Post-Game Talk: SN praise the Wild, Jets fill the net 6-0

[Jet]

I have a manual ‘ignore’. If I start to read a post that doesn’t interest me or I don’t want to read I just scroll by. I don’t have anyone on ignore because at some point everyone has something o want to read.

in these days of social media you definitely have to find something that works for you.

I love this and I agree. There are a few posters here that if I was liberal with the ignore feature I'd have missed out on some great insights and learnings

 

[Howard Chuck]

Crow is so enjoyable. My Pionk crow is unbelievably satisfying!!

I always feel that if I’m eating crow then my team is getting better. I’m fine with that

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

Honestly, though - how weak is our D corps (if we tried to remove all bias)? I know that is near impossible. If I am trying to be completely honest, this is my assessment:

Morrissey - Poolman: Morrissey is barely keeping his head above water right now. He is making uncharacteristically poor plays (yesterday he ended up biting bad on a fake and actually fell towards the boards during one play. I think he is struggling to be 'the guy' on the first pair with a partner like Poolman, who we can all agree is not ready for, and will likely never be ready for first pair duty. Buff back and on that pair instantly makes it one of the best 1D pairs in the league.

Sbisa - Pionk: Pionk has easily been our best defenseman this year. So much so that I think he is making Sbisa better too. Sbisa has been much better than advertised, but I think the overwhelming negative bias for him is making it hard for people to accept that (though it is changing). Sbisa does have his limitations (quick thinking and positioning defensively at times) but he is a surprisingly well balanced player. He is tough and physical, nice size. He has a cannon for a shot and pretty good instincts. Overall, this pair has been our best and I think stacks up pretty well against other second pairs in the league.

Beaulieu - Bitteto: The problem with this pair is that Beaulieu has not played enough to get into a groove, and Bitteto, though an adequate 7th guy filling in on spot duty or maybe drawing in for more physical games, needs a better partner to help him. We do tend to get hemmed a bit in our own zone with them on the ice, especially when our fourth line is out there. Kulikov with Beaulieu would be much better (but I don't know if either of them are comfortable on the right side)

Trying to be as unbiased as possible, and limiting my fanboyism and optimism, there is obviously significant room for improvement here. However, getting Buff back and adding Niku gives us so much more options and in my mind quickly transforms this D into a high middle corps stacking up against the other teams in the NHL.

If we can get Buff back, and use some of our (hopeful) cap savings from his absence towards getting a D rental at the TDL - this team could really take a run in the playoffs.

That is a pretty fair assessment, I think. But, to start, we are not talking about our D corps with Niku and Buff. We are talking about how good, or bad our D corps is, as is.

I agree that Morrissey has struggled. I think he is gradually getting batter, with some ups and downs. Poolman is also improving but he is really a 3rd pair D man.

If we got Buff back I wouldn't play him on the 1st pair with JMo. I'd put him on the 2nd pair with Sbisa and put Pionk on the 1st pair with Morrissey.

I think you maybe overrate Sbisa - Pionk a bit, but they have been pretty good. Sbisa doesn't really belong on the 2nd pair, like Poolman doesn't belong on the 1st.

Beaulieu - Bitetto have been pretty weak. I think I would prefer Kulikov - Bitetto when Kuli gets back. But Beaulieu and Bitetto are both probably better suited to #7 roles.

Getting Buff back would make a huge difference. We could have 3 legit top 4 D and the 4th man doing a pretty good job playing up. I don't think we see Niku with the Jets this year unless we get a lot more injuries. If we do see him it is on the 3rd pair and he makes little difference.

As it stands right now we have 2 #3 D men playing in the top 4 and 2 players who don't belong in the top 4 at all. Then our 3rd pair is weak relative to 3rd pairs. I think that adds up to a pretty weak D corps.

 

[Adam da bomb]

That is a pretty fair assessment, I think. But, to start, we are not talking about our D corps with Niku and Buff. We are talking about how good, or bad our D corps is, as is.

I agree that Morrissey has struggled. I think he is gradually getting batter, with some ups and downs. Poolman is also improving but he is really a 3rd pair D man.

If we got Buff back I wouldn't play him on the 1st pair with JMo. I'd put him on the 2nd pair with Sbisa and put Pionk on the 1st pair with Morrissey.

I think you maybe overrate Sbisa - Pionk a bit, but they have been pretty good. Sbisa doesn't really belong on the 2nd pair, like Poolman doesn't belong on the 1st.

Beaulieu - Bitetto have been pretty weak. I think I would prefer Kulikov - Bitetto when Kuli gets back. But Beaulieu and Bitetto are both probably better suited to #7 roles.

Getting Buff back would make a huge difference. We could have 3 legit top 4 D and the 4th man doing a pretty good job playing up. I don't think we see Niku with the Jets this year unless we get a lot more injuries. If we do see him it is on the 3rd pair and he makes little difference.

As it stands right now we have 2 #3 D men playing in the top 4 and 2 players who don't belong in the top 4 at all. Then our 3rd pair is weak relative to 3rd pairs. I think that adds up to a pretty weak D corps.

And chariot belongs on a 1st pairing there are lots of D playing above their weight. In that sense Sbisa is definitely a top 4 d. If Morrissey is a number 3 wow. I think you are a really tough grader.

 

[Guardian17]

Yeah it was so quick he...its impossible to see it, it was such a good shot!

 

[Guardian17]

 

[surixon]

Honestly, though - how weak is our D corps (if we tried to remove all bias)? I know that is near impossible. If I am trying to be completely honest, this is my assessment:

Morrissey - Poolman: Morrissey is barely keeping his head above water right now. He is making uncharacteristically poor plays (yesterday he ended up biting bad on a fake and actually fell towards the boards during one play. I think he is struggling to be 'the guy' on the first pair with a partner like Poolman, who we can all agree is not ready for, and will likely never be ready for first pair duty. Buff back and on that pair instantly makes it one of the best 1D pairs in the league.

Sbisa - Pionk: Pionk has easily been our best defenseman this year. So much so that I think he is making Sbisa better too. Sbisa has been much better than advertised, but I think the overwhelming negative bias for him is making it hard for people to accept that (though it is changing). Sbisa does have his limitations (quick thinking and positioning defensively at times) but he is a surprisingly well balanced player. He is tough and physical, nice size. He has a cannon for a shot and pretty good instincts. Overall, this pair has been our best and I think stacks up pretty well against other second pairs in the league.

Beaulieu - Bitteto: The problem with this pair is that Beaulieu has not played enough to get into a groove, and Bitteto, though an adequate 7th guy filling in on spot duty or maybe drawing in for more physical games, needs a better partner to help him. We do tend to get hemmed a bit in our own zone with them on the ice, especially when our fourth line is out there. Kulikov with Beaulieu would be much better (but I don't know if either of them are comfortable on the right side)

Trying to be as unbiased as possible, and limiting my fanboyism and optimism, there is obviously significant room for improvement here. However, getting Buff back and adding Niku gives us so much more options and in my mind quickly transforms this D into a high middle corps stacking up against the other teams in the NHL.

If we can get Buff back, and use some of our (hopeful) cap savings from his absence towards getting a D rental at the TDL - this team could really take a run in the playoffs.

I think Morrissey's play is the result of him not getting to drive offense in the NHL his first three years. Maurice liked to run offense off the right with Trouba/Buff and Myers.

If you really think about it he's generally played a fairly specialized role his first three years. He's generally been the defensive conscious on his pairings while letting his partner whether it be Trouba or Buff carry the offense while he would pick his spots for secondary offense.

Now he's playing with a partner who can't drive offense and is unpredictable defensively at times. I think he's still unsure how to drive offense while being very good defensively.

I think given enough time he will grow into the role. He just has to relearn how to carry the play offensively like he did as a junior.

Im not too concerned with him long term, growing pains while he learns when to be more aggressive offensively were to be expected imo. It's much harder to do with a weak partner as well.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

Who fell through the cracks? Just curious on your perception of that.

Possibly Postma, Burmi, Petan. In a different way, maybe Armia. Maybe Dano. Niku could, just possibly, be in the process of slipping through.

You can only point at the ones who have turned out well and say that they turned out well. You can't even prove that they reached their fullest possible potential. They turned out well either because of the way they were handled or in spite of it. Once in a long while you might be able to identify some specific action that either made a player or broke him. But I think those are exceptions. If you could survey all of the players, years later, you might get a good idea of those who were helped. Those who blamed their failure on a team or a coach would be less reliable.

I don't want to re-open any of these debates. So far they haven't achieved a lot anywhere else. That may or may not be because of the way they were handled. There is no proving it either way.

Over all, I think Maurice has done a good job. JMO. But he may not have been good for all of the prospects. I credit him with giving KC a kick in the hind end at the right time and getting him going. That is one of the ones I think I can identify as well done. But many here disagree with me about what actually happened there.

 

[mazmin]

Bitetto with two apples. That’s as good as it gets!

 

[Guardian17]

Boys are having fun this afternoon!

 

[LucianoBorsato]

I love that it's 616 points that beat the record, just because the prime Marvel Universe is Earth-616

 

[Whileee]

Everyone knows he was joshing, right? Right?

 

[Whileee]

I'm still over that Wheeler interview. Did he take a big hit just before the period ended? Yeah, the SN guy didn't exactly spell it out to preface the question but still, Wheeler had to be aware of the significance of that point, right? Either that, or he was just intentionally being difficult with the interviewer.

He was completely zoned in on the game he was playing, not on tying some franchise record that he might not have been focused on. It was a weird way to ask the question, without any preamble to remind Wheeler that he had tied the record.

Also, another example of how focused and amped Wheeler is during a game.

 

[Aggie204]

He was completely zoned in on the game he was playing, not on tying some franchise record that he might not have been focused on. It was a weird way to ask the question, without any preamble to remind Wheeler that he had tied the record.

Also, another example of how focused and amped Wheeler is during a game.

I dig the intensity

 

[Gil Fisher]

I recall only 2 injuries but 2-3 doesn't matter. He was sent to the Moose, supposedly for conditioning. Sbisa wasn't acquired until after he had had plenty of conditioning in the AHL.

I thought he had nailed a starting spot in TC, in spite of the injury. After recovering, he has not been given a chance even though Jets had several injuries to D men. Now he is injured again. We have added Sbisa and Dahlstrom. He appears to be right out of the picture though it is hard to say for certain. Vincent says he likes him. Maurice doesn't seem to.

Better check the memory banks Mort. Niku was injured when Sbisa was acquired (Oct 23), his 2nd injury stint of the year, and had a grand total of 3 AHL conditioning games prior to that. He played 13 games in November and hasn't played since November 27th.

The Jets won a bunch of games in November and Maurice, probably to a fault, doesn't like to tinker with winning lineups.

Also, he barely took part in training camp, so not sure how he had his spot nailed down.

 

[Zhamnov5GoalGame]

Back to the game;

We give up a little bit more than i like of that breakout pass.

But team forward talent is insane.

Just need Copp and little to anchor the bottom 6.
Hopefully buff can come back and anchoring a bottom 4 pair also.


Ehlers adn KC with open space is crazy.


Love Schiefele body language with Laine now...



Go Jets Go

You left MP out of your forwards coming back.
Plus if Buff is coming back once he's up to speed you definitely play him with JoMo. They have previous chemistry together and Buff hasn't had a good partner to play with in a few years. The way to get the most out of Buff at this point is to play him with a good partner. He's done enough anchor lugging to this point. Pionk remains on that 2nd pair and Poolman gives us a little boost to the 3rd pair.

 

[Duke749]

You left MP out of your forwards coming back.
Plus if Buff is coming back once he's up to speed you definitely play him with JoMo. They have previous chemistry together and Buff hasn't had a good partner to play with in a few years. The way to get the most out of Buff at this point is to play him with a good partner. He's done enough anchor lugging to this point. Pionk remains on that 2nd pair and Poolman gives us a little boost to the 3rd pair.

They may put Pionk with Josh and Buff with whoever to help limit his minutes. We know Josh and Pionk can handle some heavy minutes.

 

[VictoriaJetsFan]

Boys are having fun this afternoon!

If nothing else, they look like they're getting along better than at this point last year.

 

[Stumbledore]

Oh, I get it now! We can only point out plays where Scheifele is lazy in the first period of games we know in advance we’re going to lose. Coming up with arbitrary rules about when and how we’re “allowed” to criticize players is beyond ridiculous and embarrassing.

No, you don't get it at all.

Nobody came up with any arbitrary rules. Go back and read the original post (which more than 24 people have agreed with at last count).

[mod]

 

[Stumbledore]

I'm still over that Wheeler interview. Did he take a big hit just before the period ended? Yeah, the SN guy didn't exactly spell it out to preface the question but still, Wheeler had to be aware of the significance of that point, right? Either that, or he was just intentionally being difficult with the interviewer.

I have a different take on it. I think that Wheeler didn't know that the interview had started. I base this on having been present for a number of these sorts of interviews and witnessed what often happens.

The interviewer secures the player's agreement to be interviewed. They get into position and the camera frames the shot. The interviewer talks to his director and/or gets advice from the control booth. There's often a few sentences back and forth in quick shorthand. During all of this, the player usually stares off into space, or wipes his face, or tries to get his hair to lie flat. For the more experienced players, they just wait in boredom and ignore the crew chit-chat. When the interviewer turns to the player and says something like "We're here with Blake..." or "Blake Wheeler has just...", that's when the player pays attention and waits for the usual clichés before spouting the usual cliched answers.

On Saturday, the interviewer starts talking facing the camera, segues into a question and then finishes up by turning to a much taller Wheeler and raising the mike for him to answer. It's only at that point that Wheeler, who wasn't listening to anything in the noisy arena, realizes that he was asked a question and didn't hear a word of it. I don't think he was spaced out or being difficult, I think he just didn't realize that the interview had started.

Went back this afternoon and watched the interview again and I'm still convinced that's what happened. Of course, being HFBoards, everyone's entitled to their own opinion and may want to spin it differently for their own purposes.

 

[NoName]

Love how this team has overcome adversity this whole season.

 

[Ducky10]

Are we done complaining about complaining?

 

[nobody imp0rtant]

I have a different take on it. I think that Wheeler didn't know that the interview had started. I base this on having been present for a number of these sorts of interviews and witnessed what often happens.

The interviewer secures the player's agreement to be interviewed. They get into position and the camera frames the shot. The interviewer talks to his director and/or gets advice from the control booth. There's often a few sentences back and forth in quick shorthand. During all of this, the player usually stares off into space, or wipes his face, or tries to get his hair to lie flat. For the more experienced players, they just wait in boredom and ignore the crew chit-chat. When the interviewer turns to the player and says something like "We're here with Blake..." or "Blake Wheeler has just...", that's when the player pays attention and waits for the usual clichés before spouting the usual cliched answers.

On Saturday, the interviewer starts talking facing the camera, segues into a question and then finishes up by turning to a much taller Wheeler and raising the mike for him to answer. It's only at that point that Wheeler, who wasn't listening to anything in the noisy arena, realizes that he was asked a question and didn't hear a word of it. I don't think he was spaced out or being difficult, I think he just didn't realize that the interview had started.

Went back this afternoon and watched the interview again and I'm still convinced that's what happened. Of course, being HFBoards, everyone's entitled to their own opinion and may want to spin it differently for their own purposes.

OK, that seems like a very plausible explanation for what happened. I don't get to see the prelude, just the live performance. I wasn't trying to spin anything for a narrative, I was genuinely perplexed at how that interview unfolded.

 

[KingBogo]

Boys are having fun this afternoon!

Great post. They are looking like a very tight knit team right now.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

And chariot belongs on a 1st pairing there are lots of D playing above their weight. In that sense Sbisa is definitely a top 4 d. If Morrissey is a number 3 wow. I think you are a really tough grader.

A few other teams playing guys above their level doesn't make our guys better. I don't really think Morrissey is a #3 but he has played like one this year. I think Sbisa is an adequate replacement for Chiarot. That doesn't make him a top 4 D on a good D corps. Maybe get Morrissey a better partner and he is a #2 again. Morrissey and Pionk were good together in TC.