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. 

 

If you’re a fan of Andrew Copp you might want to ignore #2, #10 & #11.  

1. Jets:  The Winnipeg Jets did not have a very good week going 1-3-0, although for the most part I thought they played fairly well.  They had a shot at winning both games in Edmonton but they haven’t figured out how to stop Connor McDavid.  They now have an overall record of 18-11-2 and sit in 3rd place in the North Division.

2. Jets:  I’m not sure what exactly triggered this and it has been slowly building but lately Andrew Copp is really been irritating me.  Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always liked his play with Adam Lowry and whoever is on the right-winger with that line but I’ve NEVER bought into the narrative that he could be a top-six forward and especially not on this Jets team.  I don’t like him or his stone hands on the second powerplay unit either.  I like him on the 3rd line and on the penalty kill and that’s it. 

3. Jets:  Prospects are currency and the Jets have plenty of prospect currency to trade if need be.  This is part of “draft and develop.  Every prospect is not going to play with the big club, there just isn’t enough room on the roster and if you have prospects ready to play but nowhere to play them means your scouting department is doing a good job.  The trick and balancing act is trading them while their value is still considered high (not like Jack Roslovic) and not letting them over-ripen on the farm.  Outside of Ville Heinola, Dylan Samberg, and Cole Perfetti, I say the Winnipeg Jets should be open for business.  

4. Moose:  The Manitoba Moose get back into game action on Thursday after a 12 day layoff.  I’m looking forward to watching Cole Perfetti play.  Perfetti is the Jets prospect that has really caught my eye early on and I want to see him play more before the OHL restarts and he heads back to junior.

5. Jets:  The Jets can part ways with Charlie Huddy anytime now and I would be more than okay with it. 

6. Jets:  The Jets have played 11 of their 17 March games with 12 being on the road and I mentioned at the start of the month that they needed to be .500 or better to stay in the hunt and as of this morning they are 5-5-1.  They really need to get a couple wins or more this week to stay on pace.  The good guys play 5 games in 8 nights and 6 games in 10 nights to end the month and I think they need to get some fresh legs into the lineup.  Jansen Harkins and/or Kristian Vesalainen will hopefully get into some games and maybe even Ville Heinola although I won’t hold my breath on Heinola.

7. Jets: Does it bother anybody else that the Winnipeg Jets’ best offensive defenceman (Neal Pionk) doesn’t run the top powerplay?  I don’t want to hear any BS about a left versus right shot thing being the argument either.  Nobody is buying that line of crap.  For crying out loud Paul Maurice will you please put your best players where they belong and stop overthinking everything.     

8. Jets:  The Winnipeg Jets will never have success against the Edmonton Oilers until the figure out they need to pay special attention to Connor McDavid.  It is impossible to completely neutralize McDavid but you need to be harder on him.  The Jets coaches still think we can trade chances with the Oilers because our top six is better than the Oilers but as good as our top six forwards are we don’t have Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl I’m sick of losing to TWO guys.  Figure it out Maurice.      

9. Jets:  As Pierre-Luc Dubois gets more comfortable you can see the chemistry developing with Kyle Connor and Nik Ehlers and it is only a matter of time before they are the #1 line.

10. Jets:  I believe it is time to give the more offensive Mason Appleton a little taste on the 2nd unit PP instead of stone-hands Andrew Copp.  Unlike Copp, I believe Appleton might actually have a chance at being a top-six winger down the road.  No rush, just a thought.  Appleton’s improved played was unexpected for me but a very nice surprise.        

11. Jets:  I’m not even sure if there is a stat that tracks a team’s icings but I would bet the Winnipeg Jets lead the league and I’ll even take it one step further and say that we lead the league in the most brain-dead icings with Andrew Copp being the leader.       

12. NHL:  Key dates.

16. Jets:  I find it hard to believe that a player with a skillset like Tucker Poolman has ZERO points after 17 games.   

17. Jets:  Special Teams: Rule of thumb. Have the two red numbers (PK and PP) total at least 100% when added (as your minimum).  I also base the movement (up or down) on the % and not the NHL ranking.

These are the Winnipeg Jets rankings within the seven team Canadian Division.  Since all games played during the regular season are divisional the rest of the league’s numbers don’t really matter.

• PP: 3rd at 25.80% up from 25.00% last week.
• PK: 3rd at 78.70 up from 77.60% last week. 
• FO: 4th at 48 .40 up from 48.20% last week.

18. Jets:  Just a thought here but if Chevy can make a trade for Travis Hamonic while the Jets are in Vancouver this week they should be able to bring him home within the constraints of their team bubble avoiding a 14-day quarantine much like Toronto did with Alex Galchenyuk from Ottawa.  Keep in mind that was based on Ontario’s protocols.   

19. Goaltending:

• Conner Hellebuyck:  13-9-2 … 2.83 GAA … .911 SV% 
• Laurent Brossoit:  5-2-0 … 2.43 GAA … .920 SV%

20. Jets:  I can’t see Logan Stanley coming out of the lineup when Nate Beaulieu is healthy.  Stanley is young and improving and already does everything better than Nate.   

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In memory of my friend Darryl Manchulenko.

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Thanks, Mitch

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