Back to the status quo: Jets scratch Armia for Thorburn

The Winnipeg Jets will be doing some line juggling ahead of tonight’s matchup against the Minnesota Wild. Mark Stuart draws in for Ben Chiarot, Alex Burmistrov enters the lineup in place of injured Bryan Little and Chris Thorburn replaces Joel Armia in the lineup. 

Yes, you read that correctly.

The Winnipeg Jets are taking Joel Armia out of the lineup so Chris Thorburn can play. Right when you had thought the Jets had come to their senses in terms of player evaluation, they make a head-scratching move like this. 

When a top six presence like Bryan Little is out long-term, you need to rely on bottom six scoring to make up for the loss. But instead, the Jets decided to add some more “grit” and toughness to their bottom six. And in doing this, it came at the cost of scratching Joel Armia. Winnipeg has long needed the type of depth that they have at their disposal and now that they have it they are putting it to waste. 

Last season, the Jets fourth line was comprised of Anthony Peluso, Andrew Copp and Chris Thorburn. On opening night of this season, the Jets put out a fourth line of Brandon Tanev, Adam Lowry and Joel Armia. 

That trio could qualify as a third line for some teams. 

The Jets fourth line looked great against the Hurricanes. They were hard on the forecheck, defensively responsible and had a few scoring chances. It’d only be logical to keep them together and if not together, keep each player in the lineup because they had deserved it. 

Paul Maurice addressed the lineup shuffling earlier today. 

There are so many things concerning with this. 

1) The fact Thorburn is the franchise leader in games played is an issue in itself. He may have (somehow) played the most amount of games but that does not mean he needs to play a full 82 game season more. 

2) Yes Mark Stuart was ( for some reason) an assistant captain last year, but there is a reason he is not one anymore. 

3) What is Chris Thorburn going to bring to you that Joel Armia is not? 

Listen, I’m not saying that having well liked guys in the dressing rooms doesn’t make a difference, because I wouldn’t know. I don’t play in the NHL and I never will. But the thing is, at some point the Jets need to turn the page from guys like Mark Stuart and Chris Thorburn and focus on putting the best lineup forward. 

Because having those two in the lineup doesn’t help your chances of winning games. 

The Jets have leaders in Mark Scheifele, Dustin Byfuglien and Blake Wheeler, it’s not like they absaloutly need to have Stuart and Thorburn around. The purpose of Chris Thorburn and Mark Stuart on the ice isn’t needed when younger players and ultimately better players are out-playing them. 

Armia is a player that can play on the first-fourth line and now he’s in the press box tonight so Chris Thorburn can come in and maybe have a staged fight, shave a few bodies and play 3 minutes a night. 

Taking Ben Chiarot for Mark Stuart isn’t the end of the world in my view. I don’t necessarily agree with it and I’m not a huge Mark Stuart fan but I’m also not a massive Ben Chiarot fan. On the bright side, at least it isn’t Paul Postma that’s being subbed out for Stuart.