Player Discussion: Early 2021 Breakout Players

[Mortimer Snerd]

To counter that, I'd say...

Without Ehlers, the top 6 will get out chanced and out scored - regardless of Scheifele and KC being there.

With Ehlers, we can be confident that his line will out-chance and outscore the opponent.

I love Scheifele and I think he's extremely valuable, but the Jets desperately need line drivers. Ehlers, Copp, Dubois, Lowry are those guys for Winnipeg.

Scheifele will score a ton if we can get him into the offensive zone, but his lines have been buried away from Ehlers. Maybe all of the blame belongs with Connor and Wheeler, but my eye test puts some of it on Scheifele.

Some on Scheifele, yes. But a lot on Connor and Wheeler.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

This season: Pionk
Overall: DeMelo

And it really needs to be neither of those guys.

 

[garret9]

And it really needs to be neither of those guys.

I think both of these guys can be 2/3 of a good teams #2,#3,#4, although optimally you'd want them the latter.
Jets don't have a number 1 though.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

I think both of these guys can be 2/3 of a good teams #2,#3,#4, although optimally you'd want them the latter.
Jets don't have a number 1 though.

I don't think either of those 2 should be on the first pair of a good team. And the best of what we have now needs to be Morrissey. He is not meeting expectations recently. We have needed a 1RD to pair with him. Do we also need a 1LD?

 

[jetsforever]

Throwing this out there for a change of pace from the swirl of negativity that's happening in other threads.

The Jets have issues, but we've also seen some awesome play, and some of it has come from unexpected places.

Who's play have you been especially pleased with so far this year?

I'll start.

Nik Ehlers - He was already the Jets best player IMO, and he's out there proving it right now. He is a dominant force at 5 on 5 and he continues to make everyone he plays with better. Apart from his offensive play, he's taking the puck away from the opponent a ton. He just applies so much pressure to the opponent, that he has to be frustrating to play against. I have no doubt in my mind that he'd finish the season among the NHL's top 5-10 scorers if he was given real minutes on the 1st PP.

Andrew Copp - Another player that isn't really breaking out, but he's doing all the right things with his new found ice time. I've found myself looking at some of his NZ work and going "Holy shit! Copp made that pass!?" He's a safe player, but he's been given the opportunity to make plays and he's capitalizing. He looks REALLY good in this new scoring role, and he's second on the team in shots - despite a lack of 1st unit PP time.

Mason Appleton - This kid has always been a Copp-lite to me, and he's clearly earned the coaches trust. He's playing in the Tanev slot and doing a far better job. He is a smart defensive player and I think he's got some untapped offensive upside. Like Copp, I think you can play him anywhere and he'll improve the team's puck control game.

Logan Stanley - He isn't bringing near as much at the others that I mentioned, but I'm VERY encouraged by what I've seen from him in his 3rd pairing role. His skating is so much better than it was last year. His pivots are much smoother and he isn't getting beat to the outside the same way. The way he moves, he looks like a different player out there. I wouldn't rush him up the line-up, but there no case for removing him at this point. Very encouraging stuff.

Derek Forbort - He looks like his pre-injury self. He won't wow anyone, but he's been super steady and he is a great compliment to the more erratic Pionk. That pair leads the Jets in 5 on 5 ice time per game, and may have become the de facto 1st pair. That's not an ideal situation for him, but he's doing everything that asked of him and more. 5 points in 10 games is a nice plus too.

Yep, you pretty much nailed them all

Ehlers so great as usual, still criminally underused and underrated but he's a gamer for sure - really hope Maurice doesn't force him out Laine-style

Copp/Lowry both having monster offensive seasons so far - I'm sure they'll regress back down but Lowry is a total force defensively and Copp once again has shown he can be a great complementary player up the lineup

Forbort has been surprisingly good defensively, and even has chipped in some offence. Good depth D signing (for once)

HM #1 to KC - I usually take out my Ehlers-usage-anger on Connor but he's really good as well, especially with the puck on his stick in the O-zone, and he's still racking up the points

HM #2 to Lewis, who wasn't even meant to be on the team and has been a good 4th liner and PKer

 

[jetsforever]

This season: Pionk
Overall: DeMelo

DeMelo over Morrissey overall?

 

[bob77]

Yep, you pretty much nailed them all

Ehlers so great as usual, still criminally underused and underrated but he's a gamer for sure - really hope Maurice doesn't force him out Laine-style

Copp/Lowry both having monster offensive seasons so far - I'm sure they'll regress back down but Lowry is a total force defensively and Copp once again has shown he can be a great complementary player up the lineup

Forbort has been surprisingly good defensively, and even has chipped in some offence. Good depth D signing (for once)

HM #1 to KC - I usually take out my Ehlers-usage-anger on Connor but he's really good as well, especially with the puck on his stick in the O-zone, and he's still racking up the points

HM #2 to Lewis, who wasn't even meant to be on the team and has been a good 4th liner and PKer

Forbort has always been good defensively. No surprise. The knock on him in LA was contributing offensively. Some people think he played with Doughty for shelter. I hardly consider facing the league’s top players night in and not out shelter, both 5v5 and PK. Then Willie came in to coach and the Kings had no structure. Then Forbort never really played for Todd because of his back and were moving rebuild anyway. Kings fans so desperately wanted scoring that the language became all the D need to score also. Good luck with expecting nothing out of the top 6 anymore but the top 4 D are supposed to score. Now Forbort comfortable on a team that doesn’t think this way, and ironically he’s the only D to score a goal in 11 games at 7-3-1.

 

[garret9]

DeMelo over Morrissey overall?

For 3 years now, albeit half of that was on a different team, DeMelo has had superior results than Morrissey. For the later half the two were used almost identically except on special teams.

 

[jetsforever]

For 3 years now, albeit half of that was on a different team, DeMelo has had superior results than Morrissey. For the later half the two were used almost identically except on special teams.

Would you say JMo at least has an offensive edge or is that just due to usage?

 

[Adam da bomb]

Would you say JMo at least has an offensive edge or is that just due to usage?

I’m guessing Morissey has an offensive edge demelo a defensive edge.