Today the Winnipeg Jets sent player to the Moose on what should be an active waiver wire across the NHL. Lemieux, Roslovic, Spacek and Lipon have all been assigned to the Moose with only Lipon having to clear waivers which is expected.
That leaves Kyle Connor, and Branden Tanev on the roster as it's expected that injuries to Copp and Hendricks have forced the Jets to keep up tow players believed to be going back to the Moose. What's also curious is that Tucker Poolman is still with the big club.
The rosters have to be set by 4pm EST tomorrow so there is still a chance to move players and the Jets might do so still.
The lines today were as follows:
#NHLJets lines at practice:
— Sara Orlesky (@saraorlesky) October 2, 2017
Perreault-Scheifele - Wheeler
Ehlers- Little- Laine
Tanev- Lowry-Armia
Dano-Matthias-Petan
Connor
The defence pairing seems to be missing one key member at the morning practice too.
Morrissey Trouba Poolman Myers Enstrom Kulikov
It's believed that Byfuglien is taking a maintenance day and would be available for Wednesday night's opening game agains the Maple Leafs.
In this scenario the injuries to Copp and Hendricks have bought the Jets some time at least as it pertains to giving players like Connor a longer look at the NHL level. As for Poolman he has impressed this pre-season and the question becomes is there a heavy decision between keeping him and taking a chance on Ben Chiarot clearing waivers? Poolman is of course exempt from waivers.
So if there were no injuries would the Jets have Hendricks in the line up and would Tanev and Petan be with the team?
If the Jets are going to carry 13F 8D and 2 goalies who is that extra player in the forward group and the extra two in the defence?
It would seem logical that when Buff comes back Poolman steps out but should he be sitting up high watching the game or playing with the next best level of pros? What about Tanev and Connor and Dano and Petan? For many, one easy choice would be the put Tanev onto the Moose and leave him there. Public sentiment would suggest that he does not bring anything to the team that the other three don't while they contribute more to scoring, scoring chances and likely goal output.
The discussion inevitably revolves around player usage and value and given the praise that Maurice has had for Hendricks this preseason it's likely that his role on the team is defined in some way. So assuming that both Copp and Hendricks are healthy would it make sense that Dano and Petan would step upstair and Connor would move down to the Moose?
This is the hardest part to gauge with the Jets and it appears this discussion happens every year at this time. The team brings in competition to compete with the draft and develop model and given the data, analytics and observations no one can seem to get a feel on what the Jets are building with their bottom lines. That is somewhat troubling because by this point, the seventh season in Winnipeg, the vision for the team should be relatively clear one would think.
Needless to say there will be injuries and players will get chances to play but it certainly seems like the topic of player usage and role will once again be frequent point to discuss again.