Hellebuyck returns to practice as Jets prepare for St. Louis

WINNIPEG - Connor Hellebuyck made his return to Winnipeg Jets practice on Monday, and although his first few days as a father were interrupted by an illness, he's enjoyed every second he's had with his son - Hugh Joseph Hellebuyck.
"Being able to be around him and hold him, it's just a feeling you can't describe," said a smiling Hellebuyck.
Hellebuyck said his wife, Andrea, has been a "rock star" throughout the first week, especially when he was unavailable due to a non-COVID illness he described as one he wouldn't have been able to play through.
So after 40 minutes of practice, his first action since the 2-1 overtime loss to the San Jose Sharks on Oct. 30, Jets head coach Paul Maurice said a decision on the starting goaltender for Tuesday's game against the St. Louis Blues will be deferred until tomorrow.
"If he feels good then we're going to want to get him back in the net," said Maurice. "Even if he's not at that 100 per cent, he need to get back in the net to get to that. Those guys have to play games to get feeling good, so as long as he doesn't feel like I do after my one workout a month, we'll give him good consideration for the game today."

As far as practice goes, Hellebuyck felt good in his return.
"There's definitely going to be a little bit of a reset, but I felt good on the ice today," Hellebuyck said. "It's just about getting mentally up to speed. The structure is there. Now, it's just about getting my reads back and making sure I'm doing things as quick as I possibly can."
While Hellebuyck made his return to practice, there were a couple players missing from Monday's session.
Mark Scheifele and Paul Stastny - both injured in Saturday's 2-0 loss to the New York Islanders - weren't on the ice with their teammates.

Scheifele did return to the game late, while Stastny did not.
"We won't rule them out for tomorrow," said Maurice. "We'll give them the morning skate and if they make good healing over 24 hours, if they continue that, it's possible. We'll see. We won't know until tomorrow."
Nikolaj Ehlers was a full participant for just over half the skate, before Maurice said something tightened up on the forward. Ehlers left the ice at that time, but Maurice expects him to be available for Tuesday's divisional tilt with St. Louis.
Ehlers was on the ice for the line rushes, which looked like this without Scheifele and Stastny.
Connor-Dubois-Svechnikov
Harkins-Copp-Ehlers
Lowry-Nash-Wheeler
Beaulieu, Toninato
Morrissey-Schmidt
Dillon-Pionk
Stanley-DeMelo
With Hellebuyck back, the Jets reassigned Mikhail Berdin to the Manitoba Moose and recalled forward Kristian Vesalainen.
Monday was also used as a day to reflect on Saturday's loss, which snapped the eight-game point streak the Jets had put together.
They went 6-0-2 in that span, so one loss doesn't remove all the good things the Jets did in that span.
It was, however, an opportunity to learn. Especially since it was the first back-to-back the Jets had faced this season.
"We talked about some things that change in the game on back-to-back nights," said Maurice. "A little quieter on the bench, a little quieter on the ice. There are some communication plays - a few of them with our goalie - on puck hand offs and things like that. We tried to deal with some things that are part of our game, but we also have two sets of back-to-backs coming up this month."
Most of the video sessions regarding on-ice play were focused on themes the Jets are trying to get better at, or as Maurice says - trying to take "things that were 7 out of 10 good, you want to get them to 8 and 9 out of 10."

The Jets will need to be at that level against the Blues, who sit second in the Central Division with a 7-2-1 record.
"You're going to get a team that does what Chicago does well and what the Islanders do well in one package," said Maurice. "You're going to get a team that does what Chicago does well and what the Islanders do well in one package. Even off their game (Sunday) night, they attack like Chicago does, they'll get four on the rush and make plays, strip pucks and they've got good sticks and they'll play with some quickness. Then they would be more defensively structured not in terms of systems but just personnel."
Winnipeg is 3-0-1 against the Central Division so far, with victories against the Nashville Predators, the Dallas Stars, and the Chicago Blackhawks.
They'd like to continue improving their record within the division, especially since they'll only have one more divisional game (against the Minnesota Wild) for the rest of the month.
"We haven't seen (the Blues) in some time but just in years past, they've always been a tough team to play against," said Kyle Connor. "They do everything the right way, they don't give you much. Similar to the Islanders. So, yeah, you can draw from the past game and the things that we worked on today at practice and apply those to that game for sure."
If Hellebuyck does get the start against the Blues, he's hopeful that his family's newest addition does exactly what he did last night.
"Baby slept great last night," Hellebuyck smiled. "He's got a rockstar of a mom and she's been handling everything and her grandma has been in town helping, which has been great."