Last night was a great game by the whole Jets and if the 1st and 2nd line consistently looked and played like that, the whole 2nd line would have a lot more 5v5 points (even though they didn't have any last night...) and not many people would probably want to split the 1st line, because they were absolutely dominant. But after their hot stretch to start the season, it was probably the 1st game in last 10 where they looked geniunely great. I still don't think the top-6 is optimal, though last night they did put together an awesome game. I hope the team gained momentum from the Blues games and keeps that up.
Speaking of keeping up, Little can't seem to do that with his young wingers in terms of creative offensive plays most times + neither Ehlers nor Laine is very good on the cycle. A lot of the time their play just breaks down because they simply don't gel as an unit. They have shown glimpses of better lately, so maybe they can eventually figure it out, but the price to pay might be a bit high if the Jets keep sliding backwards in the standings. There was a time when the top-6 could be justified because of how well the 1st line played and how Jets were winning, but that situation hasn't existed for the last 10 games or so. The problem with the 2nd line and why it's taking so long to work out the issues is there's been very little to build around - if there was strong chemistry between center + the other winger, then you could build around that and the second winger could adapt their game. Now it's like they've had to built chemistry from scratch and it's been taking them really long.
Ideally I would personally like to see Scheif-Laine + Little-Wheeler pairings and Ehlers/Connor/Perrault slotted on the other wings, but something like Ehlers-Scheifele-Wheeler + Connor-Little-Laine might also be a step up. Taking into account their last 10 record (4-4-2) I doubt either switching the centers around or moving a winger between the lines would've been a catastrophy compared to that. Also what baffles me is the seemingly strong aversion against playing Laine w/ Scheif at all - if you're down a couple in the 3rd and the team hasn't looked that great, why not put your best goal scorer on the wing of your best center??? There's been plenty of games where that seemed like a nobrainer to me and hindsight proves it would've been at least worth a shot since the Jets ended up losing those games. The very few times Maurice has adjusted the lines during game, the changes he has made have been mostly totally unexpected for me. I guess it shows creative thinking on his part
Speaking of keeping up, Little can't seem to do that with his young wingers in terms of creative offensive plays most times + neither Ehlers nor Laine is very good on the cycle. A lot of the time their play just breaks down because they simply don't gel as an unit. They have shown glimpses of better lately, so maybe they can eventually figure it out, but the price to pay might be a bit high if the Jets keep sliding backwards in the standings. There was a time when the top-6 could be justified because of how well the 1st line played and how Jets were winning, but that situation hasn't existed for the last 10 games or so. The problem with the 2nd line and why it's taking so long to work out the issues is there's been very little to build around - if there was strong chemistry between center + the other winger, then you could build around that and the second winger could adapt their game. Now it's like they've had to built chemistry from scratch and it's been taking them really long.
Ideally I would personally like to see Scheif-Laine + Little-Wheeler pairings and Ehlers/Connor/Perrault slotted on the other wings, but something like Ehlers-Scheifele-Wheeler + Connor-Little-Laine might also be a step up. Taking into account their last 10 record (4-4-2) I doubt either switching the centers around or moving a winger between the lines would've been a catastrophy compared to that. Also what baffles me is the seemingly strong aversion against playing Laine w/ Scheif at all - if you're down a couple in the 3rd and the team hasn't looked that great, why not put your best goal scorer on the wing of your best center??? There's been plenty of games where that seemed like a nobrainer to me and hindsight proves it would've been at least worth a shot since the Jets ended up losing those games. The very few times Maurice has adjusted the lines during game, the changes he has made have been mostly totally unexpected for me. I guess it shows creative thinking on his part
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