JN AirMail: We’re Bringing AirMail Back (Yeah)

It’s the return of JetsNation AirMail! Hooray!

This week, Cassie and myself – everyone else is pretty much playoff burnt out – look at just how bright the Jets future is, how they should go about re-tooling their bottom six forward group and why schedule and practice delay shenanigans weren’t a bigger deal in the media.

Art: I think it’s pretty darn bright. Things can always go sideways of course and as well go over here on JetsNation and find out in real life over the next handful of weeks, Chevy has his hands full trying to find a delicate balance of figuring out which players are replaceable and which ones need to be kept – especially in the bottom six – but for at least the next two to three seasons I think what we saw this spring is just the beginning.

Cassie: Pretty bright in my opinion. This is similar of how the Blackhawks were before they won the first of those last three cups. They got bounced in the conference finals and came back to dominate because they have depth.

Art: I feel we started to see a shift this season towards the Jets having a more talented, speed based bottom six, rather than your typical grit and and plod along for six minutes of ice time per game grinders that we’ve had in other seasons. That “retooling” you’re talking about is a good chunk of what Cheveldayoff is going to have to figure out this summer because the top six I think for the most part is set, it’s who do you run at the bottom six and how much money do you spend there that is the trick. Does it make sense to have Mathieu Perreault at a shade over four million playing third line center? Adam Lowry could be 1.5 to 3 million depending on how much the Jets value his defensive presence, is that worthwhile having parked on the fourth line and if it is, can we be sure Paul Maurice will give that fourth line more than a handful of minutes per night?

Getting to this part has almost been kind of the easy part for Chevy, now that he has all the puzzle pieces, he has to try and make them all fit proper and get his coaches to agree to put them in place as he wants them.

Art: I’ve long been a 2% guy, but obviously 1% is a little healthier if not a bit blander. I actually now get both, drink the 1% on the regular and then use the 2% for cooking, my coffees and nightly milk & cookies snack.

Cassie: Whole milk. Full fat. If I have to, 2%, but I prefer whole milk.

Art: You can look at it as the Timberlake show in Nashville the night before game seven forced the NHL into only giving the Jets (or Preds) a one day break before the Western Final, but in reality it was that quick turnover that I felt helped the Jets in game one against Vegas. Would the Jets have been as sharp with a two day break? I’m not so sure. The Jets (and Preds) also got a two day break between games six and seven of that series which I think ultimately helped the Jets reset a bit and slowed down whatever momentum the Predators may have had.

Cassie: I think teams are used to that type of turnover in the season, so they just built on the game before and went for it.

Art: Because it really isn’t that big a deal, and to be fair, the Golden Knights – or T-Mobile Arena staff to be more exact – didn’t exactly interfere as the Jets practices started on time and the team got their proper allotted amount of time. All NHL teams will casually get on the ice minutes before the “official start” of a practice and two times the Jets were denied that little extra perk. It’s gamesmanship. It was bush league as well, but in the end it wasn’t really much of an issue.

Cassie: Because it’s not really a big deal. It’s a bit in bad taste, but that’s on the arena and not the team specifically. It’s not what caused them to lose by a long shot.