Kyle Connor is back in Winnipeg!

Before you get too excited, know that’s actually for a few rounds of golf as he will be taking part in The Players Cup at Southwood Golf & Country Club this weekend as he has a sponsors exemption for The Mackenzie Tour event.

But before hitting the links, KC met with the local media and of course his current contract – or lack therof – status came up as a topic. Kyle along with fellow Jets forward Patrik Laine remain un-signed with training camps a little over a month away.

“A player never wants to miss time in training camp … it’s always tough coming in, you know not getting that preparation and time with the teammates and practice.” said Connor when asked if he’d like to get a deal done before the start of training camp.

There is a noted history of players in the NHL who have missed portions or even entire training camps before signing a new deal and come out at the start of the season sluggish and a step or two slower than teammates and opponents who have multiple weeks of competitive game action under their belts.

When asked if he and his agent – Richard Evans – had a preference between locking in a long term contract, or if they were looking for a shorter term “bridge” deal, Kyle was naturally not very detailed about the topic as one would expect with negotiations ongoing, stating that “they’ll look at everything” but did hint that he would be open to staying around for a long while.

Connor also noted that there was no plans between himself, the agent or Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff to get together while the forward is in town for the weekend, stating that he was just looking forward to enjoying some golf.

So in the end, the update on Kyle Connor is that there is no update with a little over a moth left until training camp.