Connor takes flight as one of NHL's top rookies

Rookie forwards making an impact is something Winnipeg Jets fans have grown accustomed to.
Last season, Patrik Laine took the NHL by storm, finishing second in rookie scoring with 64 points (36G, 28A) while securing a spot in the NHL All-Star Game and a runner-up finish for the Calder Memorial Trophy. The year before, Danish forward Nikolaj Ehlers finished ninth in scoring among first-year players, notching 38 points (15G, 23A) in 72 games.
This season, 2015 17th overall pick Kyle Connor is following in his teammate's footsteps.
The Shelby Township, MI product has 35 points (18G, 17A) in 51 games - good for fifth in team scoring and seventh among NHL rookies. While the opening half of his first full NHL season is off to a solid start, it began on a tough note when the Jets sent him back to the AHL's Manitoba Moose before season opener on Oct. 4.
Thirteen days later, he was back - recalled when Mathieu Perreault suffered an injury - and it's been full steam ahead ever since.

"It's a good opportunity every time you step on the ice, so every shift you have to go out there and prove yourself and play the best you can," said the then 20-year-old after being recalled by the big club in October.
Prior to Mark Scheifele's upper-body injury on Dec. 27 vs. Edmonton, Connor skated on Winnipeg's top line alongside Scheifele and Jets captain Blake Wheeler. He stayed by the captain's side with Wheeler shifting from the right side to centre for most of the next 16 games until Scheifele returned on Feb. 9. Playing with Wheeler is one of the reasons Connor's game has flourished in his second professional campaign.

"I've learned so much from him; he's such a great player," Connor said. "On and off the ice - just little things - treating your body right. On the ice, he has so much insight on the little details all over the ice that make such a big difference in the game. There's a lot I can still learn, but I've definitely taken a lot from him."
With a team-leading 61 points (14G, 47A), Wheeler is enjoying perhaps his best season as a pro - an impressive feat - all while helping Connor develop into a consistent NHL forward.
"The real positive with him is the more responsibility that's thrown at him the better he plays," Wheeler said.
"I think he really feels like he is a part of (the game) now. I think he really feels like he has a say in the outcome of every game - sometimes as a young player that's what you need. I think he is used to being kind of the top dog on his team, playing a ton of minutes, having a ton of responsibility and that doesn't always happen at this level."
Wheeler isn't the only member of the Jets praising the improvements Connor has made to his game in the last 12 months. Head Coach Paul Maurice has been high on the 21-year-old since he joined his roster in October.
"He came last year with NHL speed (and) an NHL shot, so he already had that," the coach said. "What he needed to learn and get better at are very difficult things, and they're hard and they usually take an awful lot of time - the idea of being on the puck. I have an elevated sense of what he can do. I'm a real big fan when he's really on the puck."

As the games pass, Connor says his confidence with and without the puck continues to build.
"I think it grows every time you play a game in this league. It's something you can work towards and kind of develop. I'd say I'm pretty confident, for sure," he said.
"I'm improving every game and trying to find ways to improve and trying to help this team win. That's my attitude going into each day."
Following one season with the NCAA's University of Michigan Wolverines where he led the Big-10 in scoring with 71 points (35G, 36A) in only 38 games and was finalist for the Hobey Baker Award (NCAA's top player), Connor turned pro. After a 19-game stint with the Jets to start the 2016-17 season, he was reassigned to the Moose. Tallying an assist in his first AHL contest on Dec. 9, 2016, Connor hit the ground running going on to finish his first professional season with 44 points (25G, 19A) in 52 AHL games - highlighted by a Player of the Week nod and a second-place finish in the Moose scoring race, only four points behind fellow 2015 first-round draftee, Jack Roslovic (48 pts).
Connor attributes his time in the AHL to his growth 12 months later.
"It was great for me to develop down there and really work on the things that I needed to work on to be able to play at this level and to play at an elite level," said Connor.
"The whole coaching staff from top to bottom with Pascal Vincent - you could see it this year, the success they're having, it's a great organization and they helped me a lot."
After spending five seasons as an assistant coach with the Jets, Pascal Vincent shifted to the head-coaching role with the Manitoba Moose last season to groom the organization's young talent to have success at the NHL level.
Vincent seized the opportunity to work with a budding prospect like Connor.

"For Kyle to come back with us last year and to prove to himself that he could do it at (the AHL) level and then to bring it to the NHL, it's a matter of confidence. But to do it by respecting the team's systems - that's what he had to learn," Vincent said.
"For players like Kyle Connor that will create offence and that have tremendous speed offensively, knowing where you need to be defensively, is going to help your offensive game because you don't waste any time chasing the puck around."
Connor's efficient play this season is what's impressing his coach at the NHL level.
"I have a very high expectation level, the growth has been spectacular, the change - he's a completely different player," Maurice said.
"He's a really, really effective player in the NHL - great speed - but he's on the puck, his intensity level every single shift is miles away from where it was last year when he first game in and even this training camp. There is some real growth going on there and it's not just, 'Hey, I'm getting a chance to play so I'm putting up numbers.' There are so many important things away from the numbers that allow him to play with Blake Wheeler and Mark Scheifele on the No. 1 line against the best players in the world."
- Tyler Esquivel, WinnipegJets.com