#JNAirMail: Great Jets-pectations

This week in the ol’ mail bag, we have questions asked of us of this upcoming season. What should we expect and more importantly how angry should we get and who do we blame when if it all goes south on us.

JetsNation AirMail is where we ask for your questions, you either @ them to us on Twitter, send them to us on Facebook and then we answer them here!

Sean S: If we are under .500 by mid November he’s got to go.

Kyle: This may be the unpopular opinion, but I like Maurice. I think the Jets are going to have an interesting year, but continuity of coaching will hopefully help things progress. That being said, if the Jets are far out of the playoff race near the end of 2019, they should take a long look at making a coaching change.

Zee: Another fan of Maurice, but I think at the end of the season if we haven’t seen the results we’re looking for, then it’s time to go. That being said, what are the results that we’re expecting out of this team this year? If we are still in that “window” then you most definitely replace him because I don’t think he’s the type of coach that will take the team to the next level.

Eric: Also another fan of Maurice here, though I suspect a change will be made if it looks like either the team is vastly under-performing with a full roster or otherwise is forced to go into a pretty full retool.

Art: If I was a general manager of this club, I’d be looking for results in the first half of the season. To me the St. Louis Blues are a decent example to go off of. If come December this team is below .500 and more than six points out of a playoff spot, I’d look to make a change. I don’t care what the defense looks like or how the goalies perform, there is still too much talent on this club to be that bad.

 

 

Sean S: I don’t think so. The only huge loss we had was Trouba. Unless Buff actually ends up retiring we won’t be nearly as bad as everyone thinks. Maurice is gone unless we make a solid showing in the playoffs this season.

Kyle: Yes. I think the expectations of the team were far too lofty last season. When things didn’t go according to what was expected, people blamed Maurice. With the expectation being a bubble team this season, there is far less pressure on the entire team to perform. If the Jets are in the playoff mix all year, then Maurice is staying.

Zee: Expectations for Maurice and the team as a whole have definitely been lowered but not only due to the erosion, you have to look at other teams in the division and you’ll see a lot of them have taken a very aggressive approach to building in the off-season and the Jets’ haven’t done much to stay competitive, management knows and understands this, you can only coach so much out of a team.

Eric: Expectations are definitely down due to the unsigned RFAs, Buff’s absence, and the scaling up of difficulty in the division. I think this has to change the sticks of expectations surrounding Maurice, as management really can’t put someone in a situation like this without adjusting the expected outcomes as well, unless management is trying to get a reason to get him out – certainly not something I believe in the slightest.

Art: I think this past off-season has lowered expectations a bit, but it shouldn’t be by much and honestly if the conversation is “well we can’t expect Maurice to win with this team assembled” then the conversation should instantly switch to Kevin Cheveldayoff’s job security as he’s the one responsible for said team that can’t be coached to win.

 

 

Sean S: I don’t think they’re anywhere close to a rebuild. At most its a slight retooling. But they’re under less pressure for sure based on expectations. The Jets seem to play better as the underdog anyway.

Kyle: There is definitely less pressure this season compared to last year. I don’t think development is more important than winning, as the Jets will hopefully be in the playoffs at the end of the year, but they have to find that delicate balance, especially if Byfuglien chooses retirement.

Zee: Less pressure for sure. While they’re definitely not in a rebuild mode, they’re less of a threat to other teams while they figure out the problem areas. I’d like to say Jets’ fans understand that and therefore there should be less pressure but we’ll have to see how everything shakes out, it can be hard to temper expectations when they made it as far as they did two years ago.

Eric: Less pressure at play for sure. I definitely wouldn’t call it a rebuild; as Sean said, a retool for sure as we adjust the blue line, but there should be some interesting side effects as the underdog mentality kicks in again.

Art: Hindsight being what it is, I look back at last season and wonder if that season wasn’t the “development” season in a way for the Jets by the way Maurice always talked about how young the team was and how sparingly some players like Niku and Roslovic were used despite their obvious talent. As far as pressure goes, they play in a Canadian city staved for hockey success and there is a lot of “what happened” talk with this club which reflects on the job done by both Maurice and Cheveldayoff. We were talking earlier about job security for both the coach and maybe even GM, so I’d say there is still as much pressure as last season, just in a much different way.

 

 

Sean S: I don’t think you’re crazy at all. I’ve been very impressed with our young guys and our new pick ups so far in this preseason. Aside from Anthony Bitetto that is… If Chibisov doesn’t make the roster I will riot!

Kyle: Definitely not crazy. This team is still good. They aren’t as dominant with the subtractions during the off-season, but this is still a good hockey team. Expectations should be lowered somewhat, but the end goal of the club is to win a championship.

Zee: Not crazy! The Jets definitely still have key pieces that were there for the successes and still understand what it takes to find that success again. If you were expecting to be a cup contender this year, I may say you’re crazy but i think maintaining .500 is a reasonable expectation. I’d expect to see the beginning of the season to be a little bit of a rough start, but we’ll get there. Keep your optimism!

Eric: I don’t think it will be pretty, but I think this team can absolutely grind out some ‘grit’ wins that keep them at or slightly above .500. It will be an interesting season for sure, and 20 years after this franchise played its first regular season NHL game, taking the underdog role once again seems like a pretty fitting full circle.

Art: To me the first half of the Jets schedule – especially the first two months – will maybe be the toughest, so if the Jets can manage all that and get through to December with an above .500 record (which for this team should be the expectation) I think it sets themselves up nicely for the rest of the season. For as many struggles as the Jets had last year, it was still a team that was contending for top spot in the Central and finished with 99 points. I can’t see this club having a steep drop off from that.