Northern Touch: Times Change(d)
7 years ago
Is this real life?
It’s been an earth-shattering 48 hours — Jacob Trouba finally arrived in Winnipeg after putting pen to paper, two Jets sit atop the NHL scoring and goals leaderboards, a goaltender not named Ondrej got a third-straight start, the power play went 3-for-5 …
Oh, and a “blue-collar billionaire” who has never held public office was elected leader of the free world. But we’ll keep this space to the hockey talk — that is unless Europeans and Canadians are eventually no longer permitted to take NHL jobs from hard working American-born AHL/ECHLers anymore.
Let’s start with Jacob Trouba, and the saga that has every Jets fan talking about the 22-year-old blue-liner and what his hockey future might hold. He has rescinded his trade request. OK. He has signed on to be a Winnipeg Jet for two years — his words. And he arrives back with a team that has survived the beginning of the season without him.
His new bridge contract, which keeps him a restricted free agent when it expires following the 2017-18 season, comes with a cozy $3-million cap hit — currently under the salary cap of roughly 25% of NHL teams. Is he tradeable? Absolutely. Do I expect him to be moved sooner rather than later? I don’t. And that mainly has to do with GM Kevin Cheveldayoff sticking hard to his asking price. But at least there is now some stability surrounding the player in order to make him attainable by another GM.
Here are some comparable D-man bridge deals via fellow Nation contributor Garret Hohl:
- Murray: $2.82M x2
- Dumba: $2.55M x2
- Ceci: $2.8M x2
- Gudbranson: $2.5M x2
- Subban: $2.88M x2
There’s clear reasoning as to why a bridge deal was signed. When Cheveldayoff and Trouba purportedly met for coffee at a Detroit-area Tim Hortons recently, the two found some common ground to make something work for both parties in the short term. The Jets get a talented young defenceman back in their lineup, and the player avoids becoming a hockey pariah on December 1 when his entire NHL season would’ve been lost.
What I found most interesting was Trouba’s somewhat hesitant response to an excellent question by Winnipeg Sun columnist Paul Friesen, who asked plainly, “What did you accomplish?”
“You can go with the flow and do what everyone else does and be a part of everything, or you can try to stand up in what you believe in and what I felt was best for my future,” said Trouba. “And I did that, and things change over time.”
We’ll see how things continue to change over time — the Trouba-Jets saga is far from over.
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- I was beyond pleased to learn Connor Hellebuyck got the nod Tuesday night against the Stars — a third-consecutive start, and the first time Paul Maurice went with the same goaltender in three games. I wondered, especially after getting the yank Sunday in Manhattan. I had tweeted prior to Sunday’s game against the Rangers; Hellebuyck needs to take the reigns and run as the No. 1 netminder. Going right back to the young netminder is a huge vote of confidence from Paul Maurice. And Hellebuyck reflected that with a strong 28-save performance.
- The Jets had scored five second-period goals in total this season — that is until Tuesday, where they scored four more. It was arguable their best single period of hockey this season.
- Eight goals? Eight! That hasn’t happened too often for the Jets since their re-arrival in the Manitoba capital. Our friend Tim Hiebert (aka @JetsStatsGuy) pointed out the Jets moved up 10 spots in the NHL’s goals-per-game rankings — 19th to 9th — with their offensive onslaught Tuesday night.
- That onslaught was carried heavily but the clicking power play that went 3-for-5 against the Stars. Note; Patrik Laine is back on the top PP unit. How much of that has to do with Little, Perreault, and Stafford still in sick bay? We may never find out — the Finn belongs there.
- Dustin Byfuglien has yet to bend the twine this year, and it appears his lack of goals has him trying out some new lumber. 33 was on the ice about an hour after Tuesday’s game, working on his shot for about 30 minutes. Here’s some video captured by NHL.com correspondent Scott Billeck.
- It sounds like Joel Armia will be out for a while. A shame — arguable he has been the biggest surprise bright spot on this Jets team so far this season.
- Brandon Tanev, man. What a pure ball of energy. The way the 24-year-old rookie came out absolutely flying Tuesday night set the tone for the game. He’s exactly what a young Jets team needs on their third/fourth line. I’m excited to see him continue to blossom.
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