The Winnipeg Jets reduced their “active” training camp roster to 34 players on Sunday.
That total does not include injured defensemen Ville Heinola and Logan Stanley, who earlier in the week underwent ankle and meniscus surgeries respectively; they are expected to be sidelined for at least a month according to head coach Scott Arniel.
Goalie Dominic DiVincentiis and forwards Daniel Torgersson and Parker Ford were assigned to the AHL Manitoba Moose who open their training camp on Monday at Hockey For All Centre in Headingley.
Underage forwards Colby Barlow and Brayden Yager, who were both in the lineup for Friday’s 8-5 loss to the Minnesota Wild in St. Paul, have been loaned to their junior teams.
Barlow remains property of the OHL’s Owen Sound Attack while Yager will report to Moose Jaw after helping lead the Warriors to their first-ever WHL title in 2023-24.
Arniel said the exit interview meeting with both players was similar. The message: go back to the junior division and dominate; play well enough to earn the opportunity to play for Team Canada at the 2025 U20 Men’s World Junior Tournament which will be played in Ottawa. Yager wore the Maple Leaf for Canada in the 2024 tourney and is expected to help form part of the National Junior Team leadership group this coming winter.
Arniel said this was more or less the first “real” pro training camp for Barlow after the Jets 2023 first-round draft pick was sidelined by COVID 12 months ago. “He missed out all of last year obviously with getting sick in training camp, not getting a chance to play in exhibition games.”
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Arniel says Barlow told him he felt better in the second game at Minnesota compared to the preseason opener versus the Wild six days earlier at Canada Life Centre. “The pace of the game, how little he had the puck. Whether it’s playing the system or him trying to get to the spots offensively to get his looks, he recognized there’s a whole different level.”
Barlow did gain some pro experience this past April when he joined the Moose following Owen Sound’s first-round exit versus eventual Memorial Cup Champion Saginaw in the OHL playoffs. And Arniel wants the 6-1, 195-pound winger from Orillia, Ont., to take the lessons learned in the American Hockey League, and at this training camp, and apply them to what should be his final season in the junior ranks.
“The hard part is, when you go back you take your foot off the pedal and you kind of relax. He needs to make sure that every day is a learning day for him, it’s a growth day,” explained Arniel. “Whether that’s in the weight room or whether that’s on the ice. You don’t get caught out there for a minute and 20-, 30-second shifts and play at half speed. Try to keep that mentality of 45-50-second shifts and you’re going as hard as you can. Try to learn as much as possible this coming season so when we see him next year he’ll be one year older and more experienced.”
Arniel says he was very impressed with the camp Yager had after coming over from Pittsburgh in the Aug. 22 trade for Rutger McGroarty. The 19-year-old Saskatoon product also played in the two exhibition games versus Minnesota and scored once in the 8-5 loss Friday night.
“Nice surprise there – not knowing anything about the player coming in,” admitted the Jets bench boss of the 6-0 and 170-pound center who scored 35 goals and added 60 assists for Moose Jaw in 57 games during the regular season before adding 11-16-27 in 20 playoff contests for the WHL Champion Warriors. “Great skillset, great shot as you saw the other night. Good on faceoffs, heady kid who was always asking questions of myself and the coaches about playing without the puck.”
Arniel said Yager certainly benefitted from the time spent with Sidney Crosby last fall at Penguins training camp – and shared that a similar scenario played out over the past 10 days with Jets veteran center Mark Scheifele.
“Those players are driven guys, top-end guys who work at their game. Yags was actually complimentary of Scheif and the stuff that he helped him with and he’s got potential.”
Sunday’s training camp cuts leave the Jets with an active roster of four goalies, 11 defensemen, and 19 forwards going into the final two preseason games versus Calgary: Wednesday in Winnipeg and Friday in the Foothills City.
Below is the depth chart, including the forward lines and defense pairs from Sunday’s practice at Hockey For All Centre.
Goalies:
Connor Hellebuyck
Kappo Kahkonen
Eric Comrie
Thomas Milic
Defense:
Josh Morrissey-Dylan DeMelo
Dylan Samberg-Neil Pionk
Elias Salomonsson-Colin Miller
Haydn Fleury-Dylan Coghlan
Dmitry Kuzmin-Tyrell Bauer
Simon Lundmark
Forward:
Kyle Connor-Mark Scheifele-Gabriel Vilardi
Nikolaj Ehlers-Vlad Namestnikov-Cole Perfetti
Nino Niederreiter-Adam Lowry-Mason Appleton
Morgan Barron-Rasmus Kupari-Alex Iafallo
David Gustafsson-Dominic Toninato-Axel Jonsson Fjallby
Nikita Chibrikov-Brad Lambert-Jared Anderson Dolan
Mason Shaw
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