"(He) led rookies in goals. I'd like to see the guy who led all rookies in goals as a finalist," said teammate Tyler Myers. "I hope he knows that that you don't need to be a finalist to know what kind of year you had. He's been unreal for us all year, and I think he's improved his game as he's gone (on). He's at a point now where he's so hard on the puck and playing great hockey. He's exactly where we want him to be."
One of the reasons Connor's season was so impressive is he wasn't on the Jets opening day roster - he was sent down to the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League. An injury to Mathieu Perreault opened the door for Connor, who played his first NHL game of the season on Oct.17 against Columbus, and ended up scoring a goal.
The Michigan product spent the majority of the 2017-18 campaign with Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler on the Jets top line, closing out the regular season with 9 goals in his final 13 games.
"It is what it is," said Connor when asked if he was disappointed not being a Calder finalist. "Whether I was or wasn't (a finalist) is not going to change anything about me."
Maurice marvelled at the development of Connor over the season, and it was more than just his goal scoring that impressed him.
"The skating and the shot was there right from day one last year," explained Maurice. "He now is a player that you rarely talk to on the bench. He's developed into that guy that you can almost treat him like a veteran. He doesn't make a whole lot of mistakes. He plays really hard. He's dangerous. There's just not a whole lot of holes in his game."
The Jets have improved immensely from last season in their own end of the rink and Connor played a part in that.
"I don't know if I'm thinking defence first. It's just when you are in the defensive zone you take care of that responsibility first," said Connor. "Just being more aware on the ice with certain players and defensive pairings and making sure you beat your defenceman up the ice if you are first on the forecheck. So that's kind of the biggest thing from my mindset that has changed."
