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
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.