Winnipeg Jets Report Card For The Defencemen And Goaltenders —
The Winnipeg Jets defencemen have all had stretches where they have struggled and stretches where they have played well. This has been the trademark of this team since it’s arrival in Winnipeg. There are very good individual pieces in this group but collectively Winnipeg hockey fans haven’t seen the best this group has to offer as a WHOLE unit. I believe this team is starting to figure things out and the defensive play by the forwards is starting to let the defencemen stand up and challenge instead of always backing in. Sometimes this group gets a lot of blame because of overall poor TEAM play. For the most part the Winnipeg Jets defencemen move the puck very well. With the addition of Jacob Trouba and some decent depth with Ellerby and Pardy this unit has a chance to succeed. The team has seen enough Western Conference hockey know what it will take to compete and become a consistent team that’s hard to play against. I’ll be looking for more consistent, solid performances in the second quarter of this season. The Winnipeg Jets have a decent mix of capable defenders.
The Winnipeg Jets received good goaltending in the first quarter of the season. Good but not great. This team will need their goaltenders to be at the top of their games every night if they have any aspirations of being a play-off team.
Ondrej Pavelec Photo by Shawn Coates
I think Coach Claude Noel has or will figure out that happy medium of starts to keep Al Montoya sharp and Ondrej Pavelec fresh. This is an absolute must for any future success of this team. I think a 60 – 22 split would be ideal.
With a .500 record at the quarter pole this team has it’s work cut out for them. They will probably have to go two-three games over .500 in each of the next three quarters to have a sniff at the play-offs and that might not still be enough. BUT lets take it one quarter at a time.
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Hey Mitchie. Enjoying you hockey commentaries. I like where the Jets are headed but as you suggested I agree that they will need to play even better to crack a playoff spot in their new and tougher western division. They have proven that they can beat any team on any given night but I think they still need one or two more so called marquis players of the Brian Little caliber who is a real grinding goal scorer. The jury is out for me on Mark Scheilefe. What’s your take on him? While he has been a star in his junior carrier, golf clubs are also full of scratch golfers until they try to mix it up with the big boys on tour. I know he is still a rookie but I’m not seeing too many indicators of him being a marquis center man. He seems like a rather slow skater and also seems to float around a lot and certainly not a formidable checker. Hopefully time will prove me wrong.
Thanks Hartley …. Scheifele will be fine. He still needs to bulk up. His vision and hands are real good. He’ll be a point producer in a couple of years. It takes time.
How are the fan numbers at the Coyotes games this year. The Jets have our barn sold out every game for years to come so I guess that’s why they can charge some of the highest ticket prices in the league and $10 bucks for a jar of beer. 🙂
not too bad for this time of the year. weekday games are still a struggle. Last night was 12,500 but ASU was hosting Oregon in Tempe. ASU is still in the hunt for the PAC 12 championship. Weekends have been drawing fairly well.