DETROIT – Winnipeg Jets forward Matt Hendricks has been around a young team or two. He got his start on a Colorado group with a couple of teenagers on the roster in Matt Duchene and Ryan O’Reilly. He moved on to a Capitals team that had a 23-year-old Nicklas Backstrom, 21-year-old John Carlson and 21-year-old Braden Holtby — their whole hockey playing lives in front of them. He got to witness the entry of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl into the league with the Oilers.



If anyone understands what helps a young team turn the corner from young and talented to actually winning hockey games, it’s Hendricks. And to him, there’s a real key distinction.



Young players enter the league with a perception of how they’re going to make their impact in the NHL. Most were high achievers at lower levels so that comes with high expectations. To Hendricks, it starts to turn when those players accept their proper place on a successful...