Post-Game Talk: Preseason Game 2 = win

[GNP]

Well once again it's preseason so need to keep these results in perspective. Vets will do what they feel they need to to get ready as much as the fans may not always like it.

I once again liked our aggressiveness and shape in the nz and Oz. Our forecheck was real good we looked to have an actual breakout strategy.

After seeing a game of our top 6 I still am not liking the configuration much. Granted it's preseason but many of the things I thought would be issues were. The top line has three players who all want to have the puck on their stick. I felt this pretty much rendered Mark as the support player tonight as Fly and KFC had the puck most of the time. Perhaps they work this out better moving forward but I feel we can't afford to have any of those three playing a largely supporting role on a line.

The second line was interesting to watch. Perfetti essentially made that line his and started Imposing his will on the game but he didn't have a forward who knew where to get open infront of the net. He was essentially playing the role Blake has traditionally played on the line and I think Blake is going to have learn to adapt his game to adapt to Cole. He was still making largely playmaking routes tonight. Dubois will help but I think we need to rejig the lines a bit to get better balance and overlap of skills.

Players:

Of the vets, Morrissey and Conner looked fairly sharp and engaged. The rest had various levels of rust/engagement, they just need to be ready for puck drop.

Cole was once again excellent. His play off the puck was very good again and forces turnovers and low percentage plays with his positioning and timing. He flashed a tonne of skill in traffic tonight and what I liked is he wasn't looking to defer to the vet in Wheeler. He was imposing his will on the game. He's going to be an excellent player sooner then later.

Heinola: Had a rough first half of the game but then settled and started making better reads all over the ice. He was activating at the appropriate times, he was moving the puck with poise and assertiveness. Also was happy with his gap and his physical play. He is one player who really reads well off of Cole. I think he's given himself the early lead for that last spot.

Lundmark I felt acquitted himself quite well tonight. He played his usual steady game and moved the puck smartly. There is some elements of DeMelo in his play.

Samberg was very meh, he was not moving the puck all that well and was just so so in his end. He is going to need to be much better moving forward to win that spot.

The Moose line was all hungry and played their hearts out. Torgoson with perhaps the best game of his life. He was doing everything he needs to do be successful. He was hard on pucks, using his size to both separate pucks and to shield pucks. He then got open and used his good shot. He's earned himself another game but he should go down and get lots of minutes and reps in order to get consistent playing this type of game. He's got skills we need though.

Essymont making a strong case for the fourth line.

Agree strongly with this post. You can't have all your snipers on one line, as it makes no sense. To have your most 3 dangerous goal scorers, all on the 1st line, and really no snipers on the 2nd line, it's not the way to go. Perfetti needs a sniper who can finish and score, because he's a setup man, and needs either Ehlers or Connor on that line. I think this will happen, or hope that it does?

This would mean if Ehlers or Connor is sent to the 2nd line, that means either Wheeler, or Dubois moves up to the first line. This would give us a balanced attack. I think the answer would be Wheeler up to the 1st line, as you'd want to protect Cole with a big tough forward like PLD. A lot of people may not like to see Wheeler back up on the 1st line, but this does make a lot of sense. Either Wheeler or Dubois moves up, and Connor, or Ehlers moves down to the 2nd line. Might be better to have Connor there, so Cole can set him up. That would leave you with Scheif and Ehlers on the 1st line, which is a lot of scoring power as well.

 

[ps241]

I 100% agree this has been a problem in Winnipeg and I want it fixed. Love the candor of Rick but I am wondering if you want to be calling out players publicly yet?

 

[NA Hockey]

Bones rolled the lines pretty much the whole game. However, the first line took very long shifts.

average shift length for the game.

KFC 1:01
Scheif :58
Ehlers :59

That is way too long per shift and these guys should be setting the standard for everyone else.

 

[Imcanadianeh]

Someone posted on Twitter I believe it was hockey stats cards - the game stats including TOI. Didnt see a single forward go over 20 minutes. And most of the 3rd and fourth liners were over 12 minutes. Schiefele and company have definitely been guilty of long shifts in the past . But was it really the case tonight? The distribution of TOI seemed more balanced than usual I thought. Isn't it normal that the 1st line play 5-7 minutes more than the bottom 6?

I wouldn’t put much stock in this, it’s preseason and most of the players the team wants to get a look at are bottom six players, of course they’re going to get more minutes because of this.

Once meaningful games start and the team knows what they have the fourth line won’t be getting 12 minutes a game.

 

[surixon]

Bones rolled the lines pretty much the whole game. However, the first line took very long shifts.

average shift length for the game.

KFC 1:01
Scheif :58
Ehlers :59

That is way too long per shift and these guys should be setting the standard for everyone else.

He's setting standard right away and holding players accountable. I like it and it's something this top group hasn't had. You can't play a fast aggressive game when you sucking wind at the end of extended shifts. A good any on this team need to unlearn a lot of bad habits.

 

[Gil Fisher]

Saku Mäenalanen

Melons is the new Mittens.

 

[Mud Turtle]

I 100% agree this has been a problem in Winnipeg and I want it fixed. Love the candor of Rick but I am wondering if you want to be calling out players publicly yet?

It just gets harder the longer you wait though.

 

[SUX2BU]

. nobody important got hurt.

Gus stumbles down the stairs reading your post ....

 

[SUX2BU]

All the media are raving about Stenlund at practices too.

Like wise with Barron even though he hasn't played.

I rather have @The Blue Baron out there then Barron at times last year........

 

[MrBoJangelz71]

I 100% agree this has been a problem in Winnipeg and I want it fixed. Love the candor of Rick but I am wondering if you want to be calling out players publicly yet?

I think its warranted and much needed.

We had "look away" approach to this crap for years, with Maurice nurturing it. This is 101 stuff and a coach should not have to say anything more than what Bowness did in the media yesterday.

Last night Limoges had a shift where he turns the puck over 2 times in the neutral zone after a long shift, his line mates change but he tries to jump into a line rush with the next line.

Doubt he plays another game with us.

 

[TS Quint]

False! The problem is”we are a young team”. That’s our mantra.

…….wait, sorry, I forgot we changed our Captain.

 

[DRW204]

sheesh already
lets see if scheifele starts crying about it again.

 

[LowLefty]

I 100% agree this has been a problem in Winnipeg and I want it fixed. Love the candor of Rick but I am wondering if you want to be calling out players publicly yet?

Agreed - It's one preseason game for most of them - have a chat with the guys that are not paying attention and give them a couple of games to adapt - especially the vets who have been playing a certain way for years.

 

[cbcwpg]

I 100% agree this has been a problem in Winnipeg and I want it fixed. Love the candor of Rick but I am wondering if you want to be calling out players publicly yet?

If it's justified, I want him to call out the players day 1. We have had years of a coach / player love-in and where did that leave us?

There have been players on this team that have played however they felt like to the detriment of the team... it stops now. And if certain players don't like it, too bad.

 

[Guardian17]

 

[BoneDocUK]

Better later in the game but definitely the worst dman overall (Lundmark was kind of just a guy who was there for the most part)

That's kinda his game. Makes the necessary plays, rarely screws up, makes life easier for his partner, doesn't get noticed but is usually plus at the end of the night.

I didn't catch all of it b/c time differences but thought the 4th line hopefuls had strong games and liked what I saw again from Perfetti -- not so much the sweet passing but his work forechecking and off the puck -- and he's going to be a takeaway king. Heinola was rusty to start and got better as the game went on -- still needs to work on his burst speed and to make the simple play when required, but his instincts are still sharp and as others have noted he's on the same page as Perfetti when it comes to seeing plays develop, which is going to be pretty useful going forward. Samberg had a mostly forgettable game but featured heavily in Sawyer's commentary, suggesting that he's a lock at this point, since I tend to view KSaw as org mouthpiece.

Also thought 55 was playing hard, thought Ehlers was looking even faster when he went into top gear (was clearly coasting for long parts of the game, which is fine) and was reminded again of just how lethal KFC is, even at half-speed.

This kind of game is really for the marginal players and the systems and I was pleasantly surprised by both. As a confirmed Moose watcher I really liked Essy last year and think Torgy is gonna be a good 'un -- he looks so much faster this year. Saku also liked like a great pickup -- smart and strong.

 

[Jetfaninflorida]

For many, it has been obvious for a long time. Others - it will eventually come into sharp focus just how much time we threw away with Paul Maurice driving the bus.

 

[Mud Turtle]

I know it’s only preseason and you can’t read too much into these games. But what we saw from Scheifele is a continuation of a disturbing trend.
Scheifele was a passenger on that line last night.
Ehlers is a great play driver. Connor has progressed a long way and is now creating and driving plays as well.
Scheifele once was a play driver himself. Not any more.
He seems to float around a lot, waiting for the puck to come to him or for his line mates to feed him the puck.
I’m hoping that will change under Bowness, because if it doesn’t, Scheifele may be out of Winnipeg sooner rather than later.
He has it in him, no question. But where has it gone?

 

[John Agar]

I 100% agree this has been a problem in Winnipeg and I want it fixed. Love the candor of Rick but I am wondering if you want to be calling out players publicly yet?

I'm onside with this...

Bones has years of video tape and first-hand knowledge of the Jets tendencies as an opposition coach...

Bad habits take time to change... Bones would do what I would do in any organizational structure once studied and appraised... act and act with impunity on issues identified...

This F's us up and has for years... as Jets fans we can't stand it... Peewee players wanting equal effort demand it of their teammates... midget... junior and pros...

Money or not they are subject to the same psychology pitfalls of any group of persons subjected together...

I was ruthless and without bend on these kind of issues in My organizations and they were by their very nature always chaotic... no way to change bad habits but being demanding with impunity...

You know this in your own operations ps'.... I know you do...

As for Bones doing this too earlier or publicly...? It's too late for convention... it's already public because the fans know and have known for years...

 

[DRW204]

I know it’s only preseason and you can’t read too much into these games. But what we saw from Scheifele is a continuation of a disturbing trend.
Scheifele was a passenger on that line last night.
Ehlers is a great play driver. Connor has progressed a long way and is now creating and driving plays as well.
Scheifele once was a play driver himself. Not any more.
He seems to float around a lot, waiting for the puck to come to him or for his line mates to feed him the puck.
I’m hoping that will change under Bowness, because if it doesn’t, Scheifele may be out of Winnipeg sooner rather than later.
He has it in him, no question. But where has it gone?

on one hand im pulling the allen iverson rant

however, bowness specifically pointed shift-lengths out. given that he seemed to be less than impressed i think the expectation was to start on the right foot. pre-season or not.

 

[John Agar]

It just gets harder the longer you wait though.

It's harder and it's too late when you are facing it when it really matters...

Aka the regular season...

 

[John Agar]

A more than decent wrap up of this pre-season contest by Ken Wiebe...

Keep it up Wiebe...

LINK: Ken Wiebe summary of the Jets Pre-season game against the Sens

 

[Flyby]

Agree strongly with this post. You can't have all your snipers on one line, as it makes no sense. To have your most 3 dangerous goal scorers, all on the 1st line, and really no snipers on the 2nd line, it's not the way to go. Perfetti needs a sniper who can finish and score, because he's a setup man, and needs either Ehlers or Connor on that line. I think this will happen, or hope that it does?

This would mean if Ehlers or Connor is sent to the 2nd line, that means either Wheeler, or Dubois moves up to the first line. This would give us a balanced attack. I think the answer would be Wheeler up to the 1st line, as you'd want to protect Cole with a big tough forward like PLD. A lot of people may not like to see Wheeler back up on the 1st line, but this does make a lot of sense. Either Wheeler or Dubois moves up, and Connor, or Ehlers moves down to the 2nd line. Might be better to have Connor there, so Cole can set him up. That would leave you with Scheif and Ehlers on the 1st line, which is a lot of scoring power as well.

Or you put:
Perfetti-Scheifele-Ehlers
Connor-Dubois-Wheeler

 

[bumblebeeman]

It was great to see some of the young guys looking good. That was my first time seeing Togerrson, that guy could be a solid NHLer someday. Good to see some of the depth forwards like Eyssimont and Maenalenen looking good. Samberg and Heinola both looked pretty good.

 

[DRW204]

for the fwd lines.... it will change through the year, hopefully. however, in dallas bowness often stacked the top-line with roberston/pavelski/hintz and the rest of the fwd group seemed to be pretty meh to bad. i think early returns is he is continuing to get that trend here.