Random Thoughts On The Winnipeg Jets: Dec. 27

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:  It looks like we should be back to playing hockey this week and the Jets are currently below the playoff line with a record of 14-11-5 after 30 games.  With the postponed games the Jets saved a few man games to injured players like David Gustafsson and Blake Wheeler. 

UPDATE #1

     

UPDATE #2

On and on and on.   Another Winnipeg Jets game postponed.  I actually agree with postponing games in Canadian cities for awhile until they allow fans back in the buildings.

SCHEDULE UPDATE: @NHL postpones one game due to COVID-related issues and nine games due to Canadian attendance restrictions.

Full release: https://t.co/xBNA4hKsO6 pic.twitter.com/edfOM7qckp

— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) December 28, 2021

2. Jets:  The 2022 U20 WJHC started yesterday (Sunday) in Edmonton and Red Deer.  The Winnipeg Jets will have four prospects representing four different countries in this year’s event.  Check here for more info.

3. Jets:  Congrats to Jets prospect Cole Perfetti on being named one of the  “alternate captains” on Team Canada’s U20 WHC team.

4. Jets:  After Paul Maurice resigned the buzz word around town was “expectations”.  Who sets these high expectations?  Internal, media driven, or fan base?  Expectations are set for various reasons but having high expectations base on payroll and spending to the salary cap shouldn’t be one of them.  Money spent doesn’t necessarily correlate to being a championship team.  Salary shouldn’t have anything to do with expected production.  The two do not go hand in hand.  As an example if you pay Andrew Copp $7,000,000 per season does that mean you should expect 30 goals?   It used to be salary was based on past performance while today it is based on projected performance.  Both are flawed and the truth probably lay somewhere in between. 

5. Jets:  Before this covid break there was some conversation about the disparity in icetime between the Winnipeg Jets top two centers.  Even after taking a tumble down my basement stairs and needing 9 staples to close the gash in my head I still have enough common sense to realize that Pierre-Luc Dubois has been the Jets best center all season but yet he is playing at least 3-5 minutes less per night than Mark Scheifele before the coaching change.  Since they both play on the same PP unit it doesn’t take a genius to figure out the ice-time discrepancy is at 5v5.  Does this make any sense to you?  It doesn’t to me.  Once again this was not Paul Maurice bashing, it’s just a fact.  In Dave Lowry’s first couple of games behind the bench he tightened up that gap a little bit and I’m sure it will be fluid for the remainder of the season.  Going forward I’m very interested to see how utilizes the players at his disposal and their allocation of icetime. 

6. NHL:  My weekly bitch-fest about NHL officiating.

The NHL officials had a week with no controversay and the only reason that was possible is because there were no games.  Although I constantly rag on NHL officials they are still regaurded as the best in the world.  I’m not sure if there’s a punch line there or not.  I’ts Christmas, so I’ll err on the side of kindness.   

7. NHL:  In a smart move the NHL and the NHLPA announced some new roster rules on Sunday night.  Each NHL team will have a taxi squad of up to six players and will be allowed to make emergency recalls from the minors if COVID-19 absences would cause anyone to play without a full lineup.  The league used taxi squads during last year’s shortened NHL season.  For now, they will be in effect until the All-Star break in early February.

8. Jets:  Bare with me here because this sounds like jibberish but it does make sense … eventually.  If you (Jets coaches and management) don’t think Andrew Copp is top-6 forward, why would you play him in a top 6 role, then see get him paid as as a top-6 forward during his free agency, and then end up putting him back with Lowry on the third line where he belongs in the bottom-6, after now being paid as a top-6 forward?  The Jets did the exact same thing with Jacob Trouba when they propped up his stats by playing him on the top PP unit but in this case it was the NYR that got screwed.

9. GBU:  The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly this past week.