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John Woods \/ THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES<\/p>\n
Winnipeg Jets defenceman Tyrel Bauer has proven his stickhandling ability is just as useful than being the tough guy on the ice.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve fought and clawed, both metaphorically and literally and now I just want to show that I can play as well,\u201d Bauer said during a chat with the Free Press during training camp. \u201c(Toughness) is always something that I have, it\u2019s always something in my back pocket and something that I take a lot of pride in doing, for my teammates, for the city and the people who invest in this hockey club. That will never change.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it\u2019s very clear to me that in order to get to the next level, you have to play.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bauer, who was chosen by the Jets in the sixth round (164th overall) of the 2020 NHL Draft, is entering his fifth professional season and this is the first time he\u2019s broken camp with the big club.<\/p>\n
The timing isn\u2019t a coincidence either.<\/p>\n
With Logan Stanley and Luke Schenn departing at the NHL trade deadline last March, having Bauer around and in the lineup adds an element the Jets don\u2019t have a lot of, beyond captain Adam Lowry.<\/p>\n
The Jets have others who are willing, but none of them \u2014 aside from Lowry \u2014 are as capable as Bauer, who has 45 regular season scraps chronicled on HockeyFights.com.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s less of the actual skill of fighting in how it started for me. It\u2019s more the will of not being deterred,\u201d said Bauer. \u201cDon\u2019t get me wrong, I\u2019ve always been a rough and tumble kid. I played middle linebacker and my first ever fight was in a baseball game.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo matter how polarizing it is, (fighting) is part of the game. And it\u2019s a skill, like anything else. Obviously, there\u2019s a large mental component to it. Not everybody wants to get hit in the face and understandably so.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Bauer arrived for the condensed training camp, he was paired immediately with off-season free agent addition Mario Ferraro.<\/p>\n
While nothing was set in stone, that appeared to be an immediate vote of confidence for Bauer, given where Ferraro is expected to be on the Jets\u2019 depth chart.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe when I was younger, I used to think about that stuff more,\u201d said Bauer. \u201cAs I\u2019ve gotten older, listen, I know what I\u2019ve got to do. There are people that get paid a lot more money than I do to make those decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n
After spending a few days in Colorado Springs for team bonding, the Jets return to the ice in Winnipeg on Wednesday to prepare for Friday\u2019s season opener against the Boston Bruins.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t JOHN WOODS \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n Winnipeg Jets head coach Scott Arniel (right) said he\u2019s only watched defenceman Tyrel Bauer improve over his seasons with the Manitoba Moose.<\/p>\n Bauer, 24, has a clear understanding of what is required of him.<\/p>\n \u201cIt needs to be hard, it needs to be simple and it needs to be reliable,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve got to have confidence in myself as a player. To feel like I belong out here with this group. All of this stuff, you feel it, you try to develop it and you feel it grow.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me, I like to stay curious about it. I like to see what happens on the ice and see where we can improve. You recap it, you stay curious, you take it as data points. Once you compile all of that data, you kind of see where you\u2019re at. These are data points on a very long and drawn out science experiment.\u201d<\/p>\n Head coach Scott Arniel spoke openly during training camp about how Bauer was on the radar for a recall last season, but an injury to the rugged defenceman eliminated the opportunity to make his NHL debut.<\/p>\n Bauer was aware of the potential at the time, but rather than let the circumstances that prevented that get him down, he used it as additional fuel on the road to trying to achieve his ultimate goal.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s hard not to think about that kind of stuff. But at the same time, it\u2019s something that I can\u2019t afford to think about,\u201d Bauer said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are so many what-ifs in hockey and in life. It\u2019s (about) what is going on today and what is going on tomorrow. Obviously I watched that (potential opportunity) fly by, but listen, it gave me a whole summer to prepare and a whole summer to have a little bit of an understanding of where I could be and what I have to do to get to the next level and I attacked that.\u201d<\/p>\n The biggest question surrounding Bauer\u2019s ability to stick at the next level \u2014 or to carve out a more regular role \u2014 revolves around his skating. Quite simply, can he keep up to the frenetic pace?<\/p>\n Bauer has gone to great lengths on that front since turning pro, spending the past two summers in Winnipeg working with Manitoba Moose skills coach Dave Cameron on a number of things to refine his game.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve always been a bigger guy and it\u2019s always been an area of my game that I\u2019ve needed to focus on. It\u2019s an area of my game that I do spend a lot of time on,\u201d said Bauer.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not just straightaway speed. It\u2019s where you can get to, from the net to the corner. It\u2019s not crossing over when a skilled forward cuts to the middle. Little things like that, to set yourself up in a better position. Turning and going back for pucks and minimizing steps and being able to be smooth, so that you get your vision up. It all plays into one another.\u201d<\/p>\n The improvements were on display last spring during the Calder Cup playoffs, when Bauer skated alongside Ashton Sautner on a shutdown pairing against the Milwaukee Admirals and Grand Rapids Griffins.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t John Woods \/ THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES<\/p>\n Winnipeg Jets captain Adam Lowry praised Tyrel Bauer\u2019s development, particularly how the young defenceman has rounded out his game.<\/p>\n Arniel was in the building for the home playoffs games and got a first-hand look at those gains.<\/p>\n \u201cTyrel has improved,\u201d said Arniel. \u201cHe\u2019s gotten better and better every year. But to just go out and just try to get into fights and do those types of things, those days are gone. But the compete part and the playing hard (part) is still always part of it. If something happens to our top people, we do have people that have to respond.\u201d<\/p>\n Lowry, who was in the building for multiple Moose playoff games as well, sees that Bauer\u2019s growth goes beyond fighting.<\/p>\n \n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n \t\t\tThe Warm-Up<\/p>\n Winnipeg Jets Game Days<\/p>\n On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop.<\/p>\n \t\t\tSign up for The Warm-Up<\/a><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t \u201cHe\u2019s tough as nails,\u201d said Lowry. \u201cHe seems to be rounding out his game. When he came here, he was a real tough abrasive defenceman. Maybe the puck skills weren\u2019t there. But he\u2019s not just one dimensional. I don\u2019t mean that as a knock, but he\u2019s rounding out his game.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s continued to find different ways to improve. I think you see that with the confidence in the plays that he makes, he\u2019s a real hard defender and makes it hard to get to the net. He\u2019s a great teammate, a great guy in the community. He\u2019s another guy that has continued to progress.\u201d<\/p>\n That progression could lead to Bauer being in the lineup for the first time in an NHL regular-season game as early as this week.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve lived the journey so far,\u201d he said. \u201cA lot of ups, a lot of downs, a lot of long days, a lot of hard days. A lot of blood, sweat and tears on all fronts.\u201d<\/p>\n winnipegfreepress.com\/kenwiebe<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Ken Wiebe Ken Wiebe is a sports reporter for the Free Press, with an emphasis on the Winnipeg Jets. He has covered hockey and provided analysis in this market since 2000 for the Winnipeg Sun, The Athletic, Sportsnet.ca and TSN. Ken was a summer intern at the Free Press in 1999 and returned to the Free Press in a full-time capacity in September of 2023. Read more about Ken<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Ken produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber<\/a>.<\/p>\n Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.<\/p>\n \t\t
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