Practice report - Scheifele update

WINNIPEG – The Winnipeg Jets held practice today at noon CT and Mark Scheifele did not take part.

The Jets centreman left last night’s 2-1 win over Chicago early in the second period with a lower body injury and did not return. Rick Bowness announced that he is day-to-day and that can only be described as a good thing since the last thing the Jets need right now is to lose Scheifele for an extended period of time.

“That’s a good thing, the way he pulled up when he was skating and the way he left the ice and didn’t come back,” said Bowness.

“You know he’s a tremendous competitor and those guys fight through anything. So, we took the precautionary route, which is the smart thing to do.”

Bowness didn’t rule out Scheifele for tomorrow’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers either. However, the club recalled Rasmus Kupari from the Manitoba Moose and he will be put in the lineup after missing 25 games with an upper body injury.

“We wanted him to play a few more games than one (with the Moose),” said Bowness.

“But we’re not in that position right now to have the luxury, so he’s coming back and will be in the lineup tomorrow.”

Nikolaj Ehlers who was last night’s hero scoring the game winning goal with 1:05 remaining took part of today’s skate but left early. His status for tomorrow’s game is also a question mark.

“He’s dealing with an upper body. Again, do you want him to practice and aggravate it, or do you want to give him time?”

“Hopefully he’ll play tomorrow, so we took that route as well. This time of year, you’re banged up, so rest and get ready to play.”

Axel Jonsson-Fjallby was absent from practice after playing last night, Bowness said he has been fighting an illness, so he was sent home.

As we’ve seen time and time again, the Jets have been able to overcome injuries to key personnel because of their depth. They are already without Kyle Connor and David Gustafsson, losing Scheifele will be a challenge.

“Yeah. It sucks losing (Mark) but hopefully, it’s nothing serious with Mark. We don’t 100 per cent really know, or at least I don’t. It sucks to lose a guy of that calibre. He’s obviously one of the best players in the league. At the same time, our depth in our team is really what makes us special,” said Perfetti.

“You see it last night. We lose him for more than half the game and guys step up and fill his role, eat a lot of minutes and play really well and we end up getting the win. I think we’re going to rely on our depth if guys can’t go tomorrow night. That’s a strength of our team, that’s how deep we are.”

Some options include putting Cole Perfetti in the middle or Gabe Vilardi, Bowness did mention that Perfetti’s wrist isn’t 100 per cent so the Jets don’t want him taking faceoffs.

“Next man mentality. It's happened all year so other guys are going to have to step up,” said Vladislav Namestnikov.

“We've been playing as a team so the next man steps in and we keep going.”

Some exciting news coming from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet with Bowness locking down one of the four coaching spots for the All-Star Game in Toronto in February.  The Jets coach gave a lot of credit to others including his coaching staff who filled in for him while he took a personal leave to be with his wife Judy after she had a seizure back in October.

“Well, if that’s the case, obviously that’s a tremendous tribute to Kevin, Chevy. The team he’s put together. It’s obviously a great tribute to Scotty (Arniel) and the coaching staff who held this thing together for a month,” said Bowness.

“How many coaches get to leave their team for a month and continue to do well? And give the players a ton of credit. This group has worked hard from day one. They haven’t let up.”