Mitch Kasprick is the “Motown Curmudgeon” aka “Motown Mitch”
Odds and Ends, Thoughts and Questions, from this past week in hockey –
Just so there’s no confusion when I’m spewing my bias, I am a fan of the Winnipeg Jets, Arizona Coyotes, Manitoba Moose, Winnipeg Ice, and all Team Canada Hockey teams.
I am NOT a fan of Gary Bettman or as I call him, Count Chocula. I am a big believer in the 7Ps. You’ve been warned.
1. Jets: I’m feeling lazy this week so I’m borrowing a lot of my thoughts from Twitter.
2. NHL: Everybody thought the 8-6 score in game 1 of the Colorado/Edmonton series was so awesome but I thought it was some of the worst playoff hockey I’ve ever witnessed. If this is Gary Bettman’s idea of playoff hockey, he can keep it.
3. Jets: Not for me Hank.
I always wanted to see Copp and Trouba raise the Cup. More so as members of the Jets but this will do.
— Hank Wood (@DJHankWood) June 2, 2022
Double 🤮🤮
— Lowrys17Beard (@Lowrys17Beard) June 4, 2022
4. NHL: My weekly analysis (bitching) about NHL officiating.
Two officials deciding not to throw Evander Kane out of that hockey game last night after both got really good looks at it is beyond disturbing.
— Sid Seixeiro (@Sid_Seixeiro) June 5, 2022
This has happened far too many times this season. How does a guy get to stay in a game when everybody and their brother knew there was going to be supplemental discipline.
Edmonton’s Evander Kane will have a hearing today for Boarding Colorado’s Nazem Kadri.
— NHL Player Safety (@NHLPlayerSafety) June 5, 2022
5. Jets: With all the talk about who is on the Winnipeg Jets radar for their coaching vacancy the name Scott Arniel’s name has come up, so it got me thinking that some of the younger Jets fans might not know this little story.
Scott Arniel played with Dale Hawerchuk on the Cornwall Royal when the Royals won back-to-back Memorial Cups in 1979-80 and 1980-81. The Winnipeg Jets drafted Dale Hawerchuk 1st overall after the 2nd championship in 1980-81. John Ferguson was the Jets’ GM at the time and he promised Scott Arniel if he was available when the Jets drafted in the 2nd round he would select him.
Well, he was available and Fergy kept his promise and selected him with the 1st pick in the second round, 22nd overall and the rest is history.
FYI, most hockey fans forget there was another pretty good hockey player on that team named Doug Gilmour.
Go to HockeyDB.com and look at Arniel’s numbers, they were very good and he was 60 points behind Dale that season.
6. Jets: According to Jeff Marek the Winnipeg Jets have spoken to Rick Tocchet but I’m not sure what “spoken to” actually means?
“Hey Rick, this is Chevy, would you be interested in coaching the Jets?” OR, was there actually a formal interview?
Also, Elliotte Friedman says to keep an eye on St. Louis assistant coach Jim Montgomery if the Jets are out on Barry Trotz.
7. Jets: The Trotz watch –
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
8. NHL: Remember how Mark Scheifele was given a 4-game suspension and was vilified by the media, local and abroad for his split-second late hit on Jake Evans?
The NHL’s DOPS has been very lenient handing out piddly ass little fines this playoff season and only a 1-game suspension on a much more egregious hit by Evander Kane on Nazem Kadri than Mark Scheifele’s hit on Jake Evans a year earlier. And people ask me why I hate Gary Bettman? I hate his guts and that weasel hates the fact that he had no choice but to let Winnipeg back into the NHL in 2011 and he passive-aggressively tries to screw us every chance he gets.
HTF does Scheif get 4-games on a bang-bang play and Evander Kane only gets 1-game on a much worse hit where he had total control of what he was doing as well as the play being right in front of him. This is another reason why I hate that f’n weasel Bettman.
The #1 thing on my bucket list is to cold-cock that POS right in the face before I croak.
News: Evander Kane suspended one game by @NHLPlayerSafety. @NHLNetwork
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) June 5, 2022
9. Jets: I’ve never understood the logic or the obligation to cheer for another team once my team has been eliminated from the playoffs. Once the Jets are eliminated the rest of them can all take a flying f@*k.
Then there are fans that think we should be cheering for Edmonton because they’re the last Canadian team playing. Ya, right, I’d rather stick an ice pick in my left eye than cheer for those inbreds. I cheer for whatever is best for my playoff pools and I use the word cheer very loosely here, more like observe.
10. Jets: My weekly question for Kevin Cheveldayoff or Mark Chipman.
Do you have any thoughts on how you are going to use the extra 1st-round pick you acquired in the Andrew Copp trade? Would you use it to trade up in the draft, or package both your 1st-round picks and a prospect like Ville Heinola and do a blockbuster for a true #1 defenceman, or just use the picks and re-stock the shelves?
11. Jets: Now that the season is over, what would you like to see TNSE do with the Winnipeg Jets?
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GM Kevin Cheveldayoff has been extended for THREE more seasons as the Winnipeg Jets General Manager so he is safe from your wrath.
12. Important Dates:
July 7: First round of the 2022 NHL Entry Draft at the Bell Centre in Montreal.
July 8: The second through seventh rounds.
July 6: UFA/RFA courting period starts.
July 13: The signing period for RFA and UFA free agents will begin at 11 am MB time.
August 9: U20 WHC starts in Edmonton and runs until Aug.20.
I’d trade Adam Lowry. At present he’s overpaid for what he does and more importantly the term is 4 years left.
Performance at the WC aside 3.25 AAV for a third line center that has trouble finishing is too much. Trade him while his value is high.
Or give him more skill on the wings.
Hi Dave … thanks for dropping by …. I like #17 basically because we don’t have a lot of big forwards … it’s the Lowry, PLD types that usually show their value in the post-season. I’m not thrilled about that 3.25 AAV either but that’s the price of doing business in Winnipeg … sad but true
I’m with you 100% on #9. I want only the Jets to break the long streak of no Canadian Stanley cup champ.
Hi Dennis … thanks for reading … I hope I live long enough to see the day the Jets break the Canadian SC drought.
Regarding 5 and 6. I go back MANY years with Scott Arniel and he became one of my favorite people in all of hockey. One thing that consistently earned my respect is that he always took a few seconds to think and then presented a well considered answer to almost any question I saw given to him. He never fell back on the simple cliches who the pat answers that many media had half written before giving him the chance to respond. Excellent candidate.
And Montgomery is an interesting one. I remember him in his season with the Manitoba Moose. He can diagnose both teams and the officiating all in a 2 minute stint in the penalty box. The first time I ever watched him do it I was absolutely speechless. I would love to sit in on an interview of him for the coaching position
Thanks for stopping by EV … Scott Arniel wouldn’t be a bad choice IMO … there is talk that even if Barry Trotz does accept the Jets coaching position that Arniel could still be hired … I believe Scott was an associate coach with Trotz in Washington. I’m getting tired of waiting but the dominos will start falling soon.
Hey Mitch putting on your scouting hat who would you pick at number 1 in this years Entry draft? From what I have read Wright, Slafkovsky, and Cooley are highly rated.
You have to take Wright
Hi Mitch…Now that you’ve told us how you really feel about Bettman, I’d like to weigh in on #8. I think Scheif could of slowed up, but I think he was beyond pissed off and put his emotions in control. His subsequent suspension of 4 games was excessive, and I suspect the ex Hab Perros did what ever he could to make Scheif pay. Who the hell put that knuckle dragging ectoplasmic byproduct in charge of player safety???
Now that the Avs and Lightning are in the final dance, I really don’t care who wins…Stamkos continues to impress me and he is the poster boy for leadership qualities. As the various series played out, I am convinced the Lightning are built for longevity and are well coached. Their aggressive play was relentless and stymied any chance the Rangers had.
Thanks for reading …cheers.