WINNIPEG – It didn’t take Dylan Coghlan long after being acquired by the Winnipeg Jets to make his way to the Manitoba capital. The BC product was acquired from the Carolina Hurricanes on July 5 and then just over a month later he made the trip to Winnipeg.
“I got here August 15th to kind of adjust, get comfortable, skated with (Neal) Pionk for a month by ourselves. He’s been great to me, everyone’s been great to me. All the older guys, everyone’s been super welcoming and making it super easy to come here,” said Coghlan after practicing this morning.
“The opportunity is definitely there for me (to make the team), it’s whether or not I want to take it or not. So, I just have to go prove it. I feel like I’ve been doing a good job of that so far and just trying to pay attention to the little details and everyday practice routine.”
Skating with Pionk was not planned, the veteran Jets defenceman and his wife Kiera had just had their daughter so they were in town already.
“Just kind of worked out that way, I don’t know what I would have done if it was just me skating here. But I have some friends that I have played with in the past that live here like Brett Howden and Seth Jarvis,” said Coghlan.
“I skated with them to and with P, so yeah, it was good to kind of get under his wing a little bit and have him introduce me to people and introduce me to people around the rink. So, it just made things easy.”
Coghlan said that he and Pionk have a lot of similarities.
“We’re not going to be the loudest guy in the room. Dry humour, just a calm attitude, very positive,” said Coghlan.
“So, he was great, and I couldn’t have asked for someone better to welcome me here.”
Coghlan is now playing with his third NHL organization after starting with the Vegas Golden Knights and coming to Winnipeg via the trade from Carolina. The 26-year-old knows he is hitting a crucial time in his pro career.
“I know how everything works now. Maybe three or four years ago if you asked me how to play, it would be a little bit different now. I’ve learned a lot in the past couple of years,” said Coghlan.
“Just a few switch ups with how I do things, how I approach the game. I always thought it was go out there and make a nice pass or a nice play in the o-zone but now I kind of have shifted my focus more towards the d-zone. Trying to make that first nice pass and try and get myself into the right areas and set myself up to get into the offensive zone.”
The door is open right now on the Jets blueline for Coghlan with the injuries to Ville Heinola and Logan Stanley. That being said, he understands that he can’t go out on the ice and try to do too much to impress the coaching staff.
“You want to try and standout as much as you can but at the same time try not to put yourself in a position where you’re trying to do too much like you said. For me, that was kind of my problem when I was younger. I thought I had to make these certain plays,” said Coghlan.
“But now I feel like it’s almost more rewarding for a coach to complement you on some of your d-zone plays. Like even Arnie (Scott Arniel) today complemented a couple of d-zone plays of mine, that felt way better than say if he complemented me on an o-zone play.”
ICE CHIPS
There was a moment of concern about halfway through the skate this morning when Nikolaj Ehlers went down in the corner and stayed down for a bit. The Danish forward got up and rejoined his teammates for the second half of practice.
“I didn’t even see it because I was talking to one of the guys about one of the plays (from) earlier. He seemed better,” said Arniel.
“He just got a little bit spooked on (the play). He kind of hit skates with (Mark Scheifele) and kind of tweaked himself a bit. But I think he’s fine.”
