Before their game on Tuesday against the New York Islanders, the Winnipeg Jets are trading in one star forward for another. Per a team announcement, the team has activated forward Kyle Connor off of injured reserve, and subsequently placed Mark Scheifele on the injured reserve, retroactive to Jan. 12.
Connor’s return will come after missing just over a month of action for the Jets, after suffering a knee injury in the team’s Dec. 10 game against the Anaheim Ducks. However, even without their top scorer in the lineup, Winnipeg has amassed an impressive 12-2-2 record since Connor’s original injury took place and has vaulted themselves into first place in the hotly contested Central Division.
Before Connor’s placement on the injured reserve, he was on pace for a personal best in goal-scoring to date, putting up 17 goals in 26 games. Incredibly, with only three of those goals coming on the Jets’ powerplay, Connor still sits tied for 16th in the NHL in even-strength goals, which puts him on par with the likes of Travis Konecny, Connor Bedard, and Robert Thomas with about half as many games played.
Nevertheless, the news of Connor’s return also bears some negative aspects, as Scheifele will now find himself on the injured reserve. Thankfully, since the placement is retroactive to January 12th, Scheifele may only miss one game for Winnipeg, and be eligible to return against the Ottawa Senators this Saturday.
By all accounts, it does not appear that Scheifele’s injury is serious, as it’s only been reported he is dealing with a lower-body injury from the team’s game last week against the Chicago Blackhawks. In the last 15 games that Connor has missed, Scheifele has picked up a lot of the offensive slack, scoring five goals and 13 points in that stretch of games.
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