Mitch Kasprick is now the “Westdale Curmudgeon”
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 lost their preseason opener 4-0 in Edmonton last night and it was your typical ugly first game of the preseason with a bunch of wannabees who have no hope in hell of playing in the NHL. The sad part about that game wasn’t the score but that fans had to pay money to watch it. FUGLY.
2. Jets: There is so much debate about Blake Wheeler in Jetsville so let’s cut to the chase and ask the question. If you factor in salary, age, and rumours about his leadership, are the Jets a better team with or without Blake Wheeler?
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3. Jets: Don’t get me wrong I like Jonathon Kovacevic, Declan Chisholm, and Leon Gawanke but I’m not going to lose 30 seconds of sleep if we lose any of them on waivers. Chevy knew this was a possibility but yet he still hasn’t thinned the herd and risks losing assets. I’m tired of obsessing about his management decisions.
4. Jets: If I were the coach of a new hockey team I would forget about the scrubs that have no chance of making the big club and play the bubble players and the veterans more in preseason games. (see #1)
5. Jets: If we all agree that Dominic Toninato is the Jets’ 12th forward and if he makes the opening night roster, has the team improved their forwards?
6. Jets: A player that intrigues me is Dmitry Kuzmin. The Jets 3rd rounder in 2021 put up 44 points in 57 games with the OHL’S Flint Firebirds, including 18 goals. Not bad for his first season in North America. Smallish at 5’10 this Belarussian defenceman is a player to keep an eye on.
7. Jets: There now seems to be a question of whether 2022 1st round, 30th overall forward Brad Lambert is better off being with the AHL’s Manitoba Moose or the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds. For me, it’s a no-brainer. It is his first year playing in North America and he’s better off getting lots of icetime and PP time in junior. I don’t see what the rush is.
8. Jets: My weekly question for Kevin Cheveldayoff, Mark Chipman, or Rick Bowness.
Are you planning on riding Connor Hellebuyck hard again this season?
9. Jets: For the record, I think the Jets are a better team with Blake Wheeler. Say what you want or think what you want but where are his 60 points (minimum) going to come from?
10. Jets: I like Big Stan but he struggled a bit vs the Oilers on Sunday night, he seemed to have trouble getting his feet moving at times. Hopefully, this improves as camp goes on but in my opinion he is in tough making the Jets opening night 23-man roster unless Chevy starts moving some defencemen. You can only have 3 guys in the press box on the popcorn brigade.
11. Jets: What do you think of Chevy’s work this offseason?
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12. Jets: Important Dates:
September 27: Home preseason game #1 vs Ottawa.
October 1: Home preseason game #2 vs Edmonton.
October 5: Home preseason game #3 vs Calgary.
13. Jets: FYI: It’s hard evaluating players in the preseason but I liked the way Declan Chisholm moved the puck last night.
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15. Jets: You’ve probably guessed by now that I’m not a fan of Dominic Toninato. I admit he works hard but I would rather see players like Morgan Barron, Kristian Reichel, or Jeff Malott get a chance in the #12 spot. (see #5)
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It is with a very heavy heart that I write this but I would like to send out my condolences to the family and friends of Scott Campbell. Scott was a Winnipeg Jets 1.0 fan favourite and Twitter legend. Scott always took time to chat with his many followers and really made their days. It’s not often an NHL player interacts with a fan base like Scott did. Scott was a Winnipeg Jet until the day he passed away and he loved the Jets and their fans. I got to know Scott on a personal basis and he was a very modest, fun guy. Scott spent some time writing here at WHT and had quite a following. It seems the good ones leave us too soon and Scott was definitely one of the good ones, he will be missed. I will always be proud to say you were my friend. RIP big guy. 
1. Jets: Well it’s September so it’s back to work. If Chevy can take August off why can’t I? If it’s good enough for Chevy it’s good enough for me. 
1. Jets: The Pierre-Luc Dubois drama is settled for the time being as he accepted the Jets qualifying offer of $6,000,000 although it still doesn’t settle the big picture. It will be very interesting and probably be very frustrating watching this play out. 
1. Jets: Without getting into any in-depth analysis of the Jets’ performance at the 2022 NHL Entry Draft last week, I will say that overall I was pleased with their picks. The truth of the matter is NOBODY really knows for sure and it will be 2-4 years before we can make a decent evaluation, so until then I won’t bore you with my predictions. There are predictions and analyses from smarter people than I all over the place and by now I think you’ve probably seen quite a few. One of our writers (Riley Malinowski), will be posting his thoughts soon. 
