Brian Little moving forward

[KingBogo]

Wheeler made ONE HELL of a centerman when Shief was hurt. He is one of the best wingers in the league ill give you that, but he is also one of the best number 2 centers in the game. Honestly if I have a player that could play that well at that position I put him there, we have loads and loads of winger talent. We are awful thin at center. Remember Little had his most productive season as a winger.

Wheeler wasn't one hell of a center, his numbers started to fall with time. Little scored his most goals on wing but didn't have near his most productive season. Little's 2 way game gets so under rated you'd think his name was Toby.

 

[Tommigun]

People are saying to expose Little to Seattle but how could we do that with his NMC?

 

[folix]

Wheeler wasn't one hell of a center, his numbers started to fall with time. Little scored his most goals on wing but didn't have near his most productive season. Little's 2 way game gets so under rated you'd think his name was Toby.

Wheeler out played Little at center. It seems (and I would think the stats are there to back me up) that people struggle to score with Little at center. Ehlers and Laine both could not produce with him there. Wheelers "dropping" production was in big part due to Little being unable to produce as a second line center turning us into a one trick pony. Teams could concentrate on one line.

Yes he is a VERY good defensive center. Great 2 way? Used to be. I really hope this year was a blip for some reason. He played with more talent this year then of any other year. His numbers dropped dramatically.

Im not saying he is garbage because he is not, he sure wasnt worth his 6 mil this year.

 

[lifelonghockeyfan]

If Little isn't worth the money now how , how is going to worth 5.125m for the next six years? He is almost impossible to trade without giving up whole lot of sweeteners, and even then it might not be possible.

 

[Maukkis]

Wheeler out played Little at center. It seems (and I would think the stats are there to back me up) that people struggle to score with Little at center. Ehlers and Laine both could not produce with him there. Wheelers "dropping" production was in big part due to Little being unable to produce as a second line center turning us into a one trick pony. Teams could concentrate on one line.

Yes he is a VERY good defensive center. Great 2 way? Used to be. I really hope this year was a blip for some reason. He played with more talent this year then of any other year. His numbers dropped dramatically.

Im not saying he is garbage because he is not, he sure wasnt worth his 6 mil this year.

The Wheeler as the 1C experiment was... interesting.

They SUCKED defensively, bleeding chances and shots against and losing their sheltered matchups (70.73 OZS%). Funnily enough, it was Little's line who took care of the defensive tasks and actually performed well over the first stint without Scheifele. The only reason for why this wasn't more widely noticed is that that line rode a PDO of 110.1%. A number like that masks just about every problem from showing up on the scoreboard.

The bottom line: we really don't want to see Wheeler as a C anytime soon.

 

[surixon]

The Wheeler as the 1C experiment was... interesting.

They SUCKED defensively, bleeding chances and shots against and losing their sheltered matchups (70.73 OZS%). Funnily enough, it was Little's line who took care of the defensive tasks and actually performed well over the first stint without Scheifele. The only reason for why this wasn't more widely noticed is that that line rode a PDO of 110.1%. A number like that masks just about every problem from showing up on the scoreboard.

The bottom line: we really don't want to see Wheeler as a C anytime soon.

Matches what I saw. They where atrocious defensively but finished on a crazy high percentage of their chances.

 

[Huffer]

I like the idea of splitting up Scheifele and Wheeler, and Ehlers and Laine. If we don't get Stastny back, that means you can have lines like Surixon posted earlier. Scheifele with Connor and Laine, and Little with Ehlers and Wheeler.

 

[Jack722]

Ehlers Little Perreault was one of our best lines of the season. Ehlers Little Wheeler would almost certainly be a good line.

Scheif with Connor and Laine is a bit more concerning. As some mentioned, Laine hasn't been good at all along the boards and his style doesn't seem to mesh that well. Back when Ehlers Scheif and Laine were together, they were very 'one and done' and scored tons of their goals off rushes.

 

[tacogeoff]

try to resign Stast to a short term contract and if that is doable then move Little. If they cannot resign Stast then keep Little.

 

[Board Bard]

try to resign Stast to a short term contract and if that is doable then move Little. If they cannot resign Stast then keep Little.

How do they move Little with his NMC for the next couple of years?

 

[tacogeoff]

How do they move Little with his NMC for the next couple of years?

yup your 100% correct. Guess this comes into effect when his contract changes to a Modified NTC ? CLAUSE DETAILS: Player submits a 14 team no trade list.

Does he have the option to Waive his NMC if we resign Stast and he becomes a 3/4 C and is not happy with the situation?

Not trying to dump on Little as he is an excellent player, just thinking about cap space.

 

[Maukkis]

yup your 100% correct. Guess this comes into effect when his contract changes to a Modified NTC ? CLAUSE DETAILS: Player submits a 14 team no trade list.

Does he have the option to Waive his NMC if we resign Stast and he becomes a 3/4 C and is not happy with the situation?

Not trying to dump on Little as he is an excellent player, just thinking about cap space.

Because that's the way you want to roll; just bury a guy until he's unhappy. Moreover, the NMC of his upcoming contract has already come into effect. It was modified so that the first year of the three-year clause was moved to the final year of his current contract.

 

[Jetfaninflorida]

Chevy is notorious for sticking with the bad contracts that he signs. Look at Pav and Stu. Little is with us for a while which means there is no room to re-sign Stastny. Plus, he and his family seem rooted in St Louis. Probably why he became available from the Blues all of a sudden - they knew that he would want to come back so they saw it as a low risk move getting a couple of decent assets from the Jets for Stastny as a rental in a year that they knew they didn't have the juice to make a run. Also improves the Blues long term against a division rival. I don't see Stastny staying. And we are stuck with the Little contract. He wasn't as bad as some people were saying here, but he wasn't as good as he has been. Let's hope for a bounce back year in 18-19.

 

[Maukkis]

Matches what I saw. They where atrocious defensively but finished on a crazy high percentage of their chances.

True. Moreover, even the Laine-Wheeler-Roslovic trio had crazy puck luck, although their shot metrics were way better.

Perreault-Little-Ehlers, on the other hand, had otherworldly metrics with reasonable puck luck (~102 PDO), combined with way tougher usage. I don't get why we moved on from that line so quickly.

 

[Hobble]

Ask Little to waive his NMC to be exposed to Seattle, but then let Seattle take him? Maybe he could use a fresh start.

 

[JetsFan815]

But how would we expose Little to Seattle because he has an NMC?

Little's NMC is only for the first 2 years of his contract which would be for the upcoming season and the one after than. The earliest Seattle can play is the 20-21 season at which point would his NMC would have expired.

 

[JetsFan815]

As for the topic of Little, as much as it hurts me to say and gives me an icky feeling even verbalizing it but the only contract on the Jets that really scares me long term is the Little contract. That said he has been a great soldier for the Jets and I am not going to crap on the guy like some others on this board love to. I hope he atleast maintains his current level of play for a few years. I have a feeling Chevy probably doesn't sign him to that deal if he was making the deal this offseason instead of last.

The one positive I saw was that atleast to my eyetest, he looked much better in the playoffs than parts of the regular season.

 

[Gm0ney]

Little just doesn't fit with Laine and Ehlers...and Maurice evidently didn't think he had any better options than to put him between those two until Stastny arrived.

Perreault and Little together on a 3rd line with Roslovic or Armia or Dano or Vesalainen would probably be pretty great. But then who goes at 2C? Roslo maybe? Petan? Stastny? There's no good answer. I don't think the Jets can afford Stastny without moving a lot of salary out or bridging Morrissey. I don't even know if the Jets see Roslovic as a C.

I'm not sure what the Jets think of Petan...but he's a smart playmaker and good passer that might fit with Ehlers and Laine better than Little. You might think "who's digging the puck out of the corner with that unit?" but let Ehlers handle the zone entries and they'll be entering with possession instead of dumping and chasing.

 

[jetsforever]

Voted for the first option but I'd rather bring Stastny back as well

 

[kelsier]

This contract is really worrisome. He is getting second line $ and yet plays on a level of 3rd or 4th line center. Stastny can do all that Little can, but only much better (I guess defensively there's not much of a difference). Of course I opted to trade him, but what team would be desperate enough to retain him with that cap hit? I don't even think Seattle would take him, especially when there's a pool of players to select from. In any scenario I see the Jets trading him, that involves losing an asset or future asset. His situation is really strange. Can't remember any recent examples of a player going into as deep decline as Little has at the age of 29 (he is 30 years old today). Maybe he's not putting in the effort during the off-seasons? Don't know. As long as we never ever have to witness a line of ELL again.

 

[PhilJets]

Connor Schiefele Wheeler
Perrault Little Roslovic
Ehlers Petan Laine (8th best forward)
Copp Lowry Armia
Tanev

If Stastny stays and take 1 more crack at the cup
With Perrault missing his usually 20-30 games and the rest of the forward missing here and there.
That is a nice 14 forward rotations.
With Stastny and Little as middle C

Ehlers schiefe Laine
Connor Stastny Roslovic
Perrault Little Wheeler <iknodatainthpning
Copp Lowry armia
Petan Tanev

 

[DRW204]

This contract is really worrisome. He is getting second line $ and yet plays on a level of 3rd or 4th line center. Stastny can do all that Little can, but only much better (I guess defensively there's not much of a difference). Of course I opted to trade him, but what team would be desperate enough to retain him with that cap hit? I don't even think Seattle would take him, especially when there's a pool of players to select from. In any scenario I see the Jets trading him, that involves losing an asset or future asset. His situation is really strange. Can't remember any recent examples of a player going into as deep decline as Little has at the age of 29 (he is 30 years old today). Maybe he's not putting in the effort during the off-seasons? Don't know. As long as we never ever have to witness a line of ELL again.

I think you're being a tad dramatic. There was going to be some reduction in his role and production with Scheifele's ascension and removing Wheeler from his wing which fit his style of play better. ELL had no chemistry, neither of them were producing at paces they were expecting to. Then the last 20 games he got pushed to 3rd scoring line C.

He played at a 60ish pt pace the last 3 seasons prior to this one. I have a tough time grasping the fact his production would be cut by 20ish pts after one off season, especially when it was likely his first one injury free.

Id like to see him and Wheeler again on a line

id like to see
Connor-Scheifele-Laine
Perreault/Ehlers-Little-Wheeler
Perreault/Ehlers-Rosie-Armia (hopefully Vesalainen can make a step)
CLT

 

[Ducky10]

Personally I think the predictions of Little's great demise is a bit premature. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him bounce back statistically next season. I don't hate his deal, it's just too long.

Having Stastny short term would be great but going longer term with him isn't all that much different than Little at the end of the day.

 

[Deedog99]

This contract is really worrisome. He is getting second line $ and yet plays on a level of 3rd or 4th line center. Stastny can do all that Little can, but only much better (I guess defensively there's not much of a difference). Of course I opted to trade him, but what team would be desperate enough to retain him with that cap hit? I don't even think Seattle would take him, especially when there's a pool of players to select from. In any scenario I see the Jets trading him, that involves losing an asset or future asset. His situation is really strange. Can't remember any recent examples of a player going into as deep decline as Little has at the age of 29 (he is 30 years old today). Maybe he's not putting in the effort during the off-seasons? Don't know. As long as we never ever have to witness a line of ELL again.

Maybe Little should spend the summer with Wheeler or Scheifele and learn how to train like these guys. Otherwise this becomes another bad former Thrasher contract.

 

[Jetsfan87]

I think you're being a tad dramatic. There was going to be some reduction in his role and production with Scheifele's ascension and removing Wheeler from his wing which fit his style of play better. ELL had no chemistry, neither of them were producing at paces they were expecting to. Then the last 20 games he got pushed to 3rd scoring line C.

He played at a 60ish pt pace the last 3 seasons prior to this one. I have a tough time grasping the fact his production would be cut by 20ish pts after one off season, especially when it was likely his first one injury free.

Id like to see him and Wheeler again on a line

id like to see
Connor-Scheifele-Laine
Perreault/Ehlers-Little-Wheeler
Perreault/Ehlers-Rosie-Armia (hopefully Vesalainen can make a step)
CLT

I mentioned this in another thread, Wheeler and Little have played well together in the past. Wheelers #s would take a hit but I think this balances the lineup better.