Mitch Kasprick is the “Motown Curmudgeon” aka “Motown Mitch”
Odds and Ends, Thoughts and Questions, from this past week in sports –
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 Blue Bombers, Minnesota Vikings, Arizona Cardinals, Toronto Blue Jays, Arizona Diamondbacks, Winnipeg Goldeyes, Toronto Raptors, all curlers from Manitoba, and all Canadian athletes competing on the international stage.
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: The Winnipeg Jets had a good week that could have easily been a great week. They had a late collapse versus Minny on Tuesday but rebounded with a huge win over Nashville on Friday night and started off a tough 4-game road trip with a solid win in Columbus on Sunday. The Jets have a one-point lead on the Preds and still have three games in hand. Their record is an impressive 39-22-4.
2. Moose: The Manitoba Moose finished their 6-game road trip last week winning two of three games and are still within touch of a playoff spot. They are four points out of fourth place but have to pass three teams which will make it tough. Give them credit, they are still hanging around with a record of 27-26-3-2.
3. Jets: Why is PK Subban being booed in Winnipeg a thing? It’s not my style but then again I’m not in the building.
4. Jets: I wonder where that Twitter big-mouth is that told me I was an IDIOT last season because I said Jack Roslovic wasn’t ready to be a regular, nevermind the second line center on the Jets. He then went on to tell me Jacko would score 50-60 points. Who’s the IDIOT now?
5. Jets: Does anybody else think that Jacob Trouba is somebody that should be running the Jets PP? Even with Buff and Josh out with injuries, he is still behind Myers and Niku in my opinion.
6. NHL: Speaking of booing. Why was John Tavares being booed in Long Island national news?
7. Jets: Kevin Hayes has only played three games for the Winnipeg Jets and he already looks like one of their better defensive forwards. I find this very disturbing.
8. NHL: Please stop calling the net a CAGE.
9. Jets: Last season when I pointed out that the Mark Scheifele line was not very good defensively I was criticized for being a bad fan. I don’t think I’m a bad fan but just an honest fan.
10. Jets: Blake Wheeler really stepped up in the last two Jets victories with five goals and seven points but his four-goal performance Sunday was a case of the captain putting the team on his back and not accepting losing.
UPDATE:
To no one’s surprise the National Hockey League, today announced that forward Blake Wheeler has been named the NHL’s Second Star of the Week for the week ending March 3/19.
11. Jets: It was an exciting game and a nice win versus Nashville on Friday night BUT I don’t get too excited when our goalie has to stand on his head to win. Poor defensive play and trading chances is a risky strategy and in my humble opinion, not a recipe for winning a Stanley Cup.
12: WHT Podcast: Podcast 088 will be posted here shortly.
13: Jets: Question for Kevin Cheveldayoff: Where you ever close in Matt Duchene or Mark Stone trade talks?
14: The Brier: Good luck to Mike McEwen, Reid Carruthers, Derek Samagalski, and Colin Hodgson at the Brier this week in Brandon. Another one of my many favourite weeks on the sports calendar.
15: Jets: The more Sami Niku plays, the better he looks. He is going to be a mainstay sooner than later.
16: Raptors: I complain a lot about officiating in the NHL quite a bit BUT the officiating in Detroit last night in the Toronto Raptors game was disgraceful. There were probably as many muggings on the court as there were on the streets of Detroit.
17: Jets: I know it’s a small sample size but Nathan Beaulieu is making a solid bid for a top-six role when everybody is healthy. How about Trouba/Morrissey … Byfuglien/Beaulieu … Myers/Chiarot?
18: Goaltending:
- Conner Hellebuyck: 28-18-2 … 2.86 GAA … .911 SV%
- Laurent Brossoit: 11-4-2 … 2.48 GAA … .928 SV%
19: Special Teams: Rule of thumb. Have the two red numbers total at least 100% when added. (as your minimum)
- PP: 6th at 24.90% down from 4th at 25.30% last week.
- PK: 22nd at 78.80% down from 20th at 79.90 last week.
20: Jets: To nobodies surprise the Jets passive PK is spiraling downward in the standings. The passive nature is hard to watch but yet when they do pressure it seems to work much better. I wonder if at some point the special teams’ gurus can figure this out because what they are doing now is NOT working. It has been a problem for four years now although Connor Hellebuyck masked the problem last season with his brilliant play in the net.
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Thanks, Mitch
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