Random Thoughts On The Winnipeg Jets: May 30

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. WHC:  Team Canada had a very good tournament but had to settle for the silver medal in a game with controversial calls in the 3rd period AND overtime that cost them their and indirectly their starting goalie.  In spite of this, in true Canadian style, the boys scored two late goals with their goalie pulled and forced overtime where they lost on another powerplay goal.  To say the officials had a major say in this outcome would be a major understatement.    

Both Pierre-Luc Dubois and Adam Lowry were major contributors throughout the tournament and represented the Winnipeg Jets very well.

2. Jets:  You can’t help but notice the good teams take the puck to the net and at least one player without the puck drives towards the net.  This is something the Jets don’t do enough of and I can’t believe this team needs to be prodded by their coaches to do this.  This is basic elementary hockey that should come naturally.  I can’t believe our Jets team thinks it can live on the perimeter and succeed. 

The good news is we have players like Pierre-Luc Dubois and Adam Lowry that don’t need to be convinced to take it hard to the net.  We just need a couple more and especially at playoff time.

Nikolaj “don’t call me Nik” Ehlers and Kyle Connors are gifted, skilled players but they tend to live on the perimeter.       

3. NHL:  The lack of control players have with their hockey sticks is very concerning in my opinion.  The officials are missing just as many high-sticks to the face as they call and it seems to be getting progressively worse every year.   

4. NHL:  My weekly analysis (bitching) about NHL officiating.  

Not to be a broken record but what is the point of building a team to be fast and skilled when the playoffs are officiated completely contrary to how you build your team.  The “new standard of calling a penalty a penalty” in the playoffs has slowly reverted back to how it was when the referees just let them play.  That sure didn’t take long.  The “new standard” lasted a whole 3-4 years?  

I actually have no problem with this but maybe Chevy should start building his team a little differently with a better mix of size and skill.

5. NHL:  I’m so sick of players being interviewed saying they overcame adversity yadda yadda yadda.  Adversity is missing your #1 goalie or your best forward or defenceman, or having phantom penalties called but not being down a game in a series or being a couple of goals down in a game for crying out loud.  It’s the most overused and misused cliche in sports and it irritates the hell out of me.  

6. ICE:  Congratulations to the Winnipeg ICE on a terrific season but it is over as the Edmonton Oil Kings made short work of them in 5 games.  The ICE didn’t sell out, did it the right way, and stayed the course with a team that was realistically a year away from contending for a WHL Championship and a shot at the Memorial Cup. 

Edmonton was more of a veteran team and they really loaded up at the WHL trade deadline.  It also didn’t help that Winnipeg was without one of their best players, Matt Savoie (shoulder) who was heavily targeted early on in the series. 

The Winnipeg ICE will once again be a top CHL-ranked team and contender for the Memorial Cup being played in Kamloops, BC next year.

7. Jets:  The Trotz watch –

Barry Trotz did say he was going to consider all coaching offers and this week he had more interviews but shit or get off the pot Barry and make a decision already.  This is shaping up to be as bad as LeBron’s announcement that he is taking his talents to South Beach.

I understand the angst and impatience among Jets fans and yes Barry Trotz is a great candidate BUT he is not God’s gift to coaching.  Like I said earlier I don’t have a good feeling about this and we Jets fans are always getting our hopes up just to be disappointed.  Forgive me for being so jaded.

8. IIHF:  Thirty-six-year-old David Krejci looked pretty good for Czechia at the WHC which made me wonder if he has enough gas in the tank to play another year in the NHL and why he left Boston in the first place.  He could easily step in as the Bruins’ second-line center and play on their powerplay.

9. Jets:  The Winnipeg Jets are one NYR win away from converting a 2nd-round pick in the Andrew Copp trade into a 1st-round pick in this year’s NHL Entry Draft in June.  GO RANGERS GO!   

UPDATE:

Thanks to a 6-2 win by the Rangers over Carolina the conditional 2nd round pick (56th overall) as part of the Andrew Copp trade has now been upgraded to a 1st rounder. 

10. IIHF:  The phantom high-sticking penalty against Cole Sillinger in the 3rd period of the Gold Medal game is a perfect example of why EVERY play in hockey should be challengable.  Everybody but the idiot referee that called that penalty from 120 feet away knows it was the wrong call.  What is the point of having technology if you can’t use it? 

BAD CALL pic.twitter.com/d4gdJroyGI

— Hockey News Hub (@HockeyNewsHub) May 29, 2022

To make matters worse there was a call on Thomas Chabot in overtime that lead to the GOLDEN GOAL that should have not been called or both players should have been sent off.  Team Canada deserved better but once again IIHF officiating rears its ugly head.

IIHF reffing strikes again, clear penalty on Chabot but the guy then grabbed his skate and tackled him. Canada loses on the PK.

— World Hockey Report (@worldhockeyrpt) May 29, 2022

11. Jets:  Some coaching names being rumoured on the Winnipeg Jets radar are Randy Carlyle, Lane Lambert, Scott, Arneil, Kirk Muller, Pascal Vincent, Paul MacLean, Travis Green, and Alain Vigneault.  I think a lot of these names are based on past history with TNSE and I’m not saying this is right or wrong, it’s just an observation.

12. Jets:  My weekly question for Kevin Cheveldayoff or Mark Chipman.

How much longer are you willing to wait for a decision from Barry Trotz before you start interviewing other coaching candidates?

13. Jets: Now that the season is over, what would you like to see TNSE do with the Winnipeg Jets?

Your wishes for this off-season for the Winnipeg Jets?

• Move on from Kevin Cheveldayoff and the coaching staff.
• New GM ... move on from Kevin Cheveldayoff.
• New head coach and new assistant coaches.
• Stay the course, this season was an anomaly because if Covid-19.
• Trade Mark Scheifele.
• Trade Blake Wheeler.
• Trade Logan Stanley.
• Trade Nate Schmidt.
• Trade Dylan DeMelo.
• Trade Brendan Dillon.
• Trade Neal Pionk.
• Trade Ville Heinola.
• Trade Josh Morrissey.
• Trade Dylan Samberg.
• Trade others ... reply in comment section.

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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.

14. 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.

15. NHL:  With all due respect to Gord Miller and Chris Cuthbert, I think Harnarayan Singh is becoming the voice of NHL playoff hockey in Canada.  I like his play-by-play call very much and his goal calls in overtime are excellent as well. 

16. Jets:  I’ve soured on Mark Hillier the past few years and I’m wondering if it’s time for a change there as well.  Of course, right now is not the time with the draft coming up this month but sooner than later in my opinion. 

Hillier started as a scout with Atlanta in 2003-04, then became the Head Amateur Scout for the Jets when they moved to Winnipeg for the 2011-12 season and he has been the Jets Director of Amateur Scouting since the 2015-16 season.

This organisation has gone stale from top to bottom and in my opinion it’s time for him to go as well.  His reluctance to draft players from the WHL and his love affair with the USHL is very concerning for me. 

Don’t get me wrong the Jets have done fairly well at the draft BUT how many playoff series have they won?  The correct answer is not enough.  Hillier has drafted good players but maybe not the right type of players.        

17. NHL:  I absolutely love watching 6’4″- 6’5″ goalies getting beat by muffins over their shoulders while they’re on their knees looking for nickels.  I don’t understand why today’s goalies flop to their knees so early on every shot?  I understand that they get better coverage of the lower part of the net but at least wait until the shot is taken before flopping.   

18. Jets:  Watching Winnipegger Seth Jarvis in the playoffs for the Canes makes me wonder if the Jets were “lucky” Cole Perfetti dropped to us at #10 or did the Jets miss the boat on Jarvis at #13?  Seth Jarvis had a surprising 40 points in 68 games for Carolina this season.  (see #16) 

19. NHL:  Listening to the Rangers’ fans chanting IGOR IGOR made me think about the absurdity of thinking you’d ever see a Russian player in the NHL back in the 1970s, never mind chanting his name and now I can’t imagine an NHL without them or the other European born players that have been welcomed into this league.  

20. Jets:  As of today there is still no word on Barry Trotz so for those of you that may have missed it I wrote this article last week about why hiring Trotz might not be as easy as you would think.  Click HERE.

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