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 went 2-0-1 again last week to improve their overall record to 4-2-2 on the season but it wasn’t pretty. Right now this team is a train wreck in their own zone and the turnovers are piling up like snowbanks in a Winnipeg winter. On the bright side, the team has points in 6 consecutive games (4-0-2) after losing their first 2 games of the season.
2. Jets: John Gibson 1 Connor Hellebuyck 2 …. Helle broke serve and won round #3 of the fight for Team USA’s goal crease in the upcoming Olympics. It will be an interesting competition for the #1 job but I think Helle is starting to round into form and should win that job but it could be close. Gibson is a quality goaltender.
3. Jets: Are fans’ expectations of their team mostly based on an inflated value or evaluation of their team’s players? I think it is. Most fan bases including Winnipeg’s think their players are better than they are and I think that is because most fans don’t spend a lot of time watching a lot of other teams play. Right now I think we could be guilty of this. The Jets haven’t actually played any of the better teams and although they are 4-2-2 they haven’t looked very good in my opinion.
4. NHL: Watching the Kyle Beach interview was heartbreaking and there is no doubt he was failed by multiple people but for me, the biggest fail was from the NHLPA. As a “black ace” I’m not sure what his official standing was as it pertains to the NHLPA but since he was practicing as a Chicago Black Hawk he should have been protected by the PA. The NHLPA’s sole objective is to serve and protect its members. Donald Fehr has a lot of explaining to do. Kyle Beach did not deserve this, nobody deserves this. I commend Kyle’s bravery and hope he gets some sort of closure out of this process.
5. NHL: I would have liked to have heard more from Chevy but he along with Mark Chipman will be addressing the media this afternoon and I hope our beat writers don’t let them off the hook and ask the tough questions we all want answers to.
Statement from Winnipeg Jets General Manager Kevin Cheveldayoff: pic.twitter.com/lgiS5jbH5s
— Winnipeg Jets (@NHLJets) October 29, 2021
UPDATE:
Mark Chipman/Kevin Cheveldayoff presser is scheduled today (Tues) at 4 pm MB time.
— Winnipeg Jets PR (@WpgJetsPR) November 1, 2021
6. NHL: Gary Bettman’s statement regarding Winnipeg Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff. 
7. Jets: Evgeny Svechnikov scored his first goal as Winnipeg Jet on a nice feed from PLD on Tuesday in Anaheim. Svech and PLD are starting to show some of the chemistry they had in junior with Cape Breton in the QMJHL.
8. Jets: Nikolaj “don’t call me Nik” Ehlers has played well all season with little to show for it until Tuesday night in Anaheim when with just over a minute to play in the game he scored 2 goals in 19 seconds to steal a 4-3 win over the Ducks. Nikolaj is an absolute stud.
9. Jets: Going into camp most Winnipeg Jets fans think this is the biggest talking point.
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Eric Comrie finally got his first start of the season in his old stomping grounds in LA in front of family and friends and played very well in a 3-2 win. Like I mentioned last week he should still be in line for a start on Nov. 5 versus Chicago or Nov.6 versus the Islanders.
10. Jets: Once again, don’t ask me because I can’t explain Paul Maurice’s decision to dress 11 forwards and 7 defencemen. I could buy into the reasoning that with the captain and Scheif out of the lineup (Covid 19 protocol) that 11 and 7 were because of salary cap implications but Blake Wheeler was back on Saturday and Paul Maurice still went with 11 forwards and 7 defensemen. Hopefully, PoMo comes to his senses when Scheif returns this week.
11. Jets: I can’t help but think the Jets’ sloppy play is a result of Paul Maurice dressing 11 forwards and 7 defencemen thus not having any consistent lines and rotating 7 defensemen. This team needs to settle into regular lines and defence pairings to clean up play in their own end if they want to be considered contenders. Contenders don’t get outplayed and lose to a team with FIVE AHL call-ups.
12. Ice: The Winnipeg ICE had their eleven-game winning streak snapped in Edmonton last week but still had a very successful 4-1 road trip. Their 12-1 record is currently the best in the WHL and they are currently ranked #2 in the CHL.
UPDATE:
Winnipeg ICE goaltender Daniel Hauser was named the Western Hockey League’s “Goaltender of the Week”. Congrats Daniel!
13. Moose: The Manitoba Moose are off to a decent start this season with a 4-3-0-0 record and now head out on a tough six-game road trip. I’m not sure where they finish in the Western Conference since we haven’t seen most of these teams for quite some time.
14. Jets: It hasn’t bared any fruit yet but Kristian Vesakainen’s confidence and play look better and I think/hope it’s just a matter of time before we see some results.
15. Jets: Why is David Gustafsson in the AHL?
16. Jets: The way the Winnipeg Jets are playing in their own end may Paul Maurice should consider dressing 9 forwards and 9 defencemen. (see #10)
17. Jets: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly this past week.
- Good: Pierre-Luc Dubois.
- Bad: Outside of Dylan DeMelo not one of the other six defencemen has played up to their expectations. All have had some good moments but are very inconsistent overall at this time. This needs to be cleaned up if this team wants to be considered serious contenders.
- Ugly: The overall sloppy play and turnovers.
18. Jets: Special Teams: Rule of thumb. Have the two red numbers (PK and PP) total at least 100% when added (as your minimum).
- PP: 10th at … 25.00% down from … 26.30 last week.
- PK: 31st at … 63.30% up from … 54.60 last week.
- FO: 18th at … 50.00% up from … 48.90 last week.
19. Goaltending:
- Conner Hellebuyck: 3-2-2 … 3.42 GAA … .899 SV%
- Eric Comrie: 1-0-0 … 2.00 GAA … .938 SV%
20. CFL: The Winnipeg Blue Bombers clinched home-field advantage before their bye-week and now have three meaningless games left and it will be interesting to see how Mike O’Shea manages his roster. Now it’s all about keeping sharp and staying healthy.
PS: Winnipeg Hockey Talk needs someone interested in writing about the Winnipeg Ice. If you are interested contact me (Mitch) at [email protected]
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Thanks, Mitch
Hey Mitch agree with everything you said. It’s a horror show in their own zone trying to defend. This team has a far bit of talented players but the way they are playing I can only think it comes back to be a lack of coaching. I used to watch every Jets game in the past but now it’s not a priority for me. Hopefully they can straighten things out but I have my doubts.
Hey George … thanks for stopping by ….. we will see now that 55 and 26 are back … it will be interesting to see the line combos … I would change the 71/80/81 line … we will see
I’m very curious to see if PoMo will place loyalty to Wheeler over common sense. I like Wheeler, but he’s lost a step and while he can contribute, it should not be on the first line. I agree that a balance with the defensive pairings will create a more cohesive unit overall…mixing them up will not develop consistency on the blue line. Familiarity with each other, on the other hand, breeds success. Common sense, again.
Hey Les … thanks for stopping by …….. todays line rushes were:
Connor-Dubois-Svechnikov
Stastny-Copp-Ehlers
Lowry-Scheifele-Wheeler
Toninato-Harkins-Vesalainen
Nash
Morrissey-Schmidt
Dillon-Pionk
Stanley-DeMelo
Beaulieu
That works for me as long as PoMo doesn’t get an itchy finger and puts KC with Scheif and Wheeler. The 2 PP units looked nicely balanced as well.
Something that I think has been lost is that Chevy was that Chevy didn’t become the GM in Winnipeg until June of 2011. He didn’t leave Chicago for an entire year after the incident.
Hey Dave …. thanks for stopping by …. I’m not sure of the exact timeline when he left The Chicago Wolves to go to Rockford/Chicago then Winnipeg but whatever it is he is not totally blameless in this mess and I’m very curious to see the presser this afternoon. I hope Scott Brown isn’t alloiwed to muzzle the room. It should be interesting.