Armchair GM

[LowLefty]

Maurice was the coach who pulled him off the top line when he had 6 points in 12 games, or something like that. That was controversial because it was to bring Scheifele and Wheeler back to the top 6, and it worked at first. Though it coincided with a losing streak

Then Svetchnikov had 1G, 1A in consecutive games against Arizona and Montreal, and 6 point output in 4 games. 2W, 1L, 1OTL. And then it was Lowry who demoted him. Since that high mark, in 23 games he has 1g, 2A, and is -9. So that's a tough one for me. I like Toninato's game, but I think he's better suited as a winger. Harkins is more versatile. And a better skater, which is something I think the Jets might want to have as an identity?

Pulling a player out of a situation where he was successful, for no apparent reason, probably doesn't do a lot for that players confidence. Like I said, he's been all over the line up including sitting out for whatever reason.
If you play and develop your players that way, don't expect them to thrive - it's not motiving - in fact it's counter productive.
This started with my stating that he needs role consistency and decent coaching - he's received neither.

 

[voyageur]

How many designated PK players do you really need? We look to already be going into next year with three PK forwards in Conner, Lowry, and Appelton. My priority would be round out the roster with as many players that can contribute positively at 5 on 5. I think you can train pretty close to anyone to be half decent on the PK. Maybe the new coach wants to try Ehlers there as Nik has expressed interest before. You train Barron/Harkins and you have more then enough players that can kill. PLAYER xxx that you bring in should have PK experience. Then you can always sub in Stastny as needed. That is more then enough PK players.

Conner Dubois Svech
Perfetti Scheifele Ehelers
Xxxx Stastny Wheeler
Barron/Harkins Lowry Appelton

I don't know man, you and I definitely see hockey differently. I think you need 6. Like the Hurricanes for instance.

Because if you watch video part of the problem is the Jets burned out their Pk guys, so that a lot of goals came on the back half of the PK for the first unit.

I also think that you are trying desperately to blame Lowry as a 3c as the problem with the Jets when you only have to look to the season prior, and the numbers Copp-Lowry-Appleton put up, with Lowry having 24 points in 52 games, Appleton 25 in 56, Copp 39 in 55, as a beacon of success. Success that won a first round matchup and Lowry still finished a + in the Montreal series in spite of Copp being promoted to the top 6 to replace Stastny and then Scheifele. So I think your logic is fundamentally flawed, but we've had this discussion and it will only go round and round.

What you can look at is what the success was of the veteran 4th line last year, with Lewis and Thompson having a distinct impact on the PK, while Connor was hovering at 30 ga/60, though I think that's one shift to be honest. With Connor's improvement there may be 3 Pkers, and Gustafsson likely gets promoted. If Stastny comes back there is another, and add Toninato instead of Svetch (with the difference of 6 points between the two). Perhaps Barron takes Toninato's place.

Connor-Dubois-Wheeler
Ehlers-Stastny-Scheifele
Top 9 replacement for Copp-Lowry-Appleton
Toninato/Barron-Gustafsson-Perfetti

Harkins

If Perfetti makes the lineup, there's your 7th PP forward. So Svetchnikov is still a non contributor to any special teams. I'm actually astonished to see that anyone would consider a guy that finished the season so bad, be considered a top line RW. Talk about not earning your job. If the small sample is the difference, maybe we should find out what Machacek-Maxwell-Stapleton are doing. But realistically Perreault brought more to the team, and was a team guy. So maybe we should bring him back for the same, or improved results.

 

[10Ducky10]

Toninato/Barron-Gustafsson-Perfetti
That is your 4th line?

 

[nabby12]

I don't know man, you and I definitely see hockey differently. I think you need 6. Like the Hurricanes for instance.

Because if you watch video part of the problem is the Jets burned out their Pk guys, so that a lot of goals came on the back half of the PK for the first unit.

I also think that you are trying desperately to blame Lowry as a 3c as the problem with the Jets when you only have to look to the season prior, and the numbers Copp-Lowry-Appleton put up, with Lowry having 24 points in 52 games, Appleton 25 in 56, Copp 39 in 55, as a beacon of success. Success that won a first round matchup and Lowry still finished a + in the Montreal series in spite of Copp being promoted to the top 6 to replace Stastny and then Scheifele. So I think your logic is fundamentally flawed, but we've had this discussion and it will only go round and round.

What you can look at is what the success was of the veteran 4th line last year, with Lewis and Thompson having a distinct impact on the PK, while Connor was hovering at 30 ga/60, though I think that's one shift to be honest. With Connor's improvement there may be 3 Pkers, and Gustafsson likely gets promoted. If Stastny comes back there is another, and add Toninato instead of Svetch (with the difference of 6 points between the two). Perhaps Barron takes Toninato's place.

Connor-Dubois-Wheeler
Ehlers-Stastny-Scheifele
Top 9 replacement for Copp-Lowry-Appleton
Toninato/Barron-Gustafsson-Perfetti

Harkins

If Perfetti makes the lineup, there's your 7th PP forward. So Svetchnikov is still a non contributor to any special teams. I'm actually astonished to see that anyone would consider a guy that finished the season so bad, be considered a top line RW. Talk about not earning your job. If the small sample is the difference, maybe we should find out what Machacek-Maxwell-Stapleton are doing. But realistically Perreault brought more to the team, and was a team guy. So maybe we should bring him back for the same, or improved results.

If Perfetti makes the lineup??

He will be playing Top 6 minutes next season from Game 1.

 

[James Lahey]

If Perfetti makes the lineup??

He will be playing Top 6 minutes next season from Game 1.

I agree he is more than deserving of his shot in the top 6, but having options for guys that can slot into the top 6 will be crucial, particularly if you see yourself doing any kind of damage next year.

As good as Perfetti was, and I really enjoyed watching him, he's been out long enough now that I wonder if this is something he will have to deal with indefinitely or not. At the very least, he wasn't durable enough to go into next season saying this guy will play all year and thrive in a top 6 spot with no protection. Best case I'm completely wrong and he plays as well as he was starting to prior to getting hurt all year, worst case we get another season of guys playing in roles they can't be successful in.

 

[DRW204]

If Perfetti makes the lineup??

He will be playing Top 6 minutes next season from Game 1.

if they re-sign stastny i can see them going with him at wing instead. unfortunately, they will never veer of lowry as 3c.

 

[DRW204]

if we look back at our best season. lowry was near 0.5 ppg, he then became 4c with stastny's acquisition. morrissey behind buff and trouba. as long as lowry is playing at his typical offense at 3c or unable to drive offense for wingers, and morrissey is our top defenseman, we likely going no where. for all the supposed defensive greatness ppl project of lowry, it's not led to outscoring the opposition, or heavily out-shooting/out-chancing... this year he's a -12 at 5v5 while getting .937 goaltending. it's not ALL on him. but as the vet and making 3.25m, you need more. we can't compete with an anemic 3rd line.... look at some of the players MIN, COL or STL for instance are able to put out on their 3rd lines.

 

[voyageur]

if we look back at our best season. lowry was near 0.5 ppg, he then became 4c with stastny's acquisition. morrissey behind buff and trouba. as long as lowry is playing at his typical offense at 3c or unable to drive offense for wingers, and morrissey is our top defenseman, we likely going no where. for all the supposed defensive greatness ppl project of lowry, it's not led to outscoring the opposition, or heavily out-shooting/out-chancing... this year he's a -12 at 5v5 while getting .937 goaltending. it's not ALL on him. but as the vet and making 3.25m, you need more. we can't compete with an anemic 3rd line.... look at some of the players MIN, COL or STL for instance are able to put out on their 3rd lines.

There's a line of though that I have that would contradict this. The Jets ranked 17th in GF/g at 3.04 up to date. Teams around us are Boston and the Rangers, who are comfortably in playoff spots, behind us are Dallas and the Kings, also playoff teams. The Jets rank 20th in GA/g at 3.11 Now Toronto, Minnesota, Nashville and Edmonton are slightly ahead of us, but every team behind us has missed the playoffs.

Some might say the Jets need to score more goals. I'd say the Jets are a playoff team if they put up better defensive numbers. Improve on the 28th overall PK at 75.1%.

So looking at it from defense first, who are the best ES defensive forwards per 60 on the team? #1 is Mason Appleton 1.4, and the Lowry line has been more consistent since he joined it. #2 is a surprise, Cole Perfetti at 1.6, but I think that's a testament to the amount of offensive zone time he had with Connor and Dubois, and the ability that line had to generate offense, by not passing the puck away. #3 is tie between Lowry, Toninato and Nash at 2.0/60. Reichel was 2.2. Only Appleton and Perfetti are positive in GF vs GA.

Who are the worst? Scheifele 4.0/60 followed by Wheeler 3.6, Connor and Barron 3.5, and Dubois 3.2. All of those guys are net -s except Dubois.

Contrarily the highest ES producing forwards are Ehlers 3.9/60, followed by Scheifele and Stastny 3.5, Connor 3.3, Dubois 3.2

The worst forwards, Harkins and Reichel 1.3/60, Toninato 1.4, Lowry, Vesalainen, Poganski 1.6

So the blame is equal in my opinion. Top to bottom. If Stastny and Ehlers, and the now departed Copp, were the only full time positive players throughout the season, that's part of the problem. The Jets inability to win 3-2 games. Maybe a full season of Perfetti and Appleton improves upon that. Though if the Jets give up a PP goal more than 2 out 3 games, well that's part of the challenge in my mind.

The Jets teams of 2017-18 and 2018-19 were top 7 teams going into the trade deadline, with Adam Lowry as their 3rd line centre. Getting Stastny between Ehlers and Laine was an improvement on a strong team. But Adam Lowry still played 3c in both the 2017-18 and 2018-19 playoffs, though not exclusively. He was the best Jet period in the bubble playoffs. Without Little he's been relied on more to be the defensive zone ace, and some of Little's defensive zone minutes have subsequently gone to Scheif, when our 4th line is unreliable.

I think there's different ways to win. If Lowry can be a 25 point centre that shuts it down, and ends up a + or even defensive zone player, who builds momentum and energy, the Jets should have a distinct advantage having a 1a/1b centre, in getting production. Getting 4th line production, which was the nemessis of the Montreal series (Armia-Staal-Perry), goes a long way too. I'm liking the development of David Gustafsson, and if the Jets can improve the quality of their wingers, which have been depleted steadily since the end of the 2018 season, there's room for improvement across the board, in my opinion. I think down the road you could see a Gustafsson-Torgersson combination that plays as much as Lowry-Appleton. But just because a team matchups with more points out of their top 9 doesn't guarantee them a win. Jets played St. Louis strong, I'd say the losses against Colorado and Minnesota were a result of our top 6 being outplayed. Nashville and Dallas, I'd say as it stands the Jets are pretty even with these teams.

Question for me is how do we get our skill guys to be positive 5 on 5 players, as well as the bottom. Is it a systematic change (defensive coverage comes up a lot) or personnel impovement?

 

[DRW204]

There's a line of though that I have that would contradict this. The Jets ranked 17th in GF/g at 3.04 up to date. Teams around us are Boston and the Rangers, who are comfortably in playoff spots, behind us are Dallas and the Kings, also playoff teams. The Jets rank 20th in GA/g at 3.11 Now Toronto, Minnesota, Nashville and Edmonton are slightly ahead of us, but every team behind us has missed the playoffs.

Some might say the Jets need to score more goals. I'd say the Jets are a playoff team if they put up better defensive numbers. Improve on the 28th overall PK at 75.1%.

So looking at it from defense first, who are the best ES defensive forwards per 60 on the team? #1 is Mason Appleton 1.4, and the Lowry line has been more consistent since he joined it. #2 is a surprise, Cole Perfetti at 1.6, but I think that's a testament to the amount of offensive zone time he had with Connor and Dubois, and the ability that line had to generate offense, by not passing the puck away. #3 is tie between Lowry, Toninato and Nash at 2.0/60. Reichel was 2.2. Only Appleton and Perfetti are positive in GF vs GA.

Who are the worst? Scheifele 4.0/60 followed by Wheeler 3.6, Connor and Barron 3.5, and Dubois 3.2. All of those guys are net -s except Dubois.

Contrarily the highest ES producing forwards are Ehlers 3.9/60, followed by Scheifele and Stastny 3.5, Connor 3.3, Dubois 3.2

The worst forwards, Harkins and Reichel 1.3/60, Toninato 1.4, Lowry, Vesalainen, Poganski 1.6

So the blame is equal in my opinion. Top to bottom. If Stastny and Ehlers, and the now departed Copp, were the only full time positive players throughout the season, that's part of the problem. The Jets inability to win 3-2 games. Maybe a full season of Perfetti and Appleton improves upon that. Though if the Jets give up a PP goal more than 2 out 3 games, well that's part of the challenge in my mind.

The Jets teams of 2017-18 and 2018-19 were top 7 teams going into the trade deadline, with Adam Lowry as their 3rd line centre. Getting Stastny between Ehlers and Laine was an improvement on a strong team. But Adam Lowry still played 3c in both the 2017-18 and 2018-19 playoffs, though not exclusively. He was the best Jet period in the bubble playoffs. Without Little he's been relied on more to be the defensive zone ace, and some of Little's defensive zone minutes have subsequently gone to Scheif, when our 4th line is unreliable.

I think there's different ways to win. If Lowry can be a 25 point centre that shuts it down, and ends up a + or even defensive zone player, who builds momentum and energy, the Jets should have a distinct advantage having a 1a/1b centre, in getting production. Getting 4th line production, which was the nemessis of the Montreal series (Armia-Staal-Perry), goes a long way too. I'm liking the development of David Gustafsson, and if the Jets can improve the quality of their wingers, which have been depleted steadily since the end of the 2018 season, there's room for improvement across the board, in my opinion. I think down the road you could see a Gustafsson-Torgersson combination that plays as much as Lowry-Appleton. But just because a team matchups with more points out of their top 9 doesn't guarantee them a win. Jets played St. Louis strong, I'd say the losses against Colorado and Minnesota were a result of our top 6 being outplayed. Nashville and Dallas, I'd say as it stands the Jets are pretty even with these teams.

Question for me is how do we get our skill guys to be positive 5 on 5 players, as well as the bottom. Is it a systematic change (defensive coverage comes up a lot) or personnel impovement?

not sure what these stats you are quoting. Lowry at ES is .9 pts/60 and 5v5 he is at 0.73/60

i have no problem w/ lowry as 3c in 17-18 he was good in that role. near 0.5 ppg while being strong in the shot/chance/goal share. however, the last 4 seasons he has 1 year close to that- last season vs the Canadian Division, and really, a large portion of his strong stats had to do w/ perreault's inclusion on his line.

looking at lowry this year he's a -12 at 5v5 while getting 937 goaltending. so you cannot blame helle for him.he is still solid defensively, but not good enough evidently to out-defend his inefficiency to score, and that's is further evidenced by his 0.73 pts/60 as i mentioned above. he also does not defend top lines w/ as high as frequency as he used to. so you have a Center who is still solid defensively against mostly bottom 6ers, cant score or get his line to score, while incapable of out-scoring the opposition (or defending them to the point the lack of offense is not glaring). maybe that changes next year and he plays at a ~15 goal/40 pt pace as he did in 2017-2018, while being v strong in the shot/chance share. not sure.

anyway, we def need help with regards to team defense. we also do need better bottom-6 scoring. every cup team has couple players in the bottom 6 that near 20 goals or 0.5 ppg. lowry should be one of those given his experience.

 

[Hunter368]

If the Jets can’t/won’t sign PLD long term and he’s traded (assuming we wouldn’t get a top 6 C back), do the Jets just pack it in with this core and go full rebuild?

Trade Josh, Ehlers, Mark, Pionk, Dillon, Schmidt, Helle, KC and Lowry? Scorched earth style rebuild?

Or

Partial rebuild trading Mark, Lowry, Dillon, Schmidt and Helle?

No PLD, Mark struggles…….Jets are in a real bad situation not sure if PLD is traded the Jets can even compete even with a new coaching staff.

Thoughts?

 

[surixon]

If the Jets can’t/won’t sign PLD long term and he’s traded (assuming we wouldn’t get a top 6 C back), do the Jets just pack it in with this core and go full rebuild?

Trade Josh, Ehlers, Mark, Pionk, Dillon, Schmidt, Helle, KC and Lowry? Scorched earth style rebuild?

Or

Partial rebuild trading Mark, Lowry, Dillon, Schmidt and Helle?

No PLD, Mark struggles…….Jets are in a real bad situation not sure if PLD is traded the Jets can even compete even with a new coaching staff.

Thoughts?

Doubt we do a full rebuild. I can see the players who can walk in two being sold and going after Bedard next year.

 

[Heldig]

If the Jets can’t/won’t sign PLD long term and he’s traded (assuming we wouldn’t get a top 6 C back), do the Jets just pack it in with this core and go full rebuild?

Trade Josh, Ehlers, Mark, Pionk, Dillon, Schmidt, Helle, KC and Lowry? Scorched earth style rebuild?

Or

Partial rebuild trading Mark, Lowry, Dillon, Schmidt and Helle?

No PLD, Mark struggles…….Jets are in a real bad situation not sure if PLD is traded the Jets can even compete even with a new coaching staff.

Thoughts?

If they cant sign Dubois then yes they should go full rebuild 'cause the team is hooped.

 

[Teemusalami204]

One player on this team that mixes it up every single game and gets the other players emotionally involved will change everything.

 

[LowLefty]

One player on this team that mixes it up every single game and gets the other players emotionally involved will change everything.

I like the premise -
But I'd rather see a line that could do that - like our 3rd line from days gone by.

 

[tbcwpg]

One player on this team that mixes it up every single game and gets the other players emotionally involved will change everything.

Dubois does this stuff all the time. More out of frustration than anything, but he does.

 

[RabidOne]

As the Armchair GM I would treat the team as any other problem solving issue I have ever had at work.
You can't change 4 things and then make the assumption that item 2 is the one that fixed the problem.

So my fix is canning the entire coaching staff. The coaching hire will be someone with HC experience, but not necessarily in the NHL, as well as some experience as an assistant in the NHL. The new guy will have to be on the same page with 4 things: 3 scoring lines with balanced TOI for all 4 lines. Integrating the youth in the lineup in places where they can succeed. Playing hard and fast with modern systems, if that means stealing systems from TB or Florida then do it. And finally holding all players accountable to playing hard, floaters sit.

I would try to make minor tweaks to the roster, but only to make cap space: I don't have huge issues with Schmidt, but I think he is blocking Heinola/Samberg and at far too high a salary. If I can get that 3rd rounder back I am shipping him out.
Stanley is #7. A previous poster mentioned going with a 23 man roster to rotate our young D out based on the opponent. I like that idea. I also like the idea of trusting our backup goalie to be trusted to play 25+ games. Enough of burning out our starter to try to save the coaches job. As well I want our PK to make use of those not currently on it. If Harkins was captain of his WHL squad and played PK as one of the leaders on the Moose why isn't he being used on the PK for the Jets. The more PK'ers the better.

As well as all that I would go into the season with option B & C. The team stumbles and it looks like the new coaching staff hasn't fixed what ails the team, I would have a tentative deal to trade Scheiffle already in the works. If he hasn't bought in, then he gets shipped out. That applies to everyone not buying in.
While Wheeler has slowed I am not willing to retain salary to ship him out. Play him on the 3rd scoring line where he gets 14 minutes a night and isn't playing beyond his aging ability. I would probably resign Stastny if he is willing to center our 3rd line. Again a 3rd line of Wheeler, Stastny, X could provide excellent balanced scoring.

I am also keeping Appleton, Comrie, Svech and Ves. Gawanke, Chisolm, and Kovacevic get to stay on the farm and as injury call ups.

Option C is blowing it all up. Everything goes sideways and the team is crap by the new year. Pull the trigger on the Scheiffle trade, and dump whatever you can at the trade deadline. Hoping that doesn't happen.

 

[DRW204]

If the Jets can’t/won’t sign PLD long term and he’s traded (assuming we wouldn’t get a top 6 C back), do the Jets just pack it in with this core and go full rebuild?

Trade Josh, Ehlers, Mark, Pionk, Dillon, Schmidt, Helle, KC and Lowry? Scorched earth style rebuild?

Or

Partial rebuild trading Mark, Lowry, Dillon, Schmidt and Helle?

No PLD, Mark struggles…….Jets are in a real bad situation not sure if PLD is traded the Jets can even compete even with a new coaching staff.

Thoughts?

Think I lean towards partial rebuild.

Working on your pld refusing to sign premise...

Id keep ehlers and kc. You still need great players to help your young guys assimilate. And Ehlers and kc are still young and good enough, signed to good deals to build with. You have to see what you have Perfetti as a C and playing him with terrible wingers wouldn't give you a good description of his potential or play.

If PLD refuses to sign then Yea trade him (sub-in perfetti). Id for sure trade Dillon and Lowry (sub-in samberg and Gus) and one of pionk or Schmidt (sub-in heinola) Scheifele I'm torn on. You still need good quality players especially offensively to get fans UP and to games. Maybe keep him for the year while you see Perfetti as a C, then perhaps trade him next off season?

Sign a ufa dmen to a short term deal. Ilya Lybushkin seems to be a solid bottom pair rd. And won't cost alot.

 

[tbcwpg]

As the Armchair GM I would treat the team as any other problem solving issue I have ever had at work.
You can't change 4 things and then make the assumption that item 2 is the one that fixed the problem.

So my fix is canning the entire coaching staff. The coaching hire will be someone with HC experience, but not necessarily in the NHL, as well as some experience as an assistant in the NHL. The new guy will have to be on the same page with 4 things: 3 scoring lines with balanced TOI for all 4 lines. Integrating the youth in the lineup in places where they can succeed. Playing hard and fast with modern systems, if that means stealing systems from TB or Florida then do it. And finally holding all players accountable to playing hard, floaters sit.

I would try to make minor tweaks to the roster, but only to make cap space: I don't have huge issues with Schmidt, but I think he is blocking Heinola/Samberg and at far too high a salary. If I can get that 3rd rounder back I am shipping him out.
Stanley is #7. A previous poster mentioned going with a 23 man roster to rotate our young D out based on the opponent. I like that idea. I also like the idea of trusting our backup goalie to be trusted to play 25+ games. Enough of burning out our starter to try to save the coaches job. As well I want our PK to make use of those not currently on it. If Harkins was captain of his WHL squad and played PK as one of the leaders on the Moose why isn't he being used on the PK for the Jets. The more PK'ers the better.

As well as all that I would go into the season with option B & C. The team stumbles and it looks like the new coaching staff hasn't fixed what ails the team, I would have a tentative deal to trade Scheiffle already in the works. If he hasn't bought in, then he gets shipped out. That applies to everyone not buying in.
While Wheeler has slowed I am not willing to retain salary to ship him out. Play him on the 3rd scoring line where he gets 14 minutes a night and isn't playing beyond his aging ability. I would probably resign Stastny if he is willing to center our 3rd line. Again a 3rd line of Wheeler, Stastny, X could provide excellent balanced scoring.

I am also keeping Appleton, Comrie, Svech and Ves. Gawanke, Chisolm, and Kovacevic get to stay on the farm and as injury call ups.

Option C is blowing it all up. Everything goes sideways and the team is crap by the new year. Pull the trigger on the Scheiffle trade, and dump whatever you can at the trade deadline. Hoping that doesn't happen.

Just a couple of notes, I don't mind your ideas for the most part:

-I assume by "balanced" TOI you're talking more about increasing the ice time for the bottom lines and decreasing it for the Scheifele line. I can't imagine any team that plays their 4th line as much as their top scoring line. I agree that the time should be more evenly distributed than it is now, but balancing it amongst 4 lines isn't practical.

-Schmidt is playing the right side. I see this all the time here, he's a lefty but plays on the right. Schmidt even played with Heinola while he was up. Schmidt isn't blocking Heinola and Samberg, Dillon and Stanley are. Unless you want one of Samberg or Heinola to start their NHL careers on their off-hand side, moving Dillon is much more preferable, to me, than Schmidt.

 

[Jimmyjets]

I don't know man, you and I definitely see hockey differently. I think you need 6. Like the Hurricanes for instance.

Because if you watch video part of the problem is the Jets burned out their Pk guys, so that a lot of goals came on the back half of the PK for the first unit.

I also think that you are trying desperately to blame Lowry as a 3c as the problem with the Jets when you only have to look to the season prior, and the numbers Copp-Lowry-Appleton put up, with Lowry having 24 points in 52 games, Appleton 25 in 56, Copp 39 in 55, as a beacon of success. Success that won a first round matchup and Lowry still finished a + in the Montreal series in spite of Copp being promoted to the top 6 to replace Stastny and then Scheifele. So I think your logic is fundamentally flawed, but we've had this discussion and it will only go round and round.

What you can look at is what the success was of the veteran 4th line last year, with Lewis and Thompson having a distinct impact on the PK, while Connor was hovering at 30 ga/60, though I think that's one shift to be honest. With Connor's improvement there may be 3 Pkers, and Gustafsson likely gets promoted. If Stastny comes back there is another, and add Toninato instead of Svetch (with the difference of 6 points between the two). Perhaps Barron takes Toninato's place.

Connor-Dubois-Wheeler
Ehlers-Stastny-Scheifele
Top 9 replacement for Copp-Lowry-Appleton
Toninato/Barron-Gustafsson-Perfetti

Harkins

If Perfetti makes the lineup, there's your 7th PP forward. So Svetchnikov is still a non contributor to any special teams. I'm actually astonished to see that anyone would consider a guy that finished the season so bad, be considered a top line RW. Talk about not earning your job. If the small sample is the difference, maybe we should find out what Machacek-Maxwell-Stapleton are doing. But realistically Perreault brought more to the team, and was a team guy. So maybe we should bring him back for the same, or improved results.

I agree that you need 6, maybe even 8 forwards that PK but none of them should be designated PK guys. Use Carolina as the model. Put out skill players on the PK. They rarely ever block shots from the point anymore and get hurt.

Run a high pressure PK and use guys like KFC, Ehlers, PLD in addition to the Lowry/Appleton types. Don't let the PK get tired. Keep the PP holding their sticks tight with high pressure and the knowledge that if they bobble a puck and turn it over it's an odd man rush with dangerous offensive players headed back for a shorty.

Having a passive box with "PK" guys that just stand there and absorb slapshots is so old school. That isn't the way. Power kill is the wave of the future. Play your best players in the highest leverage situations. It's how every sport operates, except when it comes to hockey and the PK for some reason. There it's "lets park all the best players on the bench for a few minutes and pray that the other team doesn't score." It makes no sense when you critically think about it.

 

[RabidOne]

Just a couple of notes, I don't mind your ideas for the most part:

-I assume by "balanced" TOI you're talking more about increasing the ice time for the bottom lines and decreasing it for the Scheifele line. I can't imagine any team that plays their 4th line as much as their top scoring line. I agree that the time should be more evenly distributed than it is now, but balancing it amongst 4 lines isn't practical.

-Schmidt is playing the right side. I see this all the time here, he's a lefty but plays on the right. Schmidt even played with Heinola while he was up. Schmidt isn't blocking Heinola and Samberg, Dillon and Stanley are. Unless you want one of Samberg or Heinola to start their NHL careers on their off-hand side, moving Dillon is much more preferable, to me, than Schmidt.

Yes. By balanced I mean exactly that. Seems like the best teams have their 4th line play 10+ minutes.
My perception of Schieffle's "downfall" is after the season they went to the Western final it seemed like Schief and Wheeler ran out of gas and realizing Maurice was going to be playing them 22-25 minutes a night the next season they started conserving energy. As in not trying as hard in all 3 zones. Now it seems like it has swung too far the other way. Not so much for Wheeler but certainly for Schieffle.
Yes Stanley can play #7 so that leaves one D spot. And I was under the impression that Heinola had experience or liked playing his off side. No idea where I heard that, probably a completely made up comment from HF!

 

[Jack7222]

I agree that you need 6, maybe even 8 forwards that PK but none of them should be designated PK guys. Use Carolina as the model. Put out skill players on the PK. They rarely ever block shots from the point anymore and get hurt.

Run a high pressure PK and use guys like KFC, Ehlers, PLD in addition to the Lowry/Appleton types. Don't let the PK get tired. Keep the PP holding their sticks tight with high pressure and the knowledge that if they bobble a puck and turn it over it's an odd man rush with dangerous offensive players headed back for a shorty.

Having a passive box with "PK" guys that just stand there and absorb slapshots is so old school. That isn't the way. Power kill is the wave of the future. Play your best players in the highest leverage situations. It's how every sport operates, except when it comes to hockey and the PK for some reason. There it's "lets park all the best players on the bench for a few minutes and pray that the other team doesn't score." It makes no sense when you critically think about it.

I dislike some of the old-fashioned tropes in hockey and the way we sometimes talk about grit and hustle and size as if they are scarce qualities.

You're talking about absolutely world-class talents, the top 500 people in the entire world at this sport... their stick skills and intelligence and skating and positioning are all absolutely scarce and coveted. Talented NHLers are several tiers above those playing in the league below, who are in turn several tiers above the next level, and so on.

Grit and the ability to block shots and play hard are not scarce in the least. There are millions and millions of people who have those qualities at a high level. It's not something that's worth planning your team around.

Yes it's important for your talented players to also have grit and toughness and be motivated, but that's the coaching staff's job and it's stuff that can be learned easily in most cases. We should never be sacrificing roster spots for someone because they are "gritty" or "good at PK"; these skills are dime-a-dozen and can be picked up by guys who have truly scarce and special talents that allow you to win hockey games.

 

[DRW204]

Speaking of pld...

 

[GreenComet]

I too lean towards a partial rebuild aimed at altering the Jets identity. The Jets need to be tougher (meaner?) in every area of the ice but they are missing the right mix of talent. The Jets sorely need a couple of offensively gifted wingers willing and able to agitate and battle, Tkachuk-like, at the edge of opponent's crease and have opponents looking over their shoulder. Connor, Ehlers, Scheifele, Stastny, Perfetti and Wheeler, through a combination of size, demeanor, and playing style, aren't those guys.

The Jets defense needs to be bigger and tougher also. A defense with Morrissey, Demelo, Pionk, Heinola, and Schmidt are going to have a tough time handling the likes of the Tkachuks.

 

[Huffer]

Speaking of pld...

Nice to see (although I am cognizant of the difference between what is said to the media and what is happening behind the scenes).

Maybe this will put a little cold water on the underwhelming PLD trade proposals.... lol

 

[Hunter368]

Speaking of pld...

Thats good news, albeit we've all heard similar statements from players in the past around the NHL only for them to move on and sign elsewhere. Fingers crossed they make it happen, PLD & Chevy