Jets’ Mason Appleton week-to-week with lower-body injury

Winnipeg Jets head coach Scott Arniel announced on Monday that center Mason Appleton will be out on a week-to-week basis with a lower-body injury.

It’s unclear what the cause of the injury, as Appleton was announced as a late scratch for Monday’s 3-0 win over the Nashville Predators. The severity of the injury was unknown going into the game, but Arniel confirmed after the game that it was a lower-body injury, and he will be evaluated on a week-to-week basis.

Appleton has been one of the many Jets players that have been more productive than expected, as he has 6 goals and 9 assists for 15 points in 37 games this season. Had he been able to play out the season, he was on pace for 33 points, which is just three points shy of his career-high of 36 set in 2023-24.

Alex Iaffalo took Appleton’s spot on the Jets’ third line alongside Adam Lowry and Nino Niederreiter for Monday’s game. That trio played 9:28 together in the win over the Preds, keeping the game scoreless when they were on the ice, but rocking a 46.63% 5v5 score-adjusted expected goal share.

David Gustafsson was the last-minute lineup replacement for the Jets in Monday’s win. He’s gone without a point in 6 games with the Jets this season.

The Jets also announced that they placed Haydn Fleury on injured reserve retroactively to December 23rd to make room on their roster to call up Dominic Toninato from their AHL affiliate, the Manitoba Moose. Toninato has 6 goals and 5 assists for 11 points in 25 games with the Moose.

The Jets will look to continue their stretch of six wins in seven games when they visit the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday at 7 p.m. CST. Winnipeg is currently first place in the Central Division with a 27-10-1 record, which is also the best record in the league.