It’s great to have Burmistrov back: Maurice

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This article was published 02/07/2015 (3218 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Paul Maurice is, as they say in the newspaper biz, good copy…

Put a microphone or a notepad into his face, ask him some intelligent questions — and even the occasional not-so-intelligent question — and the Winnipeg Jets coach will deliver some thought-provoking answers. Maurice spoke to the media after the first day of Jets D-Camp.

Here’s his take on some of the more-intriguing topics:

On the return of Alex Burmistrov:

“It’s very difficult to have players picked eighth overall from your team walk away and have that not hurt you. We can’t go out and get an eighth overall pick at that salary to come back who has five years as a pro. They’re just not out there. I thought that was a loss for our organization when he left. He’s a great player to have come back to us and he’s still young.

“We had a good young player that we drafted very high, we invested in that player. A draft pick and then two years time and money and then we didn’t see anything for it in the last couple of years. I think it was very important for him to come back to our team.”

On whether Burmistrov could fill the hole left by the departure of Frolik:

“Whether he plays in that hole, I don’t know yet. I’ve got four different combinations on the wall right now that we’re playing with… that’s my little summer toy.

“I get to do that every time I’m bored. We won’t know until we get through camp. It’s not just about Alex, it’s about the other pieces that come in around him before we round that out.”

On Michael Frolik’s departure:

“Mike was great for us, he played well for us. We wish him the very, very best. That’s going to happen here. We’ve got a structure that we’re going to stick to and that’s probably the thing I like most about working here: a very well-defined game plan about how this organization is going to move forward. And it’s stayed on track.”

On the talent level at D-Camp:

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“I’ve been to camps where you come and you wonder where the (NHL) guys are going to come from. But there are players on that ice who are going to play in the NHL, probably sooner rather than later.

“We’ve got good young players and you see them out here. And they’re going to push for jobs when they’re ready to play. We had some good young players make a big, big impact for us last year.

“There are players out here who are fairly close to NHL-ready and then there’s some young guys that aren’t, but will be.”

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca  

Twitter: WFPEdTait