Player Discussion: Winnipeg Jets Defense

[Bender Duster]

How about a Paul Postma vs Zach Redmond debate for old times sake?

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

Schmitt?

Yes, acquired instead. Kept Stanley. Not sure of the timing. Did we also keep Capobianco over Kova at one point? Capo cleared waivers eventually.

 

[TS Quint]

Yes, acquired instead. Kept Stanley. Not sure of the timing. Did we also keep Capobianco over Kova at one point? Capo cleared waivers eventually.

You liked Schmidt at the time, Stanley and Capo are left handed and weren't in the top 6.

I really don't think Kovacevic Brought anything the Jets needed at the time. Just another body. Even now I don't see how anyone could think he's the missing piece here.

Still seems like the only thing special about Kovacevic is the Jets drafted him. Kovacevic, Miller, Fleury etc, these kinds of guys are available every year. They come and go, there is no reason to lament about them.

 

[voyageur]

How about a Paul Postma vs Zach Redmond debate for old times sake?

Paul Postma was a fascinating history of Jets d-men.

He took awhile to get in, ended up paired with Mark Stuart. Jacob Trouba moves ahead of him on the depth chart. Buff, Bogosian, Trouba on the right side. Jets waive and demote Chiarot to keep Postma as a depth player. Until Chiarot and Buff dominate in the injury/drug filled year of 2014-15. Pardy and Postma become the temporary 3rd pair during that stretch. Then Postma is farther down the depth chart again. Eventually Mark Stuart becomes the target as the weakest link, leading to the Stuart/Chiarot pairing, with Postma in a rotation, and Trouba-Buff pairing that precipitates Trouba holding out for a trade. Which is temporarily resolved by Josh Morrissey's emergence and Tyler Myers hip injury, that allows Postma to play a career high 65 games in his final year as a Jet, tied with Toby at 14 points (+3 for Postma, -7 for Toby)

One year in Boston, and he is gone from the NHL. At 35 years old he's probably still available.

Watched an Ian White interview last night, wonder what would have happened if he had made the team on the PTO he was given in 2013, in a full blown alcohol and fentanyl addiction.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

You liked Schmidt at the time, Stanley and Capo are left handed and weren't in the top 6.

I really don't think Kovacevic Brought anything the Jets needed at the time. Just another body. Even now I don't see how anyone could think he's the missing piece here.

Still seems like the only thing special about Kovacevic is the Jets drafted him. Kovacevic, Miller, Fleury etc, these kinds of guys are available every year. They come and go, there is no reason to lament about them.

I was hopeful for Schmidt at the time but I thought he was a risk and unnecessary.

I don't think Kovacevic would be some kind of messiah. If nothing else he would be a more long term fix at 3RD than miller just because of the age difference. I think we could use his physicality.

I think he is a better all around Dman than Stanley. We had, and still have more LHD than RHD. 3rd pair and below LHS Dmen are always available. 6'5 RHS 3rd pair Dmen who can skate well, not so much.

 

[WolfHouse]

I'm sure Kovacevic would have played his offside if asked, but asking him to do so in the NHL with zero experience isn't realistic

Who said anything about being offended? Did I use that word? If so, can you show me where?

The only reason you find my semantics irritating is because they expose all he flaws in your arguments. That's why you're constantly moving the goalposts and bringing up stuff like that "offended" thing. It's borderline gaslighting

You clearly don't understand the definition of gaslighting. Especially when evading the fact that you clearly made up a comment from me and then used it in an argument against me when I wasn't even participating... thats not moving the goal posts - thats explaining your style of arguing to you.

Can you please just post the source that you are using to say that Capobianco had played his off-side prior to arriving in Winnipeg? Im not saying he didnt, Im just saying I haven't come across that - if you're using it as a claim, then back it up.

Right now it’s hard to judge what we really have with D when perhaps two key pieces of our top 4 aren’t getting any games. We waited so long for Samberg and Heinola to arrive to help us, and we don’t even play them. It’s frustrating.

We should have the defense to make the playoffs but to be a real contender, we need to improve it. I think we shouldn’t give up too many assets before we see what we have in Heinola/Samberg. That said, the draft this year will be a crapshoot, and apparently it’s not a very deep draft. If we lose in the first round again it might not be a bad idea to move our first at the draft for a #3-4 D. Not sure I wanna make a move before that — don’t want to waste assets on a rental, nor do I wanna bring someone in who will have expansion draft implications.

Here’s how I see the D right now:

Morrissey: High-end top 4, good top pairing guy but can’t carry garbage
Pionk: Offensively gifted top 4. Defense is improving. Probably our best D at this moment. Better than Trouba.
Forbort: Decent defensive #4-5. Playing better than usual this year.
DeMelo: Defensively sound, not good offensively. Decent top 4 option, ideally third pairing though.
Stanley: Floor seems to be a solid third pairing defensive defenseman. I’m thinking he could develop into a #3-4. Offense will come. Would like to see more ice from him, including special teams, but he is only a rookie.
Beaulieu: Garbage. Last year I thought he was an okay 7th. This year, get him off the team.
Poolman: Playing very well this year. Good skater. Ideally third pair.
Niku: I think his time in Winnipeg is just about done. Expecting him to be traded at the deadline in a Petan-type swap. He’s great in the AHL but just doesn’t have it at the NHL level.
Heinola: IMO top pairing potential. He should honestly be in our top 4 already. Guy is a stud.
Samberg: Apparently has solid top 4 shutdown potential, but I haven’t seen him play much. Looking forward to seeing him on the Moose.

Chisholm: I’m excited for him. Very smart offensively, and talking to Peterborough Petes fans, they say he was their best defenseman defensively as well. Let’s see if it translates to the pro game.
Gawanke: Solid rookie year. If he continues to build off it I can see him making it to the NHL.
Kovacevic: I think he’s honestly almost NHL-ready. Very smart defensively and a good puck mover. Ceiling is low but I think his floor is everyday NHLer (a la Poolman).
Nogier: Career AHLer.
Green: I don’t think he’ll stay healthy. If he doesn’t play the entire year this season, he’s done.

Lundmark: Wanted to include him. Stat-watching says he does nothing, but I’ve heard he’s actually been pretty solid in Europe.
Bauer and Johannesson are both fliers right now. Neither have played this year; losing a season of development obviously doesn’t help them. Will see how they do next season.
Apparently we still have Cederholm. He won’t get any higher than the ECHL here so he’ll likely head back to Europe. Evingson will never play pro hockey.

What about you, @voyageur? What do you think? I’ve always liked reading your takes on our board.

Really interesting to read the 2021 version of this thread... there were a few accurate takes on here...

 

[voyageur]

I feel like this thread is going to derail if Chevy spends anything more than a 4th round pick for a defenseman at the deadline. After using a 2026 4th round pick to bring in Miller. 2025's was for Namestnikov, who has proven more valuable than Eyssimont, another one who got away.

 

[Buffdog]

You clearly don't understand the definition of gaslighting. Especially when evading the fact that you clearly made up a comment from me and then used it in an argument against me when I wasn't even participating... thats not moving the goal posts - thats explaining your style of arguing to you.

Can you please just post the source that you are using to say that Capobianco had played his off-side prior to arriving in Winnipeg? Im not saying he didnt, Im just saying I haven't come across that - if you're using it as a claim, then back it up.


Really interesting to read the 2021 version of this thread... there were a few accurate takes on here...

There's really no point in carrying on with this. I'd just like to remind you that you're not arguing with me... I'm not the one who waived Kovacevic. I've just hypothesized as to why the org did it.

At the end of the day, nobody really knows every detail that went into that decision. All that I've said is that I can understand, given the circumstances, why it happened the way that it did - and I've tried to explain that to you

It turned out poorly in the long run. Those things happen all the time, and it's OK to file it as water under the bridge and move on.

 

[Gm0ney]

I feel like this thread is going to derail if Chevy spends anything more than a 4th round pick for a defenseman at the deadline. After using a 2026 4th round pick to bring in Miller. 2025's was for Namestnikov, who has proven more valuable than Eyssimont, another one who got away.

Eyssimont wasn't either/or for Namestnikov - he was waived so the Jets could play AJF and Maenalanen.

 

[Jet]

yeah to me it'd be super damning if MTL turfed him and he was out of the NHL, if so then id be more on the side that he is similar to every other overhype nothing Jets prospect, however kovacevic does not seem to be like that.

he was unwanted by poor team in MTL on the same hand he was wanted by a great team in NJD, and has been playing well in a variety measures.

i look at FLA: forsling, carter v went through barely playing on 3 teams before flourishing in FLA, montour was scratched by buffalo before ripping it up there. would anyone classify them as bad players b/c they were not wanted by previous teams?

Hopefully we have that same scenario playing out with Fleury, that would make losing Kovacevic easier to take.

 

[voyageur]

Eyssimont wasn't either/or for Namestnikov - he was waived so the Jets could play AJF and Maenalanen.

Logistically it was probably Kuhlman who took his spot, if I remember the debate correctly, because Kuhlman stayed in the lineup while Appleton was out most of the season after getting his stick caught in the glass in Seattle. While it wasn't Namestnikov for Eyssimont directly, Eyssimont was claimed on waivers by San Jose, traded to Tampa at the deadline for Namestnikov, which I think was a Cap dump to add elsewhere IIRC, and the Jets picked up both Nino and Namestnikov at the deadline to get to the forward group we see now, that was rounded out by the Dubois trade. So the two are intertwined. The fact Eyssimont never killed penalties here worked against his favour, where it did for Maenalanen, AJF and Kuhlman. Adding Nino who also didn't kill penalties would have pushed him out of the lineup eventually.


On defense this is the year Samberg took over for good, passing Stanley. And he and Schmidt had success together. I think this is also Neal Pionk's broken foot season. Where he also played on an oxygen tank after Morrissey went down in game 3 vs. Vegas, a game the Jets nearly came back to win.

But it's hard to say that this same Jets team would have made the playoffs without Schmidt back on defense. Especially when they went into free fall...not sure Johnny K had the ability to pull the team out of it. Jets could have kept Capo instead of Stanley with Kovacevic as depth, as many have argued, but they didn't. Wouldn't have changed much IMO. Stanley played 19 games that season, Capobianco 14, and Heinola 10, having the worst results out of the 3. Would Johnny Kovacevic still be as effective at 27 years old, UFA season, having never played as a regular, in this, the first season when the Jets have an opening on RD? Though you could argue that opening was there at the end of last year, which Miller never got the opportunity to fill. Would Kovacevic have steadied Heinola when he got his mid season looks? We'll never know the answer there, but it does seems that Stanley has always been ahead of Heinola on the depth chart, because of size and PK.