Jets Final Roster Cuts Coming Soon

With the signing of rookie Mark Scheifele, the Jets official training camp number came to 24, one more than the league requires for the start of the season.

The Jets also signed goalie David Aebischer to an AHL contract, meaning he will start the season in St. John's with the Ice Caps, alongside Edward Pasquale and Peter Mannino.

For the roster to be cut to the needed 23 players, it is likely that one of the 14 forwards still in camp, not including the many injured players such as Eric Fehr, Ben Maxwell, Kenndal McArdle, or Aaron Gagnon, will be cut.

The Jets have to submit their 23 man roster by today to the NHL.

Others still in camp is Troy Bodie, still on a tryout basis.

Jets Trim Roster; Assign 20 To St. John's Ice Caps Training Camp

The Winnipeg Jets announced they have assigned 20 players to training camp of their AHL affiliate St. John's Ice Caps Tuesday afternoon.

Included in those 20 players are ex-Moose players Marco Rosa, Travis Ramsey, Kevin Clark, Mark Flood, Jason Jaffray, and Shawn Weller.

The Jets still have 36 players on their roster, which will need to be trimmed down again by opening night October 9th.

Also going down to the Ice Caps were goalies Chris Carrozzi, Peter Mannino, Edward Pasquale, defensemen Ben Chiarot, Arturs Kulda, Julian Melchiori, Zach Redmond, Cody Sol, and forward Shayne Wiebe, John Albert, Akim Aliu, Mike Forney, Riley Holzapfel, and Eric O'Dell.

Still on the team are both Mark Scheifele and Paul Postma, who have both had impressive pre-seasons so far with Scheifele leading the league in pre-season scoring and Postma chipping in heavily with two goals through three games.

The final 36 man roster of players still in camp includes 20 forwards, 10 defenseman, and three goalies as well as three injured players.

Also still on the roster looking to finally get some full-time NHL work are forwards Kenndal McArdle, Spencer Machacek, Jason Gregoire, Aaron Gagnon (injured), Carl Klingberg, Derek Meech, Randy Jones, Patrice Cormier, and Brett Festerling.

The Jets next play on Wednesday night at the MTS Centre against the Carolina Hurricanes.

That game is available on TSN-Jets and Sports Radio 1290 at 7:30 PM CT.

Jets 6, Jackets 1 (WPG); Jackets 5, Jets 1 (CBJ)

Mark Scheifele is making a case for staying in Winnipeg this season.

As the first star of the game, Scheifele impressed early and often.

Not only did Scheifele score the game winning goal in the first period at 16:50, he added another and set up two goals, including a beauty by Kevin Clark in the second.

Not to be outdone, defenseman Paul Postma, who scored the game's opening goal, added another three assists for four points on the night as well.

Also impressing were defensemen Brett Festerling, Dustin Byfuglien, and, of course, Zach Bogosian.

There were many fights during the game, including Jets Patrice Cormier, Troy Bodie, and Mark Stuart dropping the mits, including a fight not even a minute in the game that included Dustin Byfulgien as well.

Byulgien also added in on the offense with two assists. Andrew Ladd would cap off the evening with the sixth goal for the Jets.

Ondrej Pavelec stopped 17 of 18 shots in the first two periods, while David Aebischer stopped nine of nine shots in a third period of relief work.

Blue Jackets rookie Ryan Johansen scored the only goal for the visitors.

After the game ended, the Jets players at center ice saluted the hometown sellout crowd of 15,015, which had been standing for the entire last minute of the game.

Meanwhile, the Jets were pounded 5-1 in Columbus with Evander Kane scoring the only goal from Blake Wheeler.

Chris Mason stopped only 14 of 19 shots in two periods of work, while Peter Mannino stopped all four shots in the third period.

2011-12 Predictions: Jets Goaltending

Every good hockey critic, fan, GM, and coach knows that for an NHL team to be successful long term, goaltending is a must have item on their list.

Starting Goalie: Ondrej Pavelec
Jets GM Kevin Chevldayoff is no stranger to this notion nor is he a stranger to current Jets goalie Ondrej Pavelec.

During the 2007-08 Calder Cup Playoffs, Pavelec was the goalie that took the Chicago Wolves, then managed by Cheveldayoff, to a Calder Cup championship, the second for Cheveldayoff in his AHL career.

Pavelec was stellar that season with a 33-16-3 record to go with a 2.77 goals against average and a .911 save percentage. He led the Wolves to the Calder Cup only losing eight games along the way.

Two seasons after, Pavelec, who was taken 41st overall in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft, was thrust into the starting position after the departure of former starter Kari Lehtonen to Dallas.

Pavelec went 14-18-7 with a 3.29 goals against average and a .906 save percentage in 2009-10. He followed that up with a 21-23-9 record with a 2.73 goals against average and a .914 save percentage last season, despite missing games due to a freak concussion incident at the beginning of the season in which he passed out on the ice.

Backup Goalie: Chris Mason
Looking at both Pavelec and other Jet goalie Chris Mason, it seems that Pavelec is the young starter and Mason the older statesman and mentor.

Mason, a former Nashville Predator and St. Louis Blue starter, went 13-13-3 with a less than stellar 3.39 goals against average and a .892 save percentage as the backup. That compared to his numbers a year ago in St. Louis where he was 30-22-8 with a 2.53 goals against average and a .913 save percentage.

Third String: Peter Mannino
At the third spot is journeyman Peter Mannino, who played in two games last year in Atlanta, allowing five goals in 73 minutes of relief time. Mannino spent much of last season and the season before with the Chicago Wolves posting 42 wins in 80 games.

The sub-par numbers for both Pavelec and Mason may be the result of a bad situation in Atlanta, either coaching wise or just organization wise, but the fact of the matter is that both have to be much better moving forward.

Pavelec has shown steady improvement over the last two seasons, with his wins total creeping over 20 and his goals against average and save percentage numbers dropping. If Mason can regain his play from his last few years in St. Louis, he could push Pavelec to be better and have a duel in net.

Next In Line:
Edward Pasquale, 20, was the 117th overall pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft by the Thrashers and split his first professional season with the ECHL’s Gwinnett Gladiators and the AHL’s Chicago Wolves. Pasquale had a success junior career in the OHL with the Saginaw Spirit, posting 32 and 27 win seasons in his final two seasons. He went 11-11-4 with a 2.93 goals against average and a .900 save percentage with the Wolves last season.

Jason Kasdorf, 19, spent the last two seasons with the Portage Terriers of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League, going 19-10-5 with a 2.58 goals against average and a .911 save percentage in 2009-10 and a 24-9-1 record with a 2.53 goals against average and a .912 save percentage last year en route to the MJHL title. Kasdorf was taken in the sixth routh, 157th overall by his hometown team in 2011 NHL Entry Draft and is now on his way to the USHL. If all goes well in the USHL this season, Kasdorf may be on his way to play for RPI.