With the injuries starting to add up, the Winnipeg Jets have put in a call to the American Hockey League’s Manitoba Moose for reinforcements.
The Jets placed both forwards Andrew Copp and Mathieu Perreault on injured reserve and recalled forwards Mason Appleton and Jansen Harkins from their AHL farm club.
Copp was hurt in the second period of Tuesday’s loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. He appeared to get injured while throwing a check on Jordan Staal along the boards. Copp left the game briefly but returned a short time later. He played two more shifts before exiting the game for good.
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Copp will be out of the lineup until after Christmas with an upper-body injury, but head coach Paul Maurice said it’s not a concussion.
“We’re still waiting for the final. He’s not going tomorrow,” Maurice told reporters on Wednesday. “The best — it’s going to be week-to-week. I’ll have a better idea by tomorrow. He’s got a couple more tests he’s got to get looked at.”
The 25-year-old Copp has five goals and nine assists in 34 games this season.
Perreault remains in concussion protocol after he was knocked out of Sunday’s game.
Without Copp and Perreault, the Jets have lost two-thirds of their all-important checking line.
Appleton, 23, returns to the Jets after a four-game conditioning stint with the Moose. He recorded one assist in the AHL after he broke a bone in his foot playing football ahead of the Heritage Classic in October. He was pointless in nine games with the Jets before the injury.
It’s the first call up to the Jets for Harkins, who’s been tearing up the AHL this season. He leads the league in assists and is ranked third in overall scoring with seven goals and 24 assists in 30 games.
The Jets conclude a three-game homestand on Thursday against the visiting Chicago Blackhawks.