The Winnipeg Jets will have four of the five players selected in last weekends NHL entry draft in Vancouver attending their annual development camp which gets underway Tuesday at Bell MTS Iceplex. That group includes defenceman Ville Heinola, who the Jets took 20th overall during Friday’s first round at Rogers Arena.
The only absentee from Winnipeg’s draft class of 2019 will be defenceman Simon Lundmark who was the Jets second round pick, 51st overall on Saturday afternoon. Lundmark is under contract to his club team, Linkopings of the Swedish Hockey League, and has returned home to resume training for the coming season.
Heinola will skate along side two other Jets first round picks, as defenceman Logan Stanley and forward Kristian Vesalainen will also be attending the week long camp. All told there will be four goalies, 15 defencemen and 22 forwards on the roster. Twenty-three of the 41 players are Jets picks from five of the last six drafts. The 2014 fifth round pick CJ Suess will be the “old man” of the group at 25.
The 2015 draft class will not be represented while 13 of the 17 undrafted free agents who have been invited are forwards. Two members of that group are Manitobans as Tristan Mullin of Cartwright and Winnipegger Reid Stefanson will have a chance to skate in front of family and friends. Mullin played for Cornell this past season while Stefanson suited up for U Mass-Lowell.
On-ice sessions are scheduled for 10 a.m. (ACU rink), 10:15 a.m. (Can Tire) and 11:30 a.m. (Can Tire) each of the first two days. There will be 10 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. sessions on Thursday before the camp wraps up on Friday with a 10 a.m. scrimmage. All sessions are open to the public.