Jets blue-liner Clitsome says he’s recovered from injury

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This article was published 20/09/2014 (3503 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There are a lot of restarts and clean slates going on at Winnipeg Jets’ training camp.

Among the most dramatic of those is for defenceman Grant Clitsome, whose 2013-14 crashed and burned before Christmas because of a worsening back injury that eventually required surgery in mid-January.

The 29-year-old from the Ottawa area is once again healthy and his addition to the regular Jets’ blue-line corps can only strengthen the picture — if he’s back to 100 per cent.

“It’s great,” Clitsome said Saturday, looking as fit as he ever has. And there was a little enthusiasm in his voice, too. “We took it nice and slow this summer. I progressed gradually throughout the spring and the summer to make sure I didn’t aggravate it, and kept on top of my rehab and came to see the doctors here in July and got the green light saying everything was basically as good as it could be.”

His last game was Dec. 17, 2013, so there’s some time to make up.

“To be honest, probably as much as I could,” Clitsome said, asked about playing in the pre-season that starts Monday night at home against Minnesota. “I don’t want to play every game because it’s good to get a little bit of rest, but I’d like to play as much as I could to get my feet wet and be comfortable when the season starts.”

And to show he’s ready to go, Clitsome informed his teammates on Friday to forget about his injury.

“I actually told the guys yesterday, ‘I don’t know if it’s on your mind at all, but don’t worry, I’m fair game and don’t worry about my back,’ ” he said. “I want to get hit. I need to get hit.”

Jets coach Paul Maurice has not yet coached him in a game but has watched extensive video.

“I know what he can do in terms of his skill set and then (I’m) aware that he’s missed a big block of time, so when I go out now, I’m not evaluating him too hard,” the coach said. “I’m not trying to learn too much about him in the first three days.

“It’s going to take him a little while to get his game back and to get up to speed and a confidence level. So I’ve got lots of time for him as a player and I think he’s very, very capable.

“I also think he played with that a bit last year. I think some of his games, he was trying to find a way to get through the pain and get through and play.”

If Clitsome is indeed healthy he would figure to be at least in the Jets’ top five and exempt from what’s shaping up as a battle among five or six players for the other two blue-line jobs on the roster.

After all, in the 32 games he played before the shutdown last season, he averaged almost 20 minutes per game.

Maurice said plans and pairings are not yet set in his mind before exhibition games start but one thing apart from Clitsome’s decent offensive instincts will bode well for him, and it’s that he’s a left shot that can play either the left or right side.

“I have in the past,” Clitsome said. “Quite a bit actually. It’s an adjustment as a defenceman. In certain aspects it’s nice playing the off-side and in certain aspects it’s more difficult.

“I like it in the offensive zone because you can walk the line a lot easier and get a good shot off. I think the toughest is probably the neutral zone, because you have to open up your whole body to be able to make a play. I don’t mind it.”

Maurice is eager for that flexibility.

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“We’re going to need some defencemen to be both,” he said. “We’d all prefer to have natural hands on the blue-line, but with the injuries that are inevitable, we need to have a couple of guys — Keaton Ellerby was really that guy for us last year that played his off-side consistently — to play that consistently for us.

“It’s a huge advantage to a guy to say we’ll just shift him. It’s easier to put that guy in the lineup than one who can’t play his off-side.”

Clitsome’s first on-ice experience this week with Maurice has been positive, he said.

“I like it a lot,” Clitsome said. “It’s my first time being on the ice with him. I think he’s really structured. You know what to expect. You know what you’re doing. He doesn’t waste any time on the ice. He’s to the point. High-tempo and lots of pace and it’s really good.”

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca