JN AirMail – December 6, 2016

A day late but never a dollar short, this week’s edition of JetsNation AirMail sees four members of the writing team answer your pressing questions!

As always, if you have a Jets or hockey related question in general burning away in your head, be sure to @ reply our Twitter account with the hashtag #JNAirMail and we’ll get to answering it next week.

For now, let’s talk Laine, coaching and those gosh darn no good refs…

Dustin: People are going to speculate, but I think Maurice’s job is safe, at least through the end of the year. Perhaps if the Jets are nowhere close to the playoffs they make look to make a change in the off-season, but I think they’ll be close to the postseason and PoMo will get an extension. I like the way Maurice has gotten these players to buy in and he preaches a defensively-responsible style that will really pay dividends when the offense get is full swing.

PoMo is not on the “hot seat” and the reason I feel is simply because the Jets are at this point in the season exactly where they thought they’d be at the start of the season. Treading water, kind of in the hunt along with a bunch of other teams with a lot of youth and inexperience is how I felt the Jets expected things to go (it’s how many of us felt it would go right?) .. The fact the Jets have done as ‘well’ as they have with the injuries I think just cements PoMo’s position more than anything else.

Garret: I don’t want to take too much time but basically I long have viewed coaching expertise predominantly in teaching systems and inspiring/motivating their players. Outside of that, I think most coaches are not good in optimizing player usage. I don’t view Maurice as a particularly terrible or amazing coach, like most coaches. So I don’t view most replacements as being a cure.

Jacob: First off, Paul Maurice isn’t going to be fired this year. A overly loyal organization like the Winnipeg Jets isn’t going to cut the cord with Paul Mauirce in the middle of season and frankly, there isn’t a valid reason to take him off the bench and put someone else there. Another coach likely couldn’t do any better and the reality that many fans need to realize is the Jets are going to have growing pains with such a young roster. Jets are in the thick of the playoff hunt and likely will for the duration of the season.

Dustin: Should he: Yes. Will he? Auston Matthews plays in Toronto, as does Mitch Marner, and they currently lead the rookie scoring race. I think those guys will have a chance to top Laine based on the hype that they are going to generate in the media. I also think Zach Werenski, with his 16 points from the blueline, may make some noise if Columbus keeps things going in the right direction.

Yes. Mark it down, you heard it here first. Laine is winning the Calder. The reason I say this is because all we’ve seen until recently was a helluva shot from the “Ovi Spot” that he was converting at a high rate, but now we’re starting to see him make some plays to drive to the net, we’re starting to see him make some very nice passes.. The only thing he has to figure out a bit more is what exactly to do without the puck, but the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association is who votes on the Calder and in case you haven’t noticed, the writers seem to buzz about Laine almost as much as Jets fans themselves do. His play away from the puck or any other deficiencies he has in his game won’t matter.. Especially if he does the unthinkable and even stays in the top ten of overall NHL goal scoring.

Garret: Probably not, but will likely be in the mix. Laine could be an elite finisher, but he hasn’t been taking shots in the greatest of places. A lot of his goals have come from the outside and I don’t think his shot rate is going to hold up his goals as his sh% (which I still expect to be high-end) comes down a bit. His two-way impact in shot differentials hasn’t been as good as some of the other Calder options.

Jacob: I think Laine will certainly have the numbers to back it up, but I don’t think he will win when it’s all said and done. I’d look at Zach Werenski to take home the hardware and if not him, it’s a tie for me between Marner, Matthews and Laine.

Dustin: I think they will protect Wheeler, Scheifele, Little, Lowry, Byfuglien, Enstrom, Myers, Trouba and will therefore lose Marko Dano to the Vegas Golden Knights. I’m not saying that is what I think they SHOULD do, but what I think they WILL do. Also, many things can happen between now and then that may change their plans.

I keep thinking Lowry is as good as gone, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Jets work out some kind of deal where Vegas ends up with Michael Hutchinson instead.

Garret: They will probably want to protect Myers and Trouba, so they will lose one of Dano, Copp, or Lowry.

Jacob: I plan on writing about this extensively for JetsNation.ca in the upcoming days, so I will keep my answer pretty short. I agree with Garret in the sense of those three players likely being casualties. I see Lowry as someone that Vegas could scoop up in an expansion draft. The Jets are going to protect Trouba and Myers barring a trade on the back end, which I think is very unlikely to occur.

Dustin: I  have a hard time buying into the “refs hate the Jets” conspiracy theory. If they Jets get more calls than other teams it is in part because Paul Maurice wants them playing on the edge and they haven’t quite learned how not to cross the line. I do think the officiating is (very) questionable at times, but not necessarily against Winnipeg.

NHL Officiating overall is just poor. I do think the Jets have a bad reputation for arguing calls and being the big and fast team they are the refs may have a bit more of a keened eye on what the Jets do, but I don’t think it’s at all a ‘conspiracy’ of any kind or that the refs or league in general has it out for the Jets. But I do feel Winnipeg’s style of play does keep themselves open to being called more than say a team like the Canadiens who aren’t exactly known for playing a physical style of hockey.

Garret: Yes and no. I think that there have been moments of reputation calls or biased calls. For example, I think Byfuglien gets a lot of BS “too big” penalties. I also think the Jets sometimes within the same game lose their heads more than most teams typically do when an unfortunate call occurs, which can impact them for the remainder of the game. That said, I don’t view for one second for there to be a conspiracy out to get the Jets.

Jacob: No. It’s a silly narrative, the refs don’t hate the Jets. I watch a lot of hockey and I’ve watched a lot of missed calls and poor calls made on every team. It happens and it’s usually not intentional.