Let me start by admitting I am still reeling after last nights loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs so my usual flawless judgement may be compromised.
Twitter is funny place where people can coach and manage a team with absolute certainty. I am no different. Here are some of my “Facts of Life” right now for the Jets and where I agree or disagree with the masses on Twitter.
Where I agree,
O Captain!! My Captain!! Blake Wheeler has not been Blake Wheeler. Is he hurt? Did he lose a step sooner than the ink dried on his new deal? Whatever it is, he has not been the same player. It is time to split up up 55 & 26 and it is also time to lessen his pp time or at the very least move him and Laine to different pp units. Teams have caught on that if you pressure 26 or 29 when they have the puck you are likely to force a turn over. Teams are also allowing Wheeler to be the shot taker which is resulting in multiple missed nets where the puck leaves the zone. As for his 5 on 5 ice time; its not good, turn overs, lost battles and a lot of time spent on the ice is what I’m seeing. If the analytics disagree with me feel free to comment with the stats. Maurice has not been afraid to demote Laine for poor play, our captain should be no different.
Joe Morrow, Ben Chairot and Dmitry Kulikov should all be considered a teams 7-8 D. These three should only be playing in case of emergencies or when a team suffers multiple injuries on D. No Jets fans should be concerned with losing any of them to waivers, they are the three most easily replaceable players on our team.
If Nic Petan is ready, its time to put him in. I was ok with Brendan Lemieux being given a shot and making the team but after watching him now for a while I don't see what he brings? He is not contributing in any positive way. Let Petan play.
I laugh at those who are against Patrik Laine’s demotion to the 4th line or those who feel its the coaches fault for not playing him with a better centre. Laine has not been good! He is a giveaway machine in our end who continually struggles to make the right play to move the puck out of our zone. For the record, It is not his centre’s fault when a D passes Laine the puck in our zone and Laine coughs it up. It’s not the centre’s fault when Laine looses puck battles, races to the puck and takes one of his classic large winding loops after casually swinging his stick at an opponent and missing. Maurice needs to dedicate a whole practice to working with Laine on break outs, a whole practice I’m not kidding.
The Lowry line has been very good but it is in fact ok to break them up and try something different. There is no law I’m aware of that states they can not be put back together. Why not try them apart to see if we can get more lines going than just theres. I actually liked what I saw from Lowry with Laine in limited time last night.
I have been very hard on Myers and honestly do not want to see him re-signed as I suspect he will command more than the 3 million / 2 year deal I’d offer. But he has been better the last few games and does have an up hill battle playing with the partners he’s been attached to.
Finally and possibly most important for Jets Twitter Police. Marko Dano and Tobias Enstrom are gone, move on! Yes, we drafted Stanley and it has not panned out yet, move on!! Live in the now.
