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: The Winnipeg Jets played three games this past week going 1-1-1 giving them a record of 34-28-11. They are 7 points behind Dallas and 8 points behind Nashville and even if they run the table they probably still won’t make it as it looks like that playoff line will be higher than 97 points.
It usually takes somewhere around 92-95 points for a playoff spot but the Arizona Coyotes padded a lot of Western Conference teams’ records.
2. Jets: The Winnipeg Jets won’t be making the playoffs this season but at least there will be playoff hockey in Winnipeg thanks to the Manitoba Moose and the Winnipeg ICE.
3. Jets: It’s not his fault but Dylan DeMelo is not a first pairing defenceman. He plays where he’s asked to play.
4. NHL: I realize the pandemic really impacted the NHL’s rescheduling of postponed games but it is ridiculous playing 3 games in 4 nights or 5 games in 7 nights. I don’t understand why the league was set against extending the season by a couple of weeks.
5. ICE: I wonder if the Winnipeg Ice will be playing playoff games at Canada Life Centre? As they progress through the playoffs I’m sure interest and demand for ICE tickets will be high.
6. NHL: My weekly analysis (bitching) about NHL officiating.
Sunday afternoon in Pittsburgh: Predators vs Penguins
Evgeni Malkin slashes Mark Borowiecki’s stick out of his hand and then cross-checks him in the face, leaving Borowiecki bleeding from the mouth and the officials gave him a double-minor because he drew blood. Malkin continually gets away with this crap and I don’t understand why? For me, this was easily a 5-minute match penalty for intent to injure. He will probably get a call from the Department of Player Safety and get a suspension BUT yet the clowns in the striped jerseys didn’t make the appropriate call. I’m so sick of the double standards in this league. If that was Mark Borowiecki cross-checking a Penguin’s player in the face I have no doubt he gets a match penalty and more than likely a suspension.
UPDATE:
Evgeni Malkin was suspended for 4 games so the on-ice officials blew it AGAIN.
Sunday night in Ottawa: Senators vs Jets
I’ve lost my will to bitch about NHL officiating plus in the grand scheme of things this call really didn’t matter BUT there is no way in hell you can convince me that Ottawa’s third goal by Brady Tkachuk wasn’t a high stick. Even with the replay, they got it wrong. This league and their rulings just never cease to amaze me.
7. Jets: I have to admit that I’m a little shocked and surprised that Mason Appleton only has 1 goal and 1 point after 10 games back with the Jets.
8. Jets: Kevin Cheveldayoff had to know that Ville Heinola and Dylan Samberg were on the brink and probably should have been on the Jets’ opening day roster this season but yet he went out and signed Neal Pionk to a 4-year contract and traded for TWO more defencemen with term. This caused a log jam at the defence position that basically roster-blocked Heinola and Samberg not to mention other prospects playing with the Moose. I must admit that at the time I got caught up in the excitement of improving our backend but after seeing a lost season for our young defencemen and a team that spent to salary cap miss the playoffs, it might be time to look at a new GM as well. Chevy’s record since the return of Jets 2.0 has been underwhelming.
9. Jets: Did anybody else find it strange the Jets called up Morgan Barron but didn’t call up David Gustafsson? It makes sense they wanted to see what Barron could do at the NHL level but it still made me wonder a bit.
10 Jets: This will be open for debate but I put Dylan Samberg ahead of Ville Heinola on the Jets depth chart. In saying that, it would be organizational malpractice and criminal if both aren’t regulars next season.
11. Jets: 95 point update: I figured the Jets needed approx 52 points in their final 40 games to have a shot at a wildcard spot. As of today they have earned 36 points in 31 games and are well off the pace for 52 points Even though they aren’t mathematically eliminated it would take a miracle to make the playoffs with only 18 points left on the table.
12. Ice: The Winnipeg ICE went 2-0 this past week and have improved their overall record to 51-10-3-2 on the season and with their 51 victories & 107 points, they have clinched the Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy as 2021-22 WHL Regular Season Champions. The Winnipeg ICE have somehow dropped to #2 in the CHL rankings. Go figure?
Kia CHL Top-10 Rankings – Week 23
as of April 6
1. Hamilton Bulldogs
2. Winnipeg ICE
3. Everett Silvertips
4. Edmonton Oil Kings
5. Quebec Remparts
6. Windsor Spitfires
7. Charlottetown Islanders
8. Kamloops Blazers
9. North Bay Battalion
10. Sherbrooke Phoenix
13. Moose: The Manitoba Moose went 1-1-1-0 last week but with the 1 point they snagged in the Chicago game on Saturday they clinched a playoff spot. Their record improves to a very solid 37-21-5-2 with a .623 winning percentage.
Special Teams:
- PP: 19.70 up from 19.60 last week.
- PK: 82.30% down from 82.40 last week.
14. Jets: The Winnipeg Jets have 9 games left in the season and according to moneypuck.com their chances of making the playoffs sit at 0.3 % as of Sunday night. Of course, this number is very fluid and it changes with each win or loss by the Jets and the teams they are chasing. It is fun to watch but it’s just a matter of days before they are mathematically eliminated.
Updated game by game odds:
Monday … no game … 1.2%
Tuesday … no game … 0.7%
Wednesday … after 3-1 loss vs Detroit … 0.3%
Thursday … no game … 0.2%
Friday … after 5-4 OT loss vs Colorado … 0.1%
Saturday … no game … 0.3%
Sunday … after a 4-3 win at Ottawa … 0.3%
15. Jets: My weekly question for Kevin Cheveldayoff and/or Dave Lowry.
This is for Chevy. If Dave Lowry isn’t named head coach would he be welcomed back as an assistant coach?
16. Jets: The Good, Better, Best this past week.
- Good: Connor Hellebuyck has been solid and looks like the normal Helle.
- Better: Dylan Samberg has looked like a top-four defenceman in his second stint with the big club.
- Best: Nikolaj Ehlers is playing at an elite level right now and has been the Jets’ best player on most nights lately.
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Hi Mitch, regarding your point # 8, a topic we spoke about before, the failure starts at the top. The current GM and coaching staff are not suited to compete in this league, yet Mr. Chipman insists on finding excuses to keep them. A win here and there plus a forgiving fanbase helps. He needs to change course and hire an NHL-experienced chief of hockey operations who will recruit a qualified, competitive GM and coaching staff. Until that happens the Jets will be like a broken record: same old weaknesses, same old results, year after year after year.
Thanks for dropping by Eric ….. you are right, 11 years is enough … the difference now is there is apathy in the fan base that is leading to non-season ticket renewals and impacting the bottom line … the honeymoon is OVER … TIME FOR A SHAKEUP.
At minimum the entire coaching staff need replacing with a head coach who will make every player accountable for their play. Chevy needs to go as well. All new systems required especially the pk.
Thanks for checking in Ron ….. I agree, but I wonder if Mark Chipman has the stones to make the tough decisions?
I am really getting frustrated with the Jets management, so much so that I trend to look for any excuse to vent at the inability to make the right moves, even if it tends to be a knee jerk reaction. Apathy seems to creep down from management to the players, in my opinion.
Hi Les … apathy has reached the fanbase and that will start to affect Chipman’s bottom line which really puts Chevy’s job in jeoprady. I don’t thing anything but a complete change in management and coaching will appease the paying customers.