Northern Touch: Consistent Inconsistency
7 years ago
Inconsistent. If you’re looking for a solitary word to describe the current form of the Winnipeg Jets, you’ve found it. And I don’t expect things to change this season.
Winnipeg’s heartbreaking 3-2 loss (collapse?) in the dying seconds Tuesday night to the Washington Capitals almost serves as a perfect encapsulation of how I anticipate the 2016-17 season to go. The Jets will show flashes. They will display grit, and heart, and poise, and make some comebacks. They will play some sloppy hockey games, and then follow it up with a gem here and there. But in the end, they will fall short of any true measure of success this season.
The past week saw a young Jets team lose 3-2 in Dallas before rebounding with a decisive 4-1 win at MTS Centre in the second of the home-and-home with their Central Division foes. The club then found their first consecutive victories of the season — on back-to-back nights, no less — in a lightning-quick turnaround game against another division opponent in Colorado. Michael Hutchinson posted a 30-save shutout — his first clean slate in over 50 starts — earning him another start as Paul Maurice finally snapped the 1:1/50:50 goaltending rotation between Hutchinson and Connor Hellebuyck.
And how do the Jets respond in Sunday’s matinée after a day off? With quite likely the flattest performance of the season in a 3-1 loss to the Buffalo Sabres as Hutch was hung out to dry before his mercy-pull after his club surrendered three goals on 13 shots.
Look, the Jets goaltending is going to be inconsistent all year. Hutchinson is relatively young and inexperienced, while Hellebuyck is very young and inexperienced.
But the goaltending is far from the sole reason why I see the Jets’ overall inconsistent play continuing. Looking at the lineup; currently there is one player who is either in their first or second season as a full-time NHLer on each of Winnipeg’s forward lines. The defence isn’t far off that either, especially with Tyler Myers down with a lower-body injury.
The schedule is gruelling, and one new NHLers are far from accustomed to. Looking ahead, 16 games in 30 days, and three games in three different cities in four nights as they visit D.C. for a rematch with the Capitals, Hockeytown, and then Madison Square Garden in Manhattan. The travel and schedule can be daunting to Winnipeg’s young players.
But don’t fret — there is a bright side. This team does have a ton of talent, and firepower that can explode in an instant. They’re capable of beating any team in the NHL. The likes of Scheifele, Laine, Ehlers, Wheeler, and even Mathieu Perreault and Bryan Little (who remains on the shelf for at least another month with an injury), have the ability to pop off the page and light up the scoreboard with an offensive onslaught.
I just don’t expect it to happen very often, and I fully expect the defensive growing pains for the Jets to continue.
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- With just 30 days until the season is completely lost for Jacob Trouba, and with a much-maligned Jets fan base continuing to squirm in discomfort and discontent with the looming outcome, I get the sense something is going to give soon. The Trouba camp and GM Kevin Cheveldayoff are both sticking hard to their guns. I truly believe no player (or agent) wants to throw away $5-million-plus as well as an entire year of hockey. I also believe if the GM bends and shows even a fraction of give here, it leaves him vulnerable for nearly every other player/agent who reaches this negotiation juncture with the franchise/him in the future. Both sides have a lot to lose, but one has a heck of a lot more on the line for years and years to come.
- Patrik Laine, who sits atop the entire NHL with four power play goals (tied with Matt Moulson and Wayne Simmons), is being deployed on the second power-play unit. Am I missing something here? 0-for-4 on the man-advantage Tuesday night, dropping them to 5-for-44 on the season (25th in NHL). He’s their best weapon, so he gets just over two minutes of their 6:01 of power play time?
- Alexander Burmistrov. It’s time to go. The young Russian looks like he’s really trying to force things and is nowhere near the level and/or potential he displayed before his KHL hiatus. Send him down to the farm and see if he can get his game back on track. There’s plenty of Moose forwards who’ll play a more responsible game — and win some faceoffs — right now.
- Seemingly consistent amongst Winnipeg’s overall inconsistency? The Joel Armia line with Adam Lowry and Shawn Matthias. There’s energy and pressure nearly every time they step on the ice. Armia’s growing confidence shows. There was no update on the severity of Matthias’ injury that knocked him out of Tuesday’s game, and I wonder how line-juggler Paul Maurice will adjust things in his bottom six if he misses some time.
- With Mark Stuart down after suffering an injury Tuesday morning, Julian Melchiori was an emergency call-up and, to me, looked relatively comfortable in his first NHL game of the season. Melchiori received 13 minutes on the bottom pair next to Ben Chiarot, and one minute on the PK. Melchiori and Chiarot accompany Paul Postma as mid to late-round picks of the Atlanta Thrashers, so I wonder, where’s Cheveldayoff’s depth defencemen from his six draft classes?
- More and more people are taking notice of Josh Morrissey. Top-pair minutes next to ice-time ironman Dustin Byfuglien will do that, but man, does the rookie look more and more at ease with every game he plays. Such a smooth skater and a treat to watch as a young player. It looks like another solid first-round hit for the Jets draft team.
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