If you tossed a toga on some of these bubble players on the Winnipeg Jets roster, you might mistake them for ancient Greek philosophers studying stoicism.
At a time when the pressure should be at its boiling point, these guys seem to be out there just living their best lives.
Marcus Aurelius would be impressed. Seriously.
“I try not to have too much pressure going in, especially in practice where I feel like we’re all a team, we’re out here together,” Johnathan Kovacevic said when a question was broached about competition ramping up in the late stages of training camp on Tuesday.
Kovacevic, still in the mix to grab an NHL roster spot, is one of 10 defencemen left, and is further along in training camp than he has ever been. But nerves? The man is doing his best job to hide them if they’re even there at all.
“I just come and focus on myself, really,” he said. “I know I have things to work on and that I’m learning every day. Try to work on those things every day and try not to feel too much pressure. It’s still hockey after all.’
Maybe he has just been deep into the ancient teachings.
To quote Aurelius: “You have power over your mind — not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”
Wise words, for sure. But with 10 guys battling for six spots and a likely seventh in the press box as the next man up, you have to stand out somehow.
“You’ve got to know your game,” Kovacevic said. “For me, that’s keeping it simple, playing hard defensively, having a good stick. Just kind of knowing you are as a player and a person and bringing that to the rink. I’m not trying to be someone that I’m not. I’m trying to show what I can do best.”
Dylan Samberg, too.
They might be good friends off the ice and a defensive pair that the Manitoba Moose leaned on last season, but they’re in direct competition with one another at the moment.
“It’s good competition,” Samberg said. “You can’t complain about that. You just got to come out and prove yourself every single day. All these other guys are doing the same thing.
“Even just looking to make your push, show them that you belong and show them what you can do. Do the things that you can do good. That’s all you can do at the end of the day. Wherever you end up, you end up.”
Part of the reason the Jets have 10 rearguards still in camp is simply that none of the five vying for one job have stood out enough to become a frontrunner.
Along with Kovacevic and Samberg, there’s offensively gifted blue-liner Ville Heinola, summer depth-addition Kyle Capobianco, and last year’s incumbent Logan Stanley.
Something has to give eventually. As Jets head coach Rick Bowness has said on a number of occasions throughout the past couple of weeks, sooner or later, some are going to play themselves off the roster.
But there are still two games left, including what could be a pivotal contest on Wednesday at Canada Life Centre against the Calgary Flames.
The Jets will head to Calgary for the second half of the home-and-home on Friday with what will likely be their NHL roster, heading from there to Banff for a few days of team bonding before the start of the regular season on Oct. 14.
So Wednesday’s game may be the last chance to separate oneself from the pack, so to speak.
“We have a couple new faces forward wise and everyone is pushing for a couple spots left here,” said forward Jansen Harkins, who’s in a battle himself up front to lock down a full-time gig. “It’s definitely good competition. With new coaches and everything like that, that’s what you want in training camp, guys to push each other and feel a little bit of pressure. That’s the only way we’re going to be able to kick ourselves into gear here. It’s definitely better that way than a bit too loose.”
One way or another, it’s all going to come to a head pretty quickly here.
“I think that’s one thing about camp, one thing that’s great about camp is seeing the guys that start taking the next step,” Jets assistant coach Brad Lauer said. “Obviously, this week is going to be important. But again, at the end of the day it works its way out.”
LAUER LIKING POWER PLAY
At times over the past couple of seasons, Winnipeg’s power play has looked, well, a bit predictable.
Don’t expect that to be the case going forward, however.
While a 21% clip may look nice on paper, as Lauer — one of the team’s new assistants who is in charge of the man-advantage — said Tuesday, it was only good for 17th in the league last season.
“The thing we talked about this summer, as a group, is how do we get that extra 3 or 4%?” he said. “How do we get those extra 10 or 12 goals? If we get a little bit more motion on it, be a little bit more unpredictable with it, that will get us to that level.”
To do so, the Jets are looking to unleash some of the creativity they’ve got. You may have already noticed Nikolaj Ehlers on the top power play in the pre-season, for instance.
“They’re the best players in the world and they have those instincts,” Lauer said. “I think you give them a few options, but then you let them play. They’re very intelligent players, they’ll make plays.”
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