Enstrom, Pardy among the Winnipeg Jets’ walking wounded

It was an early exit from the playoffs for the Winnipeg Jets and this week we’re learning a big reason why.

Four of the team’s stars, including blue-liner Dustin Byfuglien and captain Andrew Ladd, were dealing with significant injuries during their opening round sweep at the hands of the Anaheim Ducks.

On Tuesday the Jets announced defencemen Tobias Enstrom and Adam Pardy had shoulder surgery in Winnipeg and both are expected to be ready for training camp in September.

Byfuglien and Bryan Little played through dislocated rib injuries while Ladd suffered a sports hernia.

If that wasn’t enough, defenceman Jacob Trouba broke a bone in his hand during Game 2. Mathieu Perrault just couldn’t stay healthy down the stretch either, as the forward dealt with a high-ankle sprain to go along with torn ligaments in his right hand.

The Jets, to say the least, were beat up. 

Which begs the question: how would these Jets stack up against the Ducks had they been a healthy bunch? We know that all teams suffer injuries, and Anaheim likely did as well. That’s still a bulk of the Jets impact players.

Despite being heavily injured, the Jets never showed it. They went toe-to-toe with the Western Conference’s top team and really, the first three games of the series could have gone either way.