Post-Game Talk: Jets hold on, win 2:1

[Jets4Life]

The "key" to winning in the NHL is great goaltending, and we're getting it right now with Helle playing at around a .937 Save percentage, and if it wasn't for that, our record would not be the same-probably ( 2-3) --same as last year. Be a mistake to start Mason, when Helle is on fire- "ride him out."
Other Things :

1) as I've said before- Ehlers is the key to the Jets offence, along with Schief. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Nik finish in the top 10 in scoring this year. The guy has blazing speed, and a great accurate shot. This guy is fabulous !!! In my opinion, he's the Jets best player, and brings a great attitude.
2) Penalties- the Jets took to many again, and it's the veteran players who are taking them, and Maurice "has to" do something about it.
3) Jet's need to adjust their thinking and go with 3 "top lines" and include Kyle Connor, who I think is just about as talented as Ehlers. Don't forget Connor broke Jack Eichel's records in University, and Eichel just signed for $ 10 Mil - Jet's are making a mistake by not playing him with the big club right now. Hopefully with Perrault down-"they call him up" and he stays. Our defence is good enough to cover for Connor's lack of defensive play, and he will learn that part of the game.
4) PK - you need hustlers for this part of the game and Tanev covers a lot of ice fast with his hustle- "he should be on the PK" with Lowry and Armia. Lowry should only play in a 4-th line capacity, and nothing more.
Note - I hope the Jets do all of the above, and we'll push deep into the playoffs, as we have the talent in spades.
I see a lot of political push here to bring Connor up -"I think that's great"

Excellent post.

Everything you have said is bang on. Especially point #3

 

[Jets4Life]

Although I was not at all sold on Helle last year, I totally agree with you. Why would you start Mason when Helle is playing "lights out " It could be that when Mason signed with the Jets, he was guaranteed so many games as a starter ?? This could be the reason for it. I heard he was guaranteed 50 games, but it could be just a rumor ?
I'm glad to see Helle making me eat my words- I hope he can keep it up, as this is exactly what the Jets need-"great goaltending."

I've never heard of that. I'm not sure if it is even allowed, as it's unfair to other Jets goalies.

 

[Jets4Life]

I believe he said earlier today that Mason would start against the Jackets

That's unlike Maurice. It's usually a game day decision. I cannot bring myself to accept that they would play Mason other than back-to-back games right now, with Hellebuyck performing so well.

 

[Jets4Life]

[mod] Maurice is not being fired.

I think some people here actually want us to lose and are disppointed that we won the game.

Just by viewing my twitter feed, you would be shocked at how many people actually want the Jets to lose, in hopes of Maurice getting the pink slip.

 

[libertarian]

Just by viewing my twitter feed, you would be shocked at how many people actually want the Jets to lose, in hopes of Maurice getting the pink slip.

I don't do twitter but that is just sad that some would rather see the Jets lose so Maurice can be fired. It make you wonder what they will do if the Jets win 50 games.

 

[GNP]

I've never heard of that. I'm not sure if it is even allowed, as it's unfair to other Jets goalies.

You could be right, but I read it on here, that Mason came here to avoid getting benched in Philly after a bad game. The post on here said Mason wanted a "guarantee" to get at least 50 games to come to Winnipeg.

I hope that it's wrong Jets4 Life, as it could really harm the Jets. You have to be crazy to not go with Helle right now-he's playing lights out. I hope your right, in that a goalie cannot demand so many games ? Even if you are, Chevy may have agreed to it verbally and not in writing.

You are 100 % right tho, that if it is allowed- it's totally unfair to other goalies.

 

[Holden Caulfield]

I've never heard of that. I'm not sure if it is even allowed, as it's unfair to other Jets goalies.

A guarantee to start can't be written into a contract. If any such deal was made, it would be verbal non-binding promise type of thing.

It could have major repercussions with the credibility of the Jets management if it got out among the players that they broke their promise, so I can't see Chevy being dumb enough to make a promise like that. He might have said something like "we envision you coming in to start 50-60 games and getting us to playoffs", but it's highly unlikely he said "I promise you will play 50 games no matter what".

 

[Whileee]

I've expressed my skepticism about Maurice, but still think it's too early to decide if he'll be able to coach this team to success. Yes, he's had a mediocre record, but he's also had a string of bad teams with bad goalies to coach. My main concern is whether he'll know how to coach a very young, skilled team in a winning style. It's not like he can't coach a team to high shot metrics - the Jets were top 10 in 2014/15 under his coaching. They played a hard driving straight line style with lots of pucks toward the net.

This is a different group of players, that are much more creative and favour holding on to the puck looking for a better scoring chance. I found the contrast in styles with the Canes interesting. The Canes tended to put a lot of shots toward the net, even if they were low danger. Even on the PP as soon as the Canes had any lane, they put pucks toward the net. This is reflected in scoring chances, which were charted as equal by hockeystats.com. In contrast, the Jets tend to try to hold the puck and move it around, looking for good scoring chances, with few of their forwards crashing the net, especially in their top six.

My guess is that Maurice is deliberately drilling a puck possession game, and defensively focusing on positional play without the puck, with "safe" plays to try to clear the zone. Their defensive play has looked much more organized after the first couple of games, though their work with the puck has been poor.

Generally, I wasn't as bummed about the game last night because their D tended to give Hellebuyck a chance to deal with the shots, and they tended to be in good position to limit second chances.

Now, I think they need to be better at moving the puck crisply out of the zone. That's not a strength of players like Myers and Trouba, and even Buff, who all like to skate the puck out. Morrissey is much better. Poolman is also good at this.

 

[ATLbound]

Poolman possibly back in. Unfortunatly if Perreault can't go but Hendricks can we may have pretty awful forward lineup dressed. I think you either call up Connor and replace him and Perreault. Or you call up Connor (should happen no matter what) and put him with Little and Wheeler, and make ESL. Now is the time to see if it was the truth that when a talented top 6 guy gets hurt they will call up a guy that can come replace him directly

 

[GNP]

A guarantee to start can't be written into a contract. If any such deal was made, it would be verbal non-binding promise type of thing.

It could have major repercussions with the credibility of the Jets management if it got out among the players that they broke their promise, so I can't see Chevy being dumb enough to make a promise like that. He might have said something like "we envision you coming in to start 50-60 games and getting us to playoffs", but it's highly unlikely he said "I promise you will play 50 games no matter what".

Your probably 100 % right Holden - at least I hope so. It makes total sense what you say, and I can envision that's the way it went down. I hope so, and hope Chevy is not bound to that type of an agreement, especially considering the guy is paid $ 4 mil yr.

 

[GNP]

I've expressed my skepticism about Maurice, but still think it's too early to decide if he'll be able to coach this team to success. Yes, he's had a mediocre record, but he's also had a string of bad teams with bad goalies to coach. My main concern is whether he'll know how to coach a very young, skilled team in a winning style. It's not like he can't coach a team to high shot metrics - the Jets were top 10 in 2014/15 under his coaching. They played a hard driving straight line style with lots of pucks toward the net.

This is a different group of players, that are much more creative and favour holding on to the puck looking for a better scoring chance. I found the contrast in styles with the Canes interesting. The Canes tended to put a lot of shots toward the net, even if they were low danger. Even on the PP as soon as the Canes had any lane, they put pucks toward the net. This is reflected in scoring chances, which were charted as equal by hockeystats.com. In contrast, the Jets tend to try to hold the puck and move it around, looking for good scoring chances, with few of their forwards crashing the net, especially in their top six.

My guess is that Maurice is deliberately drilling a puck possession game, and defensively focusing on positional play without the puck, with "safe" plays to try to clear the zone. Their defensive play has looked much more organized after the first couple of games, though their work with the puck has been poor.

Generally, I wasn't as bummed about the game last night because their D tended to give Hellebuyck a chance to deal with the shots, and they tended to be in good position to limit second chances.

Now, I think they need to be better at moving the puck crisply out of the zone. That's not a strength of players like Myers and Trouba, and even Buff, who all like to skate the puck out. Morrissey is much better. Poolman is also good at this.

Very interesting and great post here Whileee, and I agree with the majority of it. I'm unsure on Maurice ? and would like to see him succeed, coz I like him generally. Sometimes I do question some of his personnel he chooses for his lineups. After this year, we'll have a good idea if Maurice is the future coach of the Jets, as the talent is there, and it "was not" before with most of his teams.

Interesting on the "puck possession"- and if that's the case, I totally agree with it, and hanging on til you get a real good opportunity. The Jets have skilled guys that can deploy this kind of strategy. This reminds me of the old great 1970's Russian teams, who would only skate in the puck, and never shoot it in. The Canadians would always have 2 times as many shots on net, but usually lost to the Russians. If you have guys skilled enough ( Ehlers etc) I like the thinking.

I'd like to see people cut Maurice a bit of slack, and watch and see what happens here this year.

 

[Calendal]

I heard he was guaranteed 50 games, but it could be just a rumor ?

Is is just a rumor. Might turn out to be true but for now it’s barely even a rumor

 

[Eyeseeing]

The good guys won.
The Canes played very well and left here frustrated no doubt.
Enjoy this and let’s see how we handle our next opportunity.
Onwards.

 

[TorJet]

Why give up on a goalie after two starts (the first 2 games of the season at that., which are 2 of the least correlative to actual team success)?

The team played TERRIBLY in front of him in those two games and have played better in front of Helle the last three.

We need to have two goalies with confidence, especially at this point in the season - this is one of the major things that Jets 2.0 has lacked. Let’s get two guys rolling - nonetheless very happy with Helle’s start.

 

[Jets 31]

Mason isn't a young rookie that might loose confidence from not starting , as a former goalie if i was red hot and winning all my games and the coach told me you are playing awesome but we are going to start the other guy so he stays fresh , I'd be pissed . Thought Buff was pretty good last night , Trouba , Wheeler and Laine need to get going . Glad we are winning though .

 

[jetdiehard]

It will be interesting on the injuries from last night games.

 

[Jets4Life]

A guarantee to start can't be written into a contract. If any such deal was made, it would be verbal non-binding promise type of thing.

It could have major repercussions with the credibility of the Jets management if it got out among the players that they broke their promise, so I can't see Chevy being dumb enough to make a promise like that. He might have said something like "we envision you coming in to start 50-60 games and getting us to playoffs", but it's highly unlikely he said "I promise you will play 50 games no matter what".

I really doubt it. You cannot guarantee a sub 0.900% goalie that many games. I would imagine if the Jets did promise Mason that, Hellebuyck and others could go to the NHLPA and file a grievance, or demand to be traded out of Winnipeg. The only thing the Jets are obliged to do is pay Mason his salary.

 

[MrBoJangelz71]

This game was almost as frustrating as the Leafs game. The Jets play was simply awful. This is what happens when you see the Jets go against a team that has talent and is well coached. Make no mistake about it, the Jets were absolutely dominated. See the pattern:

Leafs: Talented Team/Well Coached = Jets got dominated
Flames: Talendted Team/Well Coached = Jets got dominated
Oilers: Talented Team/Well Coached? = Jets were slightly better
Canucks: Terrible Team/Well Coached = Slight edge to the canucks, even game at best, Jets win on goaltending and shooting talent
Hurricanes: Talented Team/Well Coached = Jets got dominated and were lucky to win

It was a game that they 'Leafed'. This is team is going nowhere with play liks this. Another game where the Jets literally hung on for dear life and only won because the talent and the goaltending bailed them out.

The fact that when Perreault went down, it was Tanev who was promoted to the 2nd line says all you need to know about the coaching.

The worst case scenario is playing out in front of our eyes. The team appears to be poorly coached, the coaching staff makes baffling lineup decisions yet the talent on the roster is too good for the team get the losses they deserve based on their play. And it just gives positive re-inforcement to the coaching staff and the management to continue with what they are doing and thus guaranteeing that this roster will not play to its potential.

Myers was horrendous. I was going to post a hot take about the Kane trade but I will hold back on it.

The Jets may have won this game in the NHL books but in my eyes this goes down as a moral defeat and if it continues this is not a
this game

There were some positives like the top line doing what they could, the play of Morrissey/Trouba and Buff.

Honestly cannot find a sentence in this long post that I agree with.

Hurricanes outplayed us, they did not dominate us.

We won because of our goaltending and talent? Wait we do agree, yes we did and it's the same recipe most winning teams follow.

This team is going nowhere playing like this? Play like this, winning games when the legs aren't there, when you are off coming home off a west road trip and your clocks are off, yet you forge out a win, when in years past we loose these games, is the exact type of play that will put us in playoffs.

It's an 82 game season, you're not going to have it every game. Being able to win tough games like last night is what put teams in the playoffs. Managing ties, getting loser points, we didn't do that well in years past. Last night shows this team how to win ugly, that's important for a very skilled team that likes winning pretty.

 

[Jets4Life]

Why give up on a goalie after two starts (the first 2 games of the season at that., which are 2 of the least correlative to actual team success)?

The team played TERRIBLY in front of him in those two games and have played better in front of Helle the last three.

We need to have two goalies with confidence, especially at this point in the season - this is one of the major things that Jets 2.0 has lacked. Let’s get two guys rolling - nonetheless very happy with Helle’s start.

That's not true at all. A member posted stats, and only in the Edmonton game did the Jets play better than the opponent. They were outplayed 4 out of the 5 games, and managed to win 3 of them thanks to Helle. Besides, we have already been down the "it's the team/defense/etc fault with Pavelec" excuses for years.

 

[MrBoJangelz71]

Wheelers interview last night, stated it was important for this young team to be comfortable winning ugly in front of their fans, on home ice. That controlling the urge to force play to get the fans going and digging yourself a deeper hole to climb out, is important for the team to learn.

 

[Gurilla]

After hearing all the "ride the hot hand" narrative regarding goalies prior to the season I'd be shocked if Helle doesn't start again next game.

 

[MrBoJangelz71]

I think we all need to be comfortable having our goaltender steal us games.

It's new to us, so try to understand, the goalie is part of our team, and like every player on our team, plays a role in our success.

We would never state: "The only reason we won last night was because of Ehlers or Laine's scoring hatties"?

I hope they steal us some more.

 

[Zhamnov5GoalGame]

Couldn't do this until April last year !!

It was in February against Chi-StL-Dal but ok.
You're thinking of 2015-16 where it took the 4 game win streak at the very end of the season to do it.

 

[Dayofthedogs]

I've expressed my skepticism about Maurice, but still think it's too early to decide if he'll be able to coach this team to success. Yes, he's had a mediocre record, but he's also had a string of bad teams with bad goalies to coach. My main concern is whether he'll know how to coach a very young, skilled team in a winning style. It's not like he can't coach a team to high shot metrics - the Jets were top 10 in 2014/15 under his coaching. They played a hard driving straight line style with lots of pucks toward the net.

This is a different group of players, that are much more creative and favour holding on to the puck looking for a better scoring chance. I found the contrast in styles with the Canes interesting. The Canes tended to put a lot of shots toward the net, even if they were low danger. Even on the PP as soon as the Canes had any lane, they put pucks toward the net. This is reflected in scoring chances, which were charted as equal by hockeystats.com. In contrast, the Jets tend to try to hold the puck and move it around, looking for good scoring chances, with few of their forwards crashing the net, especially in their top six.

My guess is that Maurice is deliberately drilling a puck possession game, and defensively focusing on positional play without the puck, with "safe" plays to try to clear the zone. Their defensive play has looked much more organized after the first couple of games, though their work with the puck has been poor.

Generally, I wasn't as bummed about the game last night because their D tended to give Hellebuyck a chance to deal with the shots, and they tended to be in good position to limit second chances.

Now, I think they need to be better at moving the puck crisply out of the zone. That's not a strength of players like Myers and Trouba, and even Buff, who all like to skate the puck out. Morrissey is much better. Poolman is also good at this.

This was an excellent post.

I've been very interested in offensive zone time and quality of chances associated with it.

It was last year in the playoffs where I first heard of this phenomenon from a TSN stats guy I believe. It had something to do with The pen's getting out corsi'd game in and game out but they were having a fair amount of O zone time and creating excellent scoring chances.

It's got me interested in what correlation there is between zone time and scoring chances but I haven't heard much else about it.

As for some of the other topics here. I think Mason should get the next start. Although the jets lost the Corsi battle they really limited odd man rushes and high danger chances. Mason deserves a start behind an improved defensive group. The schedule is weird to start the season both guys need to get into games.

Tanev despite posting not good enough to be in the NHL stats last year has followed that up with an excellent Camp and pre season. He's continued that into some really decent games so far this year. Not sure what the consternation is regarding him at the moment. I don't expect it to last all season but I have no problem with his usage as long as he has been more effective than the guys he's beating out for ice time.

 

[ps241]

I like your last post Whileee. Historically PMo has been a decent possession coach but not good at special teams and has not had good goaltending. Our possession challenges may have more to do with the personal in this iteration of the Jets.

What is so crazy is that I was going to use the Russian Red Red army example of puck control domination with low shot totals too.

My lingering concern is will Paul be able to adapt his game plan to maximize talent. I keep thinking about how Johnston tried to force the Pens to play a style that didn't suit their team.

Time will tell I guess?