'I liked some things that we saw out there': Jets hold first scrimmage as they prepare for upcoming season

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WINNIPEG — Wednesday provided the long-awaited first taste of game action for the Winnipeg Jets since getting bounced from the 2020 NHL Playoffs by the Calgary Flames in early August, albeit, in form of a scrimmage.

Team Blue, led by the bottom six forwards and donning the home sweaters, narrowly beat their top six opponents dressed in road white, 3-2, in a shortened 40-minute exhibition.

As expected, some rust needed to be worked off from a unique and challenging offseason during a global pandemic, but overall, head coach, Paul Maurice, liked what he saw on day three of training camp.

“The systems haven’t been on the front burner the first two days. Some of the tracking, some of how we go from one end of the ice to the other, shift lengths, things like that we were looking at. I like the blue squad, they had a bunch of chances to score. I liked some things that we saw out there.” Maurice said.

“The things that you wouldn’t like, I’m not worried about right now. They’re not on my radar.”

Team Blue opened the scoring when Trevor Lewis, who is on a professional tryout with the team, one-timed a shot past Connor Hellebuyck, Team White would score the next two with goals from C.J. Suess and a pretty goal from Kyle Connor, however, Team Blue erased the deficit with a goal from Nelson Nogier who was moved up to forward with Mathieu Perrault out of the lineup, before Jansen Harkins scored the eventual game winner just moments after Hellebuyck had stopped him with an embellished glove save.

Laurent Brossoit earned the win, but the clear starter for the 2021 season will be the reigning Vezina Memorial Trophy winner, Connor Hellebuyck.

But with such a unique schedule that features numerous back-to-back games and baseball-style series throughout the 56-game season, many wonder how that will impact playing time for both goalies.

“I’m a guy who likes to play a lot so I’d like to get 40–45 games,” Hellebuyck said,

“But who knows what’s going to happen. I can get even hotter and go even more, or (Brossioit) might get hot and we might be in a playoff spot and then we start riding him for a bit to give me some rest so it depends on how the season plays out.”

Hellebuyck is known as a goalie who would play every game if he could, but 45 out of 56 games is a little much, especially if the Jets are destined for the playoffs. And so Laurent Brossoit could be called on to play some big games this season for Winnipeg.

“Realistically, if everything goes according to plan, more of a target for me would be 20 (starts) and obviously my play would have to be good enough for me to earn enough starts to get to that level,” said Brossoit.

Playing each team in the North Division nine to 10 times, the Jets should have a good grasp on each opponent’s strengths, weaknesses and tendencies as they move deeper into the season, but Maurice says there is no target dates for Brossoit’s starts.

“There is no dip in your schedule, there is no real difference between all these teams, they are all really good, so you're not picking a game (for Brossoit),” Maurice said, “It will come down to rhythm and the amount of games Connor (Hellebuyck) is playing."

Having the league’s best net minder in goal is the main reason Winnipeg was able to qualify for the 2020 NHL playoffs. And even though Maurice believes the Jets have improved its defensive game with the additions of defenceman Derek Forbert and centres Paul Stastny and Nate Thompson over the offseason, success rides on the performance of their number one goalie.

“We added two NHL centre icemen, that’s just like adding two NHL defencemen, and we added a defenceman so I think we are going to be far better in terms of what we ask of Connor Hellebuyck.” Maurice said.

“But our expectation is he will be a difference maker for us and we are going to need him to be.”

Having achieved his goal of winning the Vezina Trophy, Hellebuyck is less interested in defending his title, shifting all of his energy towards chasing a Stanley Cup, even if it means putting up another Vezina-calibre season.

“Now the only one that matters is the Stanley Cup. I'd love to win another Vezina, but it's time, I’m in my prime, the team is in its prime and it's time to win a Stanley Cup,” Hellebuyck said.

Of course, anything can happen over the course of a season, even if it’s only 56 games. So Brossoit says he will continue to compete with Hellebuyck in practice, hoping that working alongside a Vezina winner will elevate his game, so the Jets won’t miss a beat when the heart of the team needs a break.