Jets' Salomonsson impressing at camp, in contention for opening-night spot

No player stands to benefit more from the opportunity available on the Winnipeg Jets blue line than Elias Salomonsson.

Heading into training camp, Salomonsson was hardly discussed as a frontrunner to crack Winnipeg’s opening-night roster. But with Ville Heinola and Logan Stanley on the shelf for the next few weeks and the 20-year-old Swedish defencemen having an eye-opening training camp showing — Salomonsson is now firmly in the running.

“You can see the growth of the young man,” Jets coach Scott Arniel said after Sunday’s practice. “He’s getting more and more comfortable each day. He’s a big prospect for us. We’ve often talked about the other forward [prospects] but he’s kind of gone under the radar [as] a prospect we’ll probably be relying on [soon].”

The 6-foot-2 right-shot defenceman hasn’t looked out of place in the three exhibition games he’s suited up for, including two games where he was skating on the left side.

“You can see the poise — he’s not panicking under pressure,” said Jets defenceman Colin Miller, Salomonsson’s defence partner on Sunday. “That’s a big thing once you get to this level. Everything’s happening so much quicker. Other teams are pressuring you that much quicker.”

Salomonsson hasn’t been shy to make his mark, either, delivering a healthy and hard check to Winnipeg’s captain Adam Lowry during Sunday’s scrimmage. 

“I’m a stay-at-home defenceman that can move the puck,” Salomonsson told Sportsnet.ca on Sunday. “I think I can play with anybody.”

Salomonsson’s game may not be the flashiest — don’t expect him to be skating the puck end-to-end and generating scoring chances — but he possesses a highly sought-after toolkit. If there’s one word to describe Salomonsson’s game, it’s ‘sturdy.’

“He’s a competitive kid. He’s probably lined up to be more of a shutdown kind of defenceman. Especially being a right shot, they’re hard to find. Lots of organizations are always looking for those type of players,” Arniel said.

The 2022 second-round pick is coming off a massive 2023-24 campaign, playing a pivotal role in Skelleftea AIK winning the SHL championship. After posting two goals, 11 points and averaging 17:00 TOI in 39 regular season games, Salomonsson was exceptional in 16 playoff games — registering the fourth highest Corsi-for percentage of any teammate (54 per cent) while logging a team-high 23:13 TOI per game. To put those figures into perspective, he was one of just eight U-20 players who played in 20-plus SHL games last year.

Stylistically, though, it’s a different game in Sweden — where they play on Olympic-sized ice. 

“You’ve got more time when you have the puck over there,” Salomonsson explained. “Here, you have to make a decision much quicker and have the next play already in your head before you get the puck.” 

While there’s no doubt that Salomonsson has more upside than the veterans he’s competing with — such as Haydn Fleury and Dylan Coghlan — it doesn’t mean he’s a lock to earn a spot. The question becomes, will the Jets give him leeway through trial and error to get acclimated to the NHL? That could be the biggest barrier to Salomonsson earning a roster spot out of camp, let alone the fact that he’d have to play on his off side.

Is The Gus Bus Running Out Of Gas?             

Rasmus Kupari appears to have a leg-up on David Gustafsson in the battle for the Jets’ fourth-line centre role. 

Gustafsson — who won 54.6 per cent of his faceoffs last year — has spent considerable time on the wing during training camp. Kupari, on the other hand, has been given ample opportunity down the middle alongside Alex Iafallo and Morgan Barron, the team’s presumptive fourth-line wingers. 

“[Kupari] is one guy that hasn’t gotten a lot of reps in the middle of the ice,” Arniel said after Wednesday’s pre-season game against the Edmonton Oilers. “Obviously [with] injuries and then being the 13th forward last year –  he’s another guy [where] I’m trying to ramp up his minutes. I want to see him play. I really want to see if he’s our fourth-line centreman. I know what Gus can do — I’m not taking away [anything] from Gus at all — but I really want to see [Kupari].”

Since those comments, Kupari has continued to get reps alongside Barron and Iafallo, while Gustafsson has been taking line rushes alongside the likes of Dominic Toninato and Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, who project to play for the AHL’s Manitoba Moose this season. During Monday’s special teams-focused practice, Kupari was centring the team’s second penalty-kill unit alongside Mason Appleton, while Gustafsson was a winger on the team’s third unit. 

Even considering that Kupari had limited opportunities, it’s strange seeing him getting so much runway for the fourth-line centre role. Not only is Gustafsson an asset in the faceoff circle but he’s a solid forechecker who, like Barron and Iafallo, can create offensive pressure off the cycle. Kupari is a lightning-fast skater but his decision-making – in all areas of the game - is rather suspect.

Second Unit Scoring

With Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor, two power-play pillars, killing penalties this year — Winnipeg’s second power-play unit will likely be deployed for more than just the final 20-30 seconds of a man advantage.

“There’s lots of times – it happens a tremendous amount of times — where your top people draw the penalties and they may have been out on the ice for 30 or 40 seconds,” Arniel said Monday. “You have to have the confidence to throw that second unit out and start the power play off correctly.”

During Monday’s special teams practice, Nino Niederreiter, Cole Perfetti, Vladislav Namestnikov, Neal Pionk and Colin Miller made up the second unit. 

Winnipeg Jets Second PP Unit (1-3-1 formation)

Niederreiter

Miller – Perfetti – Namestnikov 

Pionk

There’s a lot of potential for that second unit, especially if Perfetti can solidify himself as a top-six forward this year. Not to mention Miller, who ranked in the 99th percentile in both average and top shot speed last year, according to NHL Edge.