Winnipeg Jets forward Kyle Connor out six to eight weeks with lower-body injury

The Winnipeg Jets have announced that after further evaluation from doctors, Kyle Connor will be out for six to eight weeks with a lower-body injury.

The injury occurred during Sunday’s game against the Anaheim Ducks following a knee-on-knee collision with Ducks forward Ryan Strome.

The 27-year-old has registered a team-leading 17 goals and 28 points in 26 games this season while averaging 20:40 minutes of ice time per game.

Last season, Connor led the Jets with 31 goals and 49 assists for 80 points in 82 games. He ranked second in scoring behind Scheifele. The year prior, he notched a career-high 47 goals, three shy from the 50-goal mark. Which would have made him the first Winnipeg Jets player to reach 50 goals since the reincarnation of the Jets in 2011.

The Clinton Township, Michigan native was initially selected No. 17 overall in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft by Winnipeg. He spent one season with the University of Michigan in the NCAA where he amassed 35 goals and 71 points in 38 games; winning the NCAA B1G Rookie and Player of the Year Awards as well as being named the NCAA Top Collegiate Rookie and a Hobey Baker Finalist. Connor made his NHL debut with the Jets the following season and notched five points in 20 games while also spending time in the AHL with the Manitoba Moose where he had 44 points in 52 games.

Connor is currently in year five of a seven-year, $50,000,000 million contract extension he signed with the Jets in the fall of 2019. The contract carries an average annual value (AAV) of $7,142,857 million.

Meanwhile, the Jets have recalled forward Dominic Toninato from the Manitoba Moose of the AHL.