2022-23 was another difficult season for Winnipeg Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers. For the third-straight year, the 27-year-old missed significant time due to injury. This time around, it was two separate stints on the team's injured reserve.

The Danish forward spoke candidly at his year-end media availability, hinting at his frustrations with poor injury luck the past couple seasons, while also opening up on the team's play in 2022-23.

With the IIHF World Championships set to begin on May 12, Ehlers hopes to be available for his country, when they come calling. That said, he did not provide any sort of update in relation to his recent upper-body injury. 

"It’s not the way I wanted to start my season," Ehlers said of his early-season sports hernia injury. "I actually came into camp and I felt really good. Everything was going the right way and then this came out of nowhere."

Skating in just two games before being shelved from October 18 to January 6, Ehlers missed 36-straight games before returning just in time for Winnipeg's slide from the top seed in the Western Conference into a playoff wild card battle.

“Yeah, it pretty much started going south when I came back," he joked.

"It took a lot longer than it maybe should have, could have. So, not being able to be out there with the guys and play during the fun times this season was frustrating. Whenever you’re out, it sucks, and it’s been too much for me the last couple years.”

With reference to his MCL injury from January of 2022, his sports hernia early this season, and the crushing interference check he took from Minnesota's Ryan Hartman back on April 11, Ehlers has missed 61 games out of a possible 169 (36 percent). 

According to the speedy winger, there wasn't any sort of training that he could have undergone to prevent any of the setbacks he suffered. 

“You always want to look at how you can prepare your body in the best way for everything, and work on everything," Ehlers said. "My knee, when I tore my MCL, I mean, that was just a dirty hit. And then the sports hernia this year, I don’t know if anyone can be prepared for that. I work as hard as I can in the summer and try to be ready for camp."

A quick peek at Ehlers' instagram account over the summer months would back up what he says. Although an avid European football fan, Ehlers' most common videos include him working his lower-body through various professional training programs.

"It might have been the best I felt in a couple years coming into camp, and then this happens after Game 1 of the regular season," he reflected. "You try to prepare yourself - and sometimes they’re freak accidents - but obviously, you want to try and figure out a way to work in the summer and prevent these injuries from happening, but shit happens.”

Ehlers dressed in 45 total games this season and did manage to produce 12 goals and 38 points, but staying healthy for a full season of play hasn't been quite as easy for him to accomplish - as least not as of late.

His last 82-game season came in 2017-18, which was his second-straight full-year. 

With the attention now squarely shifted to the Jets' roster and makeup as the offseason begins, Ehlers is one player that general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff will not be looking to for advice.

“What happens in the offseason, I have no idea," he chuckled. "I have no say, I don’t want any say. I’m terrible at fantasy leagues, so I wouldn’t help out very much. I’m here to play hockey for the Winnipeg Jets. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to do that very much this year.”