Talented forward Kyle Connor sits out again for Team USA. Questions swirl as his Olympic ice time vanishes amidst team success.
Winnipeg Jets star forward Kyle Connor has found himself on the outside looking in.
For the second tournament in a row, Connor - who has been ineffective offensively - has fallen out of favour with the American coaching staff - will serve as a healthy scratch in a relatively important third game for USA on Sunday.
Photo by David Kirouac/USA Today Set to face off against Germany with a significant goal differential to beat out Canada for first place in the tournament, USA has chosen to dress Clayton Keller in place of Connor, to which the Jets' second-leading scorer will sit out on Sunday.
He missed the 4 Nations Face-Off final vs. Canada as a healthy scratch after putting up just one assist in three tournament games, and has an even worse stat line this time around.
Connor is sitting at a -1 rating with no shots on goal for USA through two games played. He was third-last in ice time for the States in their second game (9:50 TOI) and will sit out on Sunday. Whether or not he draws back in for the semi-final will be up for discussion in the coming days.
The Connor scratch highlights another disappointing outcome for members of the Jets at the Olympics. Following the 4 Nations gold medal game that saw only Connor Hellebuyck represent the Jets (Connor scratched, Josh Morrissey ill, Mark Scheifele cut) the Olympics are shaping up to be another poor showing for Winnipeg's finest.
Despite a strong performance from Westwood product Mark Stone (one goal, two assists) in Canada's 10-2 rout of France on Sunday and the insertion of Seth Jarvis (Winnipeg) and Travis Sanheim (Elkhorn) into the lineup, Jets players have had some poor luck so far.
Nino Niederreiter has been held off the scoreboard for Switzerland, while Morrissey has only skated in a few minutes of the first game for Canada before leaving with his injury. Connor is now on the outside looking in.
Hellebuyck is the lone shining star left for Jets fans to see in action. Following Jeremy Swayman's difficult outing on Saturday, it appears as though USA is set to run with Hellebuyck for the remainder of the tournament.