Bogo’s goal is to stay healthy all season

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This article was published 20/09/2014 (3499 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

AFTER missing 27 games in essentially two different injury spells last season, Jets defenceman Zach Bogosian has set a pretty firm goal for himself for 2014-15.

“To stay in every game this year,” Bogosian said Saturday, Day 2 of Jets training camp at the MTS Iceplex.

Bogosian, who has missed 59 games since the franchise moved to Winnipeg, said he geared some of his off-season training to preventative measures.

“You’ll find most guys try to pay attention to (their) injuries in the off-season,” he said. “It’s mostly tedious stuff, you know, that you’re not throwing around 700 pounds in the gym. It’s more bend work and getting those small muscles fired to help out the injuries.”

Bogosian was asked Saturday if the strenuous demands on the ice for the first two days of camp matched coach Paul Maurice’s dire promise from the spring.

“Fortunately for me, I wasn’t part of the (final) skate last year,” Bogosian said. “I was out with an injury but I saw it and I was well aware of what was going on. I felt bad for the guys, kind of skipped out of the rink early, because I didn’t want to talk to many guys after that one.

“It was very well-documented, whether with you guys or the team, that they knew it was going to be a hard camp. It’s lived up to it. It’s been a hard pace.”

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Jets centre Bryan Little was asked for his view on Dustin Byfuglien joining the experiment to determine whether he or Michael Frolik will be his and Andrew Ladd’s right-winger to start the season.

“He’s big,” Little said of Byfuglien. “He brings a lot of puck possession. You play against him one-on-one and you realize how big and strong he actually is. For a guy like me, it’s almost impossible to knock him off the puck if he really wants to keep it. So having a guy like that on your line can only help.”

Little said he didn’t mind the uncertainty the experiment could create for a time.

“Now’s the time to try new things and see what different combinations can come with,” he said. “It’s exhibition and you’ve got a bit of time to figure things out before you get to the regular season.”

— — —

The makeup of the Jets’ bottom two lines appears to be much in question.

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Maurice was asked what he’ll need from this year’s fourth line, and his answer was thorough, if nothing else.

“I really like what Anthony Peluso brings to that fourth line and the role that he has on our team,” the coach began. “I think… we can develop this young man into a guy that can get into a higher-minute range.

“We need to have as much energy as we possibly can. You always love to have a guy on your fourth line that can come up into your top nine and play well for you. Chris Thorburn did that exceedingly well. Whatever line we put him on, with the injuries we had, that line played really well. I’m thinking about the game in Carolina when he, Scheifele and (Blake) Wheeler were together and scored the goal to win the game for us late in the third period.

“We are a big, fast team and I don’t want to lose our identity with that fourth line, but at the same time, energy is probably Priority 1. You’ve got to drive it when you get out there. You’d like to spend more time in the other team’s zone than your own.”

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca