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.
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
| 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.
| 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.
| 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.
| 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.
| 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.
| 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.
| 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.
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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!!!!
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.

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