Navigation: Jump to content areas:


Pro Quality. Fan Perspective.
Login-facebook
Around SBN: Why We're Skeptical Of LeBron James

Choose Your Own Jets Adventure: Left Wing

Heading into this season, there are a few things fairly clear about the new team: for one, Andrew Ladd is the captain, and he is part of a line that clicked last year and is not likely to be broken up. So, given that the Ladd - Bryan Little - Blake Wheeler line (needs a name; "Andy's Little Wheeler"?) is set for the upcoming year, that still leaves us with the remaining three forward lines and a slew of obvious and not-so-obvious candidates to fill them.  Of course, we can cheat and look at the depth chart over at the Winnipeg site, but it doesn't seem very intuitive at times (Tobias Enstrom on the 3rd pairing, oh really?).  

Instead, this is a good opportunity to bring all the chatter at the bar and on the HF Boards to a consensus decision, Choose-Your-Own-Adventure style.

Star-divide

Okay, it won't be as exciting as the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure books, where you made decisions on a dime and knew when the page numbers got higher that shit was about to go down.  This is more like the really slow version, where your big sister is reading along with you and not always making the same decisions you would.  Also, if you make a bad decision, the numbers are lower rather than higher.  They're also a poor market idea as they're pointless to own.  I digress...

Before putting our depth to vote, I want to give you our candidates for the left wing with some handy info and a brief intro (infused with nitro, done in slow-mo, Wynona Ryder was a klepto....I run out eventually).

Left Wing

Evander Kane

Year Team Lg  GP G A Pts Adj +/- SOG Sh% PIM
2008-09 Vancouver WHL 61 48 48 96 +22 -- -- 89
2009-10 Atlanta NHL 66 14 12 26 +5 127 11.0 62
2010-11 Atlanta NHL 73 19 24 43 -3 234 8.1 68

Year Team Lg TOI ESTOI PPTOI SHTOI ZS% QoC Rk QoT Rk
2009-10 Atlanta NHL 13.98 12.52 0.33 1.13 47.1 10th of 16 12th of 16
2010-11 Atlanta NHL 17.85 14.70 2.30 0.50 54.5 2nd of 17 7th of 17

A note on what I'm using here; "Adj +/-" takes the team average +/- and subtracts it from the player's.  "ZS%" is Offensive Zone Start %, or basically where on the ice this player starts typically (it actually has a non-insignificant effect on player's offensive/defensive numbers).  "QoC Rk" is Quality of Competition Rank among the players at their position that played in the year in question (I split forwards and defensemen).  "QoT Rk" is Quality of Teammates Rank among the same group of players.  These give us a sense of what line they are deployed on, as top-line players and/or those who play well defensively will get the tougher competition; the latter don't always get the teammates.

Moving back to Kane, I never said this was going to be a fair fight.  Kane is a potential breakout candidate this year.

Tanner Glass

Year Team Lg GP G A Pts Adj +/- SOG Sh% PIM
2008-09 Rochester AHL 44 4 9 13 +2 65 6.2 100
2008-09 Florida NHL 3 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 7
2009-10 Vancouver NHL 67 4 7 11 -4 52 7.7 115
2010-11 Vancouver NHL 73 3 7 10 -17 45 6.7 72

Year Team Lg TOI ESTOI PPTOI SHTOI ZS% QoC Rk QoT Rk
2008-09 Florida NHL 6.75 6.75 0.00 0.00 38.9 17th of 19 17th of 19
2009-10 Vancouver NHL 10.47 9.58 0.12 0.75 42.1 14th of 20 12th of 20
2010-11 Vancouver NHL 8.92 7.78 0.08 1.03 39.1 17th of 24 17th of 24

Glass's hard work might be admirable, considering the crap zone starts and crappier teammates, but he should've at least been able to put up points in the AHL if he had talent beyond a crash-and-banger.

Patrice Cormier

Year Team Lg GP G A Pts Adj +/- SOG Sh% PIM
2008-09 Rimouski QMJHL 54 23 28 51 +6 -- -- 118
2009-10 Rim./Rouyn QMJHL 31 11 20 31 +13 -- -- 64
2010-11 Chicago AHL 11 2 3 5 +8 15 13.3 14
2010-11 Atlanta NHL 21 1 1 2 -3 27 3.7 4

Year Team Lg TOI ESTOI PPTOI SHTOI ZS% QoC Rk QoT Rk
2010-11 Atlanta NHL 9.63 9.37 0.22 0.03 44.6 8th of 17 9th of 17

Admittedly, this one's a little tricky because it's possible he plays centre this year.  That said, he can also play wing, so his placement in the poll below should be on talent, and not on whether he'll actually play there.

Jason Gregoire

Year Team Lg GP G A Pts Adj +/- SOG Sh% PIM
2008-09 North Dakota WCHA 42 12 17 29 -1 108 11.1 28
2009-10 North Dakota WCHA 43 20 17 37 0 134 14.9 10
2010-11 North Dakota WCHA 35 25 18 43 +13 121 20.7 8

Gregoire is a little bit of a wild card.  I like that he's improved steadily, looks good defensively, and has a cool head.  He's also played centre at times.

Kenndal McArdle

Year Team Lg GP G A Pts Adj +/- SOG Sh% PIM
2008-09 Rochester AHL 58 12 12 24 +4 92 13.0 79
2008-09 Florida NHL 3 0 0 0 -1 1 0.0 2
2009-10 Rochester AHL 18 3 5 8 +3 24 12.5 63
2009-10 Florida NHL 19 1 2 3 -3 10 10.0 29
2010-11 Rochester AHL 54 14 12 26 +1 97 14.4 106
2010-11 Florida NHL 11 0 0 0 -2 6 0.0 16

Year Team Lg TOI ESTOI PPTOI SHTOI ZS% QoC Rk QoT Rk
2008-09 Florida NHL 7.50 7.50 0.00 0.00 73.3 19th of 19 11th of 19
2009-10 Florida NHL 8.88 8.85 0.02 0.01 32.9 16th of 20 12th of 20
2010-11 Florida NHL 9.93 9.92 0.01 0.00 34.5 14th of 22 4th of 22

I don't know what to think of McArdle, except to say he's passable defensively.

Ivan Telegin

Year Team Lg GP G A Pts Adj +/- SOG Sh% PIM
2008-09 Novokuznetsk Rus3 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
2009-10 Saginaw OHL 51 26 18 44 -2 -- -- 20
2010-11 Saginaw OHL 59 20 41 61 +8 -- -- 35

Diamond in the rough, this one.  Could creep into the lineup at the end of the year if he does well in the AHL.

Carl Klingberg

Year Team Lg GP G A Pts Adj +/- SOG Sh% PIM
2008-09 Boras Swe1 8 4 2 6 +2 -- -- 2
2008-09 Frolunda SEL 10 2 1 3 +1 -- -- 0
2009-10 Boras Swe1 4 0 5 5 +1 -- -- 2
2009-10 Frolunda SEL 42 6 7 13 0 -- -- 16
2010-11 Frolunda/Timra SEL 49 5 3 8 +1 -- -- 14
2010-11 Chicago AHL 8 1 0 1 -1 11 9.1 6
2010-11 Atlanta NHL 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0

Year Team Lg TOI ESTOI PPTOI SHTOI ZS% QoC Rk QoT Rk
2010-11 Atlanta NHL 10.22 10.22 0.00 0.00 75.0 17th of 17 17th of 17

Scouts love this guy, and teams keep moving him up, so he must be doing something right.  Or he's just a Swedish 2nd rounder.

So, have at it in the poll; what is our left wing depth going to look like this year?

P.S. I know, I know, the poll question is worded a bit differently, but basically a player who plays a lot of NHL games should be viewed as the guy who "made it" onto the Jets' lines.

Poll
Which two left wingers from this group will play the most NHL games this year (because c'mon, Kane is making it, let's be serious here for a second)? I'm also not giving you folks Klingberg; I just wanted to make fun of him a little.
Cormier, Gregoire
11 votes
Cormier, Glass
29 votes
Cormier, McArdle
4 votes
Cormier, Telegin
2 votes
Glass, Gregoire
5 votes
Glass, McArdle
9 votes
Glass, Telegin
3 votes
Gregoire, McArdle
3 votes
Gregoire, Telegin
1 votes
McArdle, Telegin
0 votes

67 votes | Poll has closed

Comment 8 comments  |  0 recs  | 

Do you like this story?

Comments

Display:

I picked Glass and McArdle.
Picked MacArdle only because I want him to do well. And for no other reason than he played in Moose Jaw the one winter I lived there. Oh and my buddy’s sister was dating him.

Yes, I’m a sap.

Once a Rider fan, always a Rider fan.
Once a Leafs fan, alw....hey what?!? The Jets are coming back?? GO JETS!!!!

by The Big Shtick on Aug 5, 2011 9:41 AM EDT reply actions  

And for no other reason than he played in Moose Jaw the one winter I lived there.

My condolences on the winter in Moose Jaw.

Puck Worlds: Chasing Pucks from here to Turku.

For Twitter Updates on Puck Worlds, follow @puckworlds. For updates plus additional witty banter from yours truly, follow @saskhab.

by Bruce Peter on Aug 5, 2011 10:17 AM EDT up reply actions  

I think it will be Glass and Cormier...

But the team will be better if one of the young guys takes Glass’ roster spot.

Also, given the team’s gaping hole at center, I wonder if they would put Cormier on the wing.

Gregoire, Telegin would be my preferred tandem (although either guy could end up at center too). I like their upside. I could see Gregoire developing into a very serviceable third line guy and I like how Telegin throws his weight around. Of the players on this list (aside from Kane) they seem to have the most offensive upside.

Klingberg

Scouts love this guy, and teams keep moving him up, so he must be doing something right.

I haven’t seen much of him on ice but a lot of what I read talks about his offence. My question is, why doesn’t he produce. Apparently he has a solid two way game, but I don’t see the offence (that scouts have talked about) in his numbers.

by truck on Aug 5, 2011 10:51 AM EDT reply actions  

Klingberg (as expected) did not make the Thrashers out of camp a year ago despite getting a lot of attention from the pre-season fans for his hits. He asked to be allowed to play in the Swedish league rather than go to Chicago of the AHL. For reasons that have never been explained, Klingberg’s coach at Vastra developed an instant dislike for him and gave him 4th line garbage minutes, hence the poor numbers. With the season roughly 80% done, Klingberg begged for a loan to Timra, which was granted. His numbers at Timra, while not spectacular, did go up enough to make the case that he was victimized at Vastra. He played at Chicago of the AHL and I never heard of any attitude problems, so I don’t know if we’ll ever know any reason for what happened at Vastra other than the coach being a douche.

This is a make or break year for Kane. He may become a very good player. But if he puts up another ordinary 20 or less goals season, I’d say you may have to face the fact that he’s just going to be a good but not great NHL player.

McArdle, Glass and Cormier are all jokes. Anything above 4th line time for ANY of them is going to make this a very long season for Jets fans. Cormier showed some good faceoff winning ability but he’s not going to score wherever he plays. It’s just a question of do you want his low scoring at C where at least he can win faceoffs for you or are you going to put him at LW where he can’t help you win faceoffs and he’s not going to score either.

by Zontar on Aug 5, 2011 3:43 PM EDT up reply actions  

Defensive responsibility

I could see Glass and McCardle being the chosen ones, if only for the reason that they’re used to being buried in their own end.

The Little Ladd’s Wheeler line will play tough competition and still put up some points, but should get at least middling zone starts. Kane should be deployed offensively to get the most out of his talents, which leaves the 3rd and 4th line LW’s to play matchup minutes and defensive zone starts.

I’m also counting on Cormier playing center.

Ryan Popilchak

Matchsticks & Gasoline, Artic Ice Hockey, &Hockey Prospectus. My twitter handle is @sprtopinionated

by SO_RyanP on Aug 5, 2011 11:23 AM EDT reply actions  

It will be interesting to see how it plays out...

Do they play it safe and stick with players that are all defense or do they take a chance with guys who have a little more offensive upside. Goals need to some from somewhere and we can’t count on the same guys adding a whole bunch. Even if Kane breaks out, mid 30’s is more likely than 40 plus.

by truck on Aug 5, 2011 11:51 AM EDT up reply actions  

I’d say that even 35 is HIGHLY unlikely. If he reaches 25-30 be happy. And he may not even reach that. But you are quite right that 40 goals is incredibly unlikely this season. However, there is a chance that Kane may benefit a lot from being away from the self-imposed distractions of Atlanta. Let’s just say that some felt that Kane was far too interested in hanging out with his rapper buddies than worrying about his NHL career.

Telegin and Klingberg are the ONLY guys outside of Kane on this list with any “offensive upside”. And it’s not much for either of them, at least not right now in their career.

by Zontar on Aug 5, 2011 3:49 PM EDT up reply actions  

I didn't say 35 or 40 was likely..

I but if he doesn’t hit a total near there, it doesn’t really constitute a breakout season.

I think the biggest problem for Kane is the lack of a top flight center. With his style of play, I don’t see him putting up big numbers with out a very solid center feeding him the puck. Can Burm be that guy?

I think Telegin and Gregoire have more offensive upside than Cormier, Glass or McArdel. I am still not sold that Klingberg has a ton.

One benefit for Cormier, Telegin and Gregoire is that they all have the ability to move from center to the wing. One would think that will increase their chances of making the team.

As for Glass, I think they signed him with the expectation that he would play.

by truck on Aug 5, 2011 5:31 PM EDT up reply actions  

Comments For This Post Are Closed


User Tools

The finest Winnipeg Jets analysis on the internets

FanPosts


Managers

Hawerchuk_small Hawerchuk

Gary_bettman_bad_dreams_small Bettman's Nightmare

Grapes_small canadian texan

Howe_small TJCAPS

Editors

Ryan_small SO_RyanP

0_small maplestirup

Jets2_small arby_18