Mitch Kasprick is now the “Westdale Curmudgeon”
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 or is it the 8Ps? You’ve been warned.
You can listen to a more in-depth audio version here >>> Audio Version … Podcast is now live
Key dates:
April 17: Start of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs
May 8: NHL Draft Lottery (7 p.m. ET)
June 3: Tentative start of Stanley Cup Final
June 4-10: NHL Scouting Combine
June 26: 2023 NHL Awards
June 28: Round 1 of the 2023 NHL Draft (7 p.m. ET)
June 29: Rounds 2-7 of the 2023 NHL Draft (11 a.m. ET)
1. Jets: The Winnipeg Jets went 1-1-0 this past week and they are still clinging to the last wildcard spot, 1 point up on Calgary with a game in hand and 3 points up on Nashville who like the Jets have 3 games left. Tonight is where it gets interesting with Winnipeg playing San Jose at home and Nashville playing in Calgary. A regulation win for the Preds would be the best result for the Jets and obviously any type of win for the Jets over the Sharks.
2. Jets: Every week I talk about how the Jets’ PP is hurting this team game after game and in a close 3-1 loss to Calgary the boys had 4 powerplays in the final 2 periods and 1 goal could have been a difference maker. The powerplay has looked better since Nik Ehlers has been moved to PP1 and outside of Kyle Conner’s PP goal vs Calgary, he is the weak link and has been a non-factor on the PP and 5v5. I always hope we get the best from our Jets players but right now we aren’t getting Kyle Connor’s best. If KC had half of Pionk’s compete level he would be a stud but he is the epitome of SOFT and LAZY
3. Jets: It was weird that I wasn’t quite as bent out of shape about the Jets’ 3-1 loss to Calgary as a lot of other fans. I thought they played well enough to win but Jacob Markstrom got in the way. It happens and I know it’s been happening a lot lately but that seems to be the Jets’ biggest problem these past couple of months.
4. NHL: WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY
Braden Schneider cranks Paul with a huge hit at the blue line before being tackled by Ross Colton#NYR | #GoBolts pic.twitter.com/9qXAQxG1aR
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights (@HockeyDaily365) April 6, 2023
I’m old school and I have no problem with fighting in hockey BUT this bullshit of guys getting jumped after landing a good check that is legal HAS TO STOP! The NHL could put a stop to this very easily by giving the attacking player an instigator penalty, plus a fighting major, and a game misconduct. This will end this crap real quick.
5. Jets: If you are a regular reader here at Winnipeg Hockey Talk you know I’ve been very hard on Neal Pionk but I must give credit where credit is due, he has been pretty good in the past couple of weeks.
6. NHL: Tie-breaker rules
1. The first tie-breaker is regulation wins (RW), which are all the wins you’ve accumulated minus those in overtime or the shootout.
2. If teams have the same number of regulation wins, the second tie-breaker is regulation and overtime wins (ROW), so only the shootout is excluded.
3. If still tied, the total number of all wins is used.
4. If still tied after that, the edge will go to the team that accumulated more points in the head-to-head matchup against the team they’re tied with.
The good news is right now the Jets (34) hold the tie-breakers over both Calgary (30) and Nashville (29) and that is like having an extra point in the standings.
7. Jets: Right now most of the Jets’ defencemen are playing pretty well with the exception of Nate Schmidt. Schmidt is really struggling and in my opinion, is the weak link.
8. ICE: The Winnipeg ICE took care of business in games 3 and 4 and swept Medicine Hat in 4 straight. The ICE now await their opponents for round two which starts Friday in Winnipeg.
9. Jets: I’m not sure Mason Appleton could make the Winnipeg ICE top-9 but he’s top-9 on the Winnipeg Jets.
10. Jets: Good on the Jets for doing their part for inclusivity.
❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🤍🩷🩵🤎🖤 pic.twitter.com/XLIvrYqQNl
— Winnipeg Jets (@NHLJets) April 3, 2023
11. NCAA: Update from the “Privileged Piece of Shit” file.
Carson Briere has been removed from the Mercyhurst University hockey team. He is facing criminal charges after surveillance video last month appeared to show him being an asshole and pushing an empty wheelchair down a set of stairs at an Erie Pennsylvania nightclub.
12. Jets: Prospect update: Jets 2022 7th round draft pick Domenic DiVincentiis had himself a night with a 37-save shutout to help his team the, North Bay Battalion defeat the Mississauga Steelheads in game 5 to give them a 3-2 series lead where he was selected as “1st Star of the Game”. In the series-clinching win in Mississauga, he was named the “2nd Star of the Game”. In the six-game series, his stat line was a 2.36 GAA and .946 save%.
13. Jets: Poll question
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14. Jets: My weekly question for Rick Bowness, Kevin Cheveldayoff, or Mark Chipman.
This question is for Rick Bowness: What is Cole Perfetti’s status? Bones actually addressed this after Perfetti went for a light skate on Saturday after the team’s gameday skate.
Rick Bowness says Cole Perfetti could be an option in two weeks. We’ll give him a couple weeks. He’ll need that. Bowness also joked that the team needs to be playing in two weeks.
15. Jets: As of this morning Money Puck has the Winnipeg Jets at 81.3% to make the playoffs. This number is very fluid and changes every day. I will update this every week until they clinch a spot (being positive). Last Monday the Jets were at 71.7%.
16. Jets: Special Teams: Rule of thumb. Have the two red numbers (PK and PP) total at least 100% when added (as your minimum).
- PP: 24th at 19.10% down from 24th at 19.30%
- PK: 5th at 82.80% up from 6th at 82.30%
- FO: 21st at 49.00% up from 22nd at 48.80%
Good read as always.
Agree with you on Appleton. Good fourth line guy but as usual in Jetsland they pay him like a third line.
Management decided to pay/extend Lowry 5 years, Appleton 3 years after they re-acquired him, Pionk 5 years, Stanley 2 years, to the tune of a combined 12 million plus AAV based on a 50 game sample against the same 6 teams in the covid year. Every team makes mistakes and has a few bad contracts but the Jets really can afford to give term to these kind of players.
Hey Dave … thanks for visiting. Agreed, its a fact that you probably have to overpay for top-level talent in this market and can’t be overpaying role players … you should listen to the podcast, its more in-depth