https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/jets-prospect-perfetti-turns-heads-ice-smarts-dynamic-shootout-moves/
WINNIPEG — Never mind the highlight-reel goal in the shootout that didn’t really count.
This isn’t to diminish the fact Winnipeg Jets top forward prospect Cole Perfetti pulled off the same shifty move against his Vezina Trophy-winning teammate on the opening day of training camp, but the slippery forward-backhand-delay-forehand finish was equally impressive when he beat Filip Gustavsson in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Ottawa Senators on Sunday night.
Given the exhibition rules, this was just a dress rehearsal to help teams for down the road when the extra point really matters, but for the time being that impressive show of skill is merely stored for safe-keeping by the Jets’ coaching staff and won’t really factor into his battle to try and nail down a job in the opening-day lineup against the Anaheim Ducks on Oct. 13.
Phew, that Perfetti shootout goalhttps://t.co/glakPYhtnx pic.twitter.com/Dj2qkeuJnY
— Winnipeg Jets (@NHLJets) September 27, 2021
Of course it won’t hurt Perfetti’s cause. But if he’s able to stick around and avoid being sent to the minors, it will be because of his ability to process the game both with and without the puck.
“You know what, he’s a really smart player,” said Jets head coach Paul Maurice. “He’s got a killer move on the shootout and he would be a guy, this is just about time and reps for him. He’s got to get in, get a feel for the speed of the game. There were two or three just positioning clips in the offensive zone, he didn’t have the puck, where he did it perfectly. It was just right on. The angle was right. He stayed in the right spot. So I know he’s a very, very smart guy. So he’s got really good hands. He’s got really good vision.”
That remarkable vision was on display when he nearly connected with Luke Johnson.
Perfetti showed his spatial awareness to create a passing lane by buying himself some extra time and made a nice effort to get the puck through to Johnson, even if the pass was not quite on the mark.
“He’s going to get used to the timing and speed of the pro game,” said Maurice. “And all of those other things, what you like the most of was his adherence with what he was supposed to be doing without the puck. So he values it.
“He’s not sharking around the game trying to figure out where he can break it loose to show you what kind of hands he’s (got). He’s doing all the right things, which tells you at some point you’re going to be able to put him on the ice, even if he’s not scoring. That’s the key piece for the skill guy. What do you do without the puck?”
Just last week, Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff left a small trail of breadcrumbs for reporters when asked a question about what it means for the organization to have the option to send Perfetti to the AHL instead of the Ontario Hockey League.
“He’s not there yet,” said Cheveldayoff.
While he wasn’t making a declaration Perfetti was a lock to secure a spot, this was a simple acknowledgement that the Jets’ 2020 first-rounder has lofty goals in mind — goals the 10th overall pick openly shared on the first day of the pro mini camp that preceded his first taste of an actual NHL training camp.
And with Mark Scheifele forced to sit out the opener as he serves the final game of his suspension, a player like Perfetti could keep himself in the equation a bit longer than usual.
How he performs in the coming weeks will ultimately dictate what the next step for Perfetti will be, but he definitely helped his cause on Sunday night.
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Dubois needs stitches
Being able to play in front of what was close to a full building for the first time since March of 2020 made Pierre-Luc Dubois happy, even if the 15 stitches to his face after taking a cross-check from Ridly Greig made it difficult for him to smile.
Dubois was going to finish a check on Greig in the offensive zone at 10:31 of the second period, but the Senators’ 2020 first-rounder got his stick up in the grill of the Jets’ centre.
The call on the ice was a double-minor for high-sticking, but after reviewing the play on the iPad during the stoppage in play, the call was upgraded to a cross-checking major and game misconduct for the Brandon Wheat Kings star. The NHL’s department of player safety has since said it Greig would have a hearing for the incident.
“I don’t think he did it on purpose. I don’t really know him, but I know he’s a good player, scored a nice goal in the first,” said Dubois. “I think he just got scared, threw his stick up. He saw me coming and threw his stick up to defend himself, which is obviously against the rules for an obvious reason. It is what it is.”
Dubois didn’t play for the rest of the second period as he received repairs that were evident during his post-game session with reporters, but he returned for the third period, finishing with 18 shifts for 16 minutes and 34 seconds of ice time.
“I felt good leading up to the crosscheck,” said Dubois. “It was tough to get back in the game (after that). But I felt good leading up to that, (in terms of) execution and stuff like that. You’ll never start the preseason feeling 100 per cent. Sometimes it’s the legs, sometimes it’s the mind. It’s (about) putting it together piece by piece.”
Dubois scored a power-play marker, while CJ Suess had the other goal for the Jets, who finished the game 1-for-5 with the man-advantage.
Winnipeg Jets’ Pierre-Luc Dubois (80) carries the puck around Ottawa Senators’ Lassi Thomson (60) and Erik Brannstrom (26) during third period NHL preseason action in Winnipeg, Sunday, Sept. 26, 2021. (Fred Greenslade/CP)
The departure of Dubois for half a period wasn’t the only time Maurice was forced to hold his breath as Nikolaj Ehlers left the game for several minutes after he got tangled up with a Senators player in the neutral zone. Ehlers was actually called for tripping on the play but didn’t serve the penalty as he received some medical attention before returning to action.
“That is probably the biggest challenge for those guys in exhibition hockey. You can’t play-fight in hockey and be good,” said Maurice. “Everyone is still trying to get their timing, trying to get their hands, trying to get good. The game is still physical, full contact, with lots of chaos. So you hope everyone gets through it healthy. Both of them are.
“Pierre-Luc had a whole bunch of stitches and he had the option of not coming back based on it, but he wanted to come back out and play so good on him for that. (Ehlers) is always a more effective player when he’s in some scrums and some battles, so we’ve come to expect that.”
Maurice isn’t going to over analyze this opening game, whether a player turned heads or had a few issues to overcome.
“You have a huge spectrum of people coming to the rink,” said Maurice. “Some guys, this could be their one game to make their impression. Other guys are wondering ‘How many games is the coach going to make me play?’ There is a big difference for each player coming to the rink. It’s almost all positive at this stage.
“If you’ve had either good camps or you’ve been a good player and you had a terrible night I won’t think twice about it. If you’re somebody that you don’t know and you’ve had a good night today, that’s a positive.
“I don’t think anybody is going to lose anything if they had a tough night. It won’t change what we think of them.”
One of those players who caught the attention of Maurice was defenceman Johnathan Kovacevic, who is coming off a strong season with the Moose and is trying to improve his standing.
Kovacevic took 22 shifts for 17 minutes and 24 seconds of ice time, finishing with one shot on goal and one takeaway.
“You think about the strides that he’s made over the last couple of years,” said Maurice. “He looked composed with the puck. His reads were really good, he had some good box outs, some good physicality. He made some plays, some smart plays with the puck. That would have been one of the new faces for me. I didn’t get to see him play at all last year. He was good.”
Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman talk to a lot of people around the hockey world, and then they tell listeners all about what they’ve heard and what they think about it.
Fourth line seeks identity
Thanks to the departures of Nate Thompson, Trevor Lewis and Mathieu Perreault in free agency, one of the more hotly-contested battles will be for fourth-line roles.
The Jets will be looking to the fourth line to consistently provide close to double digits in ice time this season, but is unlikely to be anchored by veteran players the way it has been the past several campaigns.
But exactly what it’s going to look like remains very much a work in progress.
“That will really depend on the identity they create,” said Maurice. “That identity is built by the structure of it. I’m not demanding that we have a certain identity and try to make players play a game that they can’t. If it’s a bit more skilled, then we are going to want to see them do some things with the pucks.
“But there is that base level, and a lot of times (the question is) ‘can you do that against the other teams’ fourth line?’ If you can do it, if their fourth line is heavy and physical and you can be a more skilled line, then that can be a great advantage for you. But you’ve got to make sure you can do the right things against those lines.”
Riley Nash has taken the majority of the reps at centre during the first four days of training camp and the opening exhibition game and looks like the front-runner for that job — though he has the versatility to be able to be used as a right-winger as well.
How long does Nash think it takes for that identity to start taking shape?
“That’s a good question. I think it depends a lot on the other lines as well, where guys are going, where we’re shaking out,” said Nash. “It’s just getting all those guys on the same page and making sure we’re as responsible as possible and they can trust us (for) D-zone faceoffs and d-zone hits against their top lines. It definitely takes time and it’s definitely on all the players on the fourth line.”
The loss of Thompson and Lewis, coupled with Mason Appleton joining the Seattle Kraken in the expansion draft means the Jets are going to need several players to step into penalty killing roles this season.
Having the ability to play on special teams has been one of the pre-requisites for the fourth line under Maurice.
In Sunday’s game, Jansen Harkins and Kristian Vesalainen were both given the chance to take turns on the penalty kill — along with work on the power play.
The Senators finished zero-for-four on the power play, while Harkins drew the primary assist on the Dubois goal, so it was a strong start for him in the battle to move up the pecking order on the forward depth chart.
Winnipeg Jets’ goaltender Eric Comrie (1) makes a save on Ottawa Senators’ Tyler Ennis (63) as Andrew Copp (9) defends during first period NHL preseason action in Winnipeg, Sunday, Sept. 26, 2021. (Fred Greenslade/CP)
Comrie shakes off rust
Jets goalie Eric Comrie gave up three goals on 27 shots in just over 60 minutes of work on Sunday in what was his first NHL action since Feb. 22 — when he propelled the New Jersey Devils to a 5-3 win over the Buffalo Sabres.
This was the first step in Comrie’s quest to nail down the backup job behind Connor Hellebuyck and he’s scheduled to get at least one more exhibition appearance – likely next weekend against either the Edmonton Oilers or Vancouver Canucks.
Comrie gave up a backhand goal to Greig in the first period, then settled into a nice groove before giving up the equalizer to Alex Formenton on a shot from the middle of the circle that went off the far post and in.
Shane Pinto delivered the overtime winner on a perfect shot that beat Comrie high to the blocker side just 25 seconds into the three-on-three session.
Despite being limited to only one shot on goal in the second period, Comrie didn’t think the lack of action impacted his performance.
“No, I don’t think so. That’s a goalie’s job,” said Comrie. “I mean, we get paid to stay in the moment, stay in focus, and I think it was fine. I had a couple of shots early in the third period that got me right back into it. Even throughout, there was still some movement in our zone. I know there wasn’t a ton of action but still, it’s mostly the movement stuff that keeps you in the zone more than anything else.”
Comrie vowed to scour through the videotape for ways he could have played the shots differently, but he remained upbeat.
“I thought there (were) lots of things I liked,” said Comrie. “I felt pretty solid. I felt rebound control was pretty solid in the first period and throughout the first bit there. I made a couple good down low saves, a couple good saves through traffic. So I think that was nice for me to be able to go out there and do that and see through some screens and just react. Just play hockey again and have some fun.
“I haven’t played a ton of games in a long time here. It feels nice to get back out there and get a little rust off and just build off that.”
https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/canadiens-roy-returns-junior-impressive-showing-training-camp/
MONTREAL — Jocelyn Thibault, gars de chez nous, knows more than a thing or two about playing for the Montreal Canadiens, and he has little reservation about proclaiming prospect Joshua Roy has what it takes to one day do it.
A day after the 18-year-old was one of the first three cuts at Canadiens training camp, we caught up with Thibault, who’s part-owner and vice-president of hockey operations of Roy’s QMJHL Sherbrooke Phoenix, and he said this kid has a lot more than just the right attitude.
But the former Canadiens goaltender, who returned to his hometown in 1995 via trade for his boyhood idol and arguably the most popular and best goaltender in Canadiens history (another Roy, this one named Patrick), believes Roy’s chances to prove the organization hit a home run in selecting him 150th overall in the 2021 NHL Draft start with what he has inside.
“I’ve been around and gone through it, so I know,” Thibault said. “Among all the players drafted in Montreal who have a chance to actually make it in Montreal, I think Josh is one of them. His character is really, really high. He’s a really good kid, but he also has that F-U attitude where nothing bothers him. It’s unbelievable how nothing bothers him.
“If you were playing in the gold medal game in the Olympics and decided to put him in the shootout, he’s got no heartbeat, he doesn’t feel stress at all. To play in Montreal, I think that’s a great asset to have.”
It’s not the only one Roy possesses, which he proved in convincing fashion throughout rookie camp but also over the five days he was at main camp.
As Thibault noted, the Saint-Georges-de-Beauce, Que., native has “hockey sense through the roof and offensive touch off the charts,” and that was on full display during Sunday’s Red and White scrimmage at the Bell Centre.
Granted, Roy was cut after the game — he was going back to junior no matter what and the idea was to return him there fast and with a bit more experience under his belt — but he stood out, first on a great individual effort for a backhand goal and then sneaking his way to the back door for a goal Joel Armia set him up for. And now he’ll take that confidence with him to Sherbrooke, where Thibault says he’ll play in every key situation this season.
The Phoenix acquired Roy from the Saint John Sea Dogs, who had selected him first overall in the QMJHL draft after he helped the triple-A Levis Chevaliers to 41-1 record by scoring 38 goals and finishing with 88 points in 42 games.
Roy then posted 16 goals and 44 points in his first season with the Sea Dogs and followed it up with nine goals and 17 points in his first 15 games last year.
But he wanted out of Saint John and that was music to Thibault’s ears.
“I liked him in midget,” Thibault said. “I was the GM with Sherbrooke back then and I saw him play quite a bit. I was at the Canada Games in Red Deer, (Alta.) in 2019. Team Quebec won gold, and the best line in Canada that week was on their team — Justin Robidas at centre, Josh Roy and Olivier Nadeau, who plays in Shawinigan and has since been drafted by Buffalo.
“I followed Josh a lot. We had two first-round picks that year. But they were eight and nine or 10 and 11, so they were too far to get Roy or Robidas or Nadeau. But I really liked Josh. Last year, in Sherbrooke, we heard that Josh was available and that things weren’t working out in Saint John, and we investigated. We had interest, as did (former Canadien) Stephane Robidas. And our scouts really liked him. So, it was the Joshua Roy Derby at trade deadline. We paid a lot for him, gave up a lot, but I really think he’s a special player.”
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Now Thibault, Robidas and the rest of the people running the Phoenix will work to help Roy show that more consistently.
Roy hasn’t been able to do that to this point, which is why he slipped to the fifth round of the draft.
He’s since lost 20 pounds and gotten himself into proper shape, and Thibault says he’s driven to prove his doubters wrong.
“There’s a paradox looking at Josh,” Thibault said. “He’s an unbelievable competitor. Like, even when he plays soccer with the boys in the hallway, he wants to win. He wants to win really, really bad at everything he does. But, on the other side, hockey has always been so easy for him — he’s put up points everywhere — and I think he’s realized over the last two years how there comes a point where just putting up numbers isn’t enough.
“And Josh, even if put up a ton of points everywhere, even the scouts were saying, ‘You can’t play hockey in the NHL floating around.’ Everyone was wondering if this kid could add tools to his game and play 200 feet to be involved every shift, and that’s why there were question marks about him. But, like I said, it’s kind of a paradox because he’s such a competitor. Some nights, you’d see him play and wonder, ‘Does this kid want to play tonight,’ but he really wants to play and really wants to score goals.
“Part of it was conditioning. Everything came so easy to him, he never realized he had to work that hard to become a hockey player. To be pedal-down every day in practices and in games, he wasn’t doing it. But that other side where he wants to win and make a difference has brought him to a point of realizing it’s not going to come that easy anymore. That’s why he lost 20 pounds. And he just wants to be a hockey player and is on board with whatever we tell him to make him one. He sees it’s paying off, so it’s easy to work with him.”
Thibault says Roy will have to do his part to be more impactful all over the ice, and that his involvement in every aspect of the game is a mandate this season — regardless of how much offence he’s producing — and he wrapped our conversation reiterating he’ll be a player to watch.
We’ll be keeping a close eye on Roy’s progress from here.
Cole Caufield to miss “about one week,” Edmundson, Niku and Gallagher in the mix
Cole Caufield, who was one of a few Canadiens appearing halfway decent in their 4-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday, was a last-second scratch at Sunday’s scrimmage because he suffered an upper-body injury in warmup.
“I gotta go see the training staff to know more,” said coach Dominique Ducharme on Monday, “but after last night they thought (he’ll miss) about one week.”
“It was 100 per cent before warmup, but it’s probably nothing major,” Ducharme added in French. “We believe it’ll be a week, but, like I spoke about last week (regarding injured Canadiens Mike Hoffman and Carey Price), bringing him back too quick could have him risk re-injuring himself. We’re going to take our time to make sure he’ll be OK, so that’s why we’re waiting a week.”
Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman talk to a lot of people around the hockey world, and then they tell listeners all about what they’ve heard and what they think about it.
The Canadiens won’t have to wait much longer for defenceman Joel Edmundson, who’s been skating on his own since being listed as “day-to-day” with an undisclosed injury he started camp with last week.
Ducharme said Edmundson would join practice either Tuesday or Wednesday.
Defenceman Sami Niku, who signed with the Canadiens late last week, will also jump from the cast-off group of mostly AHL players he practised with on Monday to join one of the main ones on Tuesday.
And Canadiens assistant captain Brendan Gallagher practised on Monday after missing the start of camp for “family reasons.” Ducharme said he’ll dress for one of two exhibition games the team is scheduled to play against the Ottawa Senators this coming weekend.
https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/matthew-tkachuk-hopes-return-top-form-flames/
As much as he enjoyed the gig, Matthew Tkachuk insists his part-time summer stint as brother Brady’s agent is over.
“I’m in training camp now — my work is done there,” smiled the Flames winger, who made headlines league-wide with his recent comments on the 32 Thoughts podcast on his little bro’s contract stalemate with Ottawa.
“I’m off the clock officially there. I’m focused on this up here and they worry about that over there.”
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Was he surprised his words caused such a stir?
“I don’t get surprised by anything in Canada any more,” he chuckled.
Nothing ever seems to surprise fans either, when it comes to the talented muckraker.
However, his unpredictability disappeared early last season when the man known for his skill as much as his post-whistle engagement, went relatively silent, disappearing regularly from the scoresheet and the headlines.
A post-game puck flip to the chest from Jake Muzzin prompted a nuclear reaction from Tkachuk followed by a relatively vanilla stretch from a man who is at his best when in the midst of, well, everything.
Asked if he was making a conscious effort to stop stirring things up, the 23-year-old shrugged.
“You guys notice that stuff more than I do,” said the former 34-goal scorer, who had a late flurry of success to finish with 16 goals and 43 points in 56 outings.
“I don’t really make my living from post-whistle stuff. I’ve got to do way more than that to show myself as a player. So, I’m focused on that this year as well.”
[radioclip id=5208040]
Did he see himself as being the same player last year?
“I just don’t think I was at my best for enough time,” he clarified.
“I thought there were bits and pieces I played the way I know how, but I was not as consistent. I know going into last year, that’s the one thing I wanted to be better at was my consistency. I have to get back to that. Getting back to being an impact player every night. Last year I wasn’t.”
Nor were many of his teammates, which explains the team’s fifth-place finish in the North Division and the need to change coaches mid-stream.
“I think, quite frankly, if you asked all the guys that were here last year if they played up to their standard, if there’s anybody that said that they did they are probably lying,“ said Tkachuk, who has started camp on the left side of 200-foot stars Elias Lindholm and Blake Coleman.
“As a team we were nowhere near where we needed to be, especially coming down the stretch in the second half when we had a chance. This is a really big year.”
As someone whose game rises with the emotion of a game, few others will benefit more from the roar of the crowd than Tkachuk … and he knows it.
“Yes, definitely — I think it will impact everybody’s game,” he said.
“It sucked last year with no fans. Huge games last year without anybody in the crowd. It’s a different feel. It’s not the same at all. The energy we’ll get from these pre-season games is something we haven’t felt since March of 2020 -– that’s a long time ago. I definitely feed off that and am excited about that, home and away.”
A restricted free agent next summer who could take his one-year qualifying offer of $9 million and walk into free agency, his questionable future in Calgary is one of the biggest things preventing him from being the obvious replacement for departed captain Mark Giordano.
“I don’t think about that stuff too much — that’s way out of mine and the rest of the players’ decision,” he said of the vacant captaincy.
“It’s not like that changes you as a player or as a leader or the way you are on or off the ice. I’ve said since my rookie year that ever since I was five years old I’ve played the same way, and acted the same way, and I don’t think anything is going to change the way I’ve done things in the past. I just want to come in here this year and be really passionate and competitive. Last year wasn’t the year myself or anyone else wanted. So, a fresh start. I’m really excited to be here to change the last few years for this team.”
Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman talk to a lot of people around the hockey world, and then they tell listeners all about what they’ve heard and what they think about it.
Changing people’s opinions isn’t a motivator.
“We’re not here to change peoples’ minds on how we are as a team, or what they think of me, and I’m not trying to prove people wrong or anything,” he said.
“I just want to go out there and be part of a great team this year and have a great end result.”
PRE-SEASON FLOP
The Flames’ pre-season started in horrific fashion Sunday, with a 4-0 drubbing at the hands of a much younger Edmonton Oilers lineup. The Flames were outshot an unheard-of 49-15.
Other than the excitement of having fans in the Dome for the first time in 18 months (roughly 8,500 showed up) there weren’t many positive developments.
Coach Darryl Sutter said he wasn’t worried about the result, as he was just focused on individual performances.
When asked about 20-year-old Jakob Pelletier, Sutter winced, pointing out only how young Pelletier is.
He had better things to say about goalies Dan Vladar and Adam Werner, who split duties, stopping 21 and 24 shots respectively, while allowing two goals apiece.
The six-foot-five Vladar was acquired from Boston for a third-round pick and is penciled in to play roughly 15-20 games as Jacob Markstrom’s backup. The 25-year-old, with just five NHL games to his credit, insists he isn’t looking that far ahead, and is simply concentrating on having a good camp.
The Flames dressed two veteran forward lines, which included newbie Lance Pitlick, who left the game with a lower body injury. In the previous two prospects games, the Flames lost defenceman Johannes Kinnvall and forward Connor Zary to injuries.
The Flames play Vancouver on Monday night, in Abbotsford, B.C.
https://www.sportsnet.ca/nfl/video/bledsoes-injury-started-bradys-legacy/