefinitely with an upper-body injury. (UPDATE: Kulikov could play Thursday, Jets coach Paul Maurice said Tuesday).
  • Brandon Tanev — missed seven games after picking up a lower-body injury on Dec. 29 against the New York Islanders.
  • Toby Enstrom — missed eight weeks and 23 games with a lower-body injury he sustained back in October.
  • Dustin Byfuglien —  sidelined for 10 games after a Dec. 9 tilt with the Tampa Bay Lightning
  • Steve Mason —  missed seven games with a concussion in late November and early December and has now missed a further six with another concussion.

Every team deals with injuries. Not every team deals with injuries well. The Jets have dealt with the injury bug in impressive fashion.

Mark Scheifele’s injury could have been a season-altering blow. Losing your No.1 center isn’t a desirable thing to have happen, and Scheifele was having a career year and helping those around him do the same.

But in the 12 games he’s missed since getting injured, the Jets are 8-2-2.

“You look at what we’ve been able to do with (Scheifele) out of the lineup,” Lowry said on Monday in Winnipeg. “You lose your No.1 center, who was having an all-star campaign when he went down, and it seems like (Blake) Wheeler just slots into the middle and our team gets rolling.”

Wheeler’s move from right wing to center has been exceptional in Scheifele’s absence and has allowed for the boat to be a little less rocked down the middle for the Jets.

Trouba’s injury comes on the heels of the Jets losing Kulikov indefinitely.

“A key piece, right? It’s not just losing the player, he’s also playing right at his peak. His game in Anaheim was outstanding. He was really good,” Maurice said shortly after confirming reports of Trouba’s injury. “If we have an area of depth, and we do, it’s right defense. So that’s the one place if we have a guy go down, that we have players there who want the minutes, that can handle the minutes.”

The Jets will slot Tyler Myers up with Josh Morrissey in attempt to fill the minutes Trouba was commanding. Myers has shown he can handle the workload.

“Obviously (Trouba) is a big loss,” Myers said. “We’ve dealt with injuries the past month here. For us as a group, it’s just focusing on the same thing we have and that’s our game plan and executing.” 

Helping the Jets with Trouba out will be the defensive corps’ familiarity with one another. The Jets blue line was ravaged last year, including Myers, who was limited to just 11 games because of a groin injury.

“You can take it back to the last few years since I’ve been here. Everyone on the back end has played with a lot of different partners throughout my time here. We’re pretty used to switching things up. It’s just a matter of talking it out and getting used to each other quicker rather than later.” 

The Jets will have to be quick learners again.

Scott Billeck is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @scottbilleck

Neuvirth cites Voracek as his reason for joining Flyers

By Ryan DadounAug 31, 2015, 6:00 PM EDT
4 Comments

Any Flyers fans that were happy to see goaltender Michal Neuvirth sign with their team this summer can apparently thank Jakub Voracek for that.

“I met Jake and we talked about things here and he said all good things about the Flyers,” Neuvirth told CSN Philly. “He wanted me to come here. I think it made him happy when I signed here. … He was the reason I signed here.”

Neuvirth, 27, inked a two-year, $3.25 million deal to serve as Steve Mason’s understudy. The hope is that he’ll prove to be more effective in that role than Ray Emery was last season.

Although this is the first time that Voracek and Neuvirth will play together in the NHL, the two have been working together on the Czech national team since they were teenagers.

For his part though, Voracek doesn’t want to take credit for recruiting Neuvirth.

“I think it’s hard to say I convinced him,” Voracek said. “I told him this was a great place to play with a great locker room [of guys]. A lot of potential. That’s all I said.”

Neuvirth has a 2.73 GAA and .912 save percentage in 168 career NHL games.

Philadelphia Flyers ’15-16 Outlook

By Ryan DadounAug 26, 2015, 5:11 PM EDT
8 Comments

The Philadelphia Flyers have built a great foundation, but it remains to be seen if their supporting cast is ready to help propel them into the playoffs.

Although it hasn’t always been the case, at this point it seems reasonable to bet on Steve Mason providing the Flyers with a strong presence between the pipes. At the same time, the chemistry that Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek have developed should result in the Flyers once again having one of the most effective top lines in the league. Even defensively, which tends to be seen as their weakest point, they have a solid anchor in Mark Streit.

A solid starting goaltender, great top line, and an effective offensive defenseman are a good start, but that in and of itself isn’t enough to make a serious contender, as the Flyers exemplified last season.

For example, a championship team typically has quite a bit of offensively depth, which Philadelphia didn’t possess in 2014-15. That problem could be largely addressed though if 24-year-old Brayden Schenn and 22-year-old Sean Couturier are able to make bigger contributions this season. There’s also a chance that newcomer Sam Gagner will prove to be an effective complimentary player or that Vincent Lecavalier or R.J. Umberger will bounce back.

Their defense is an even bigger question mark though. While it’s true that Philadelphia has a very promising group of defensive prospects, it’s entirely possible that none of them will be ready to make major contributions this season. That means that the Flyers might be relying in part on Michael Del Zotto, who has been inconsistent over the course of his career, to have a good season or that 32-year-old Yevgeni Medvedev will make a smooth transition from the KHL and at the very least prove to be a helpful stopgap measure.

There are certainly scenarios that can be painted in which this team bounces back and perhaps even enjoys a lengthy playoff run. However, with so many significant X-factors in play, Philadelphia will be interesting, but not necessarily successful in the short-term.

Poll: Are the Flyers better off losing (a lot)?

By James O'BrienAug 26, 2015, 4:00 PM EDT
18 Comments

When you ponder the Philadelphia Flyers’ roster, it doesn’t immediately scream “hopeless.”

That’s especially true if you scroll down starting with the forwards; the one-two punch of Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek is complemented by the unusual power play + power forward work of Wayne Simmonds as well some other nice pieces. Combine that group with redemptive goalie Steve Mason and one can understand the optimism.

The glass gets closer to half-empty as you scan that blueline.

Mark Streit is probably the brightest light in that group, and he’s 37. Things get pretty dicey from there, and GM Ron Hextall’s hands were tied with a clogged cap situation.

Could this roster churn out a wild card berth? One would think it’s a possibility, so we’ll start with that poll:

Feel free to disagree in the comments, yet as plausible as a postseason bid might be, it’s tough to imagine the Flyers contending with that bumbling blueline.

Flyers owner Ed Snider won’t like this, but it could be best to swallow a bitter pill of defeat in 2015-16 and gear up for better days.

You never want to throw away peak years for the likes of Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek. That said, they’re young enough (Giroux is 27 and Voracek is 26) that they could still be elite producers when the smoke may start to clear in a year or two.

Between Luke Schenn and Sam Gagner alone, the Flyers will see $6.8 million in cap space dissolve in the summer of 2016 alone. They’ll also be free of R.J. Umberger’s $4.6 million mark after 2016-17.

(Vincent Lecavalier’s $4.5 million cap hit taunts them through 2017-18, though. Hey, you can’t win them all.)

Beyond gaining financial breathing room, Hextall collected nine draft picks in 2015, 2016 and 2017, so the farm system could be impressive down the road. Naturally, that would only be more apparent if the Flyers end up with a premium pick in 2016.

So, long story short: should the Flyers go into tank mode next season?

It’s Philadelphia Flyers Day at PHT

By Ryan DadounAug 26, 2015, 9:00 AM EDT
31 Comments

Throughout the month of August, PHT will be dedicating a day to all 30 NHL clubs. Today’s team? The Philadelphia Flyers.

In 2013-14, the Philadelphia Flyers endured a terrible 1-7-0 start, but they improved as the campaign went on and still managed to make the playoffs. Last season they once again struggled out of the gate (0-2-2), but this time no comeback of significance was forthcoming.

There were silver linings to be sure. Steve Mason showed that his solid 2013-14 campaign wasn’t a fluke as he posted a 2.25 GAA and .928 save percentage in 51 games. After years of goaltending headaches, the fact that the 27-year-old netminder is secured for another two seasons with a reasonable $4.1 million annual cap hit is a big plus for Philadelphia. However, the Flyers largely squandered his strong play in 2014-15 as he had the NHL’s best GAA in losing efforts (2.67) among goaltenders that were charged with at least 10 defeats.

Philadelphia was credited with just 215 goals for, which left them in 22nd place. That’s despite the fact that Jakub Voracek stepped up in 2014-15 with 22 goals and a career-high 81 points in 82 contests.

Claude Giroux and Wayne Simmonds were the only other Philadelphia forwards that recorded at least 50 points as Sean Couturier and Brayden Schenn weren’t able to make a significant leap offensively, Vincent Lecavalier was used sparingly under coach Craig Berube, and R.J. Umberger struggled in his first season following the Scott Hartnell trade.

That all culminated in Philadelphia ending the season with a 33-31-18 record.

Off-season recap

After missing the playoffs, Flyers GM Ron Hextall fired Berube and replaced him with Dave Hakstol, who previously served as North Dakota’s bench boss. Philadelphia stayed busy in the lead up to the UFA period by inking veteran KHL defenseman Evgeni Medvedev, shipping forward Zac Rinaldo to Boston for a 2017 third-round pick, and trading Nicklas Grossmann along with Chris Pronger’s contract to Arizona in exchange for Sam Gagner.

When it came to the draft, Philadelphia realized it needed a forward, but with Ivan Provorov available for the seventh pick, Hextall couldn’t pass on the opportunity to grab the highly regarded defenseman.

The Flyers were relatively quiet during the free agent period, likely due in large part to their cap situation, but they did ink 27-year-old goaltender Michal Neuvirth to a two-year, $3.25 million deal. A veteran of 168 games, he’ll enter the season as Mason’s understudy.

Philadelphia might not be done yet though as they do have eight defensemen signed to one-way contracts, so the squad might part ways with one via the trade market. There’s also always the possibility that the Flyers will find a suitor for Lecavalier, although the fact that he has three seasons left on his contract with a $4.5 million annual cap hit makes moving him a challenge.