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“He couldn’t warm up right during practice,” Maurice said, shedding little light on the trouble. “I don’t even know if I’m going to list him as day-to-day, yet. We’ll get to tomorrow to see how he’s feeling.”
At least Laine was planning to get on the plane to Toronto.
Tucker Poolman, Josh Morrissey’s partner on the first defence pair, wasn’t.
Poolman spent his second day on the COVID-alert list and won’t make the three-game trip out east, where the Jets face Ottawa on Tuesday and Thursday.
It was Poolman’s issue (flu-like symptoms, presumably, or perhaps a close contact) that caused the Jets to cancel Saturday’s practice.
Maurice says he didn’t have to cancel, that the Jets were just being extra careful. Better safe than sorry, especially these days.
If potentially having your scoring star out and your top defence pair halved isn’t enough, first-line winger Nik Ehlers didn’t practice on Sunday because he’s still dealing with symptoms that produced a negative COVID test which allowed him to play the first game against Calgary, Thursday.
Ehlers made the trip to Toronto.
Dylan DeMelo did not, and this is where the good news comes in.
One of the Winnipeg’s top defensive defencemen, DeMelo and his wife had a baby that kept him out of Thursday’s game.
The pandemic prevents the couple from getting any help, though, so dad is staying home to help with the new addition.
Maurice says mom and baby are doing fine, so that’s a plus.
The Jets survived DeMelo’s absence just fine in Game 1. Compounding it with Poolman’s will add to the challenge.
