News Article: Stempniak Wanted to Return, Jets Chose Youth Movement

[Mortimer Snerd]

Perhaps the scariest thing about all this 4th line talk...

Regardless of who plays there, will they get any PK contribution?

Tony and Thor don't PK.
Armia, Copp, Petan and Ehlers Likely won't be asked to PK as rooks.
That leaves Cormier as the only PK player? Maybe?

It would be nice to remove some of that load from the likes of Ladd and Little.


Having a bad 4th line is one thing, but having a bad 4th line that offers zero PK contribution is worse.

I don't expect him on the 4th but Burmi should Pk a lot. Lowry might also.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

...or it could be Lowry on the 4th.

Regardless, I'd still rather see Stempniak (or any other legit NHLer) than Thor or Hali. I still don't see how it is Stemp vs youth.

It isn't Stemp vs youth if Hali and Thor are the 4th wingers. I'mpretty sure Hali is going to be with the Moose. It is no youth movement if we have only 2 rookies.

 

[Bob E]

Going with youth will help longer term, but there will be some growing pains along the way.

4th line still looks questionable at best right now.

 

[puck stoppa]

...or it could be Lowry on the 4th.

Regardless, I'd still rather see Stempniak (or any other legit NHLer) than Thor or Hali. I still don't see how it is Stemp vs youth.

Ive been saying for a year now that this team will finally take that next step when a guy like Lowry is your 4th line centre. That's not a knock on Lowry as I like him a lot but that will finally show our top prospects will surpass him in the top 9 and our bottom 6 can take on big minutes. Something like this to start the year perhaps:

LLW
Per Scheif Ehlers
Petan Burmi Staff
Thor/Armia Copp Lowry

Get rid of Peluso and Hali to the Moose and let Fraser be #13. Let Maurice decide who plays centre on that fourth line but I think Copp and Lowry would be a good combo there and this way our three rookies are seperated in the lineup.

 

[KingBogo]

Ive been saying for a year now that this team will finally take that next step when a guy like Lowry is your 4th line centre. That's not a knock on Lowry as I like him a lot but that will finally show our top prospects will surpass him in the top 9 and our bottom 6 can take on big minutes. Something like this to start the year perhaps:

LLW
Per Scheif Ehlers
Petan Burmi Staff
Thor/Armia Copp Lowry

Get rid of Peluso and Hali to the Moose and let Fraser be #13. Let Maurice decide who plays centre on that fourth line but I think Copp and Lowry would be a good combo there and this way our three rookies are seperated in the lineup.

I just don't see Lowry moving down from the 3rd line, especially to 4th line wing. Probably no player got singled out for his play more than Lowry was by Maurice for his play. I remember an interview with Maurice last season where he said something along the lines...that one day soon when they other team puts out its best, Adam will be the first one over the boards to match up against them. IMO Maurice sees Lowry as a prototypical big bodied center that excels in a down low support role. IMO Lowry will continued to be groomed in that position.

Agree about keeping LLW together and like the idea of Ehlers and Petan in middle 6 wing positions, though I think Petan starts the season with the Moose. I think if we don't see Burmi on the 3rd line wing he will be our 4th line center with Copp being the odd man out. Also can see Armia making the team.

 

[BigZ65]

I hope they bring Stempniak in on a tryout and end up signing him for $1 million or less. I don't quite understand what's so revolting about having some depth and options from Maurice and Cheveldayoff's perspective. There will be injuries and inconsistency. What's so terrible about having a guy around who can literally play wing on any line? Even if they had to waive Stempniak or trade him for essentially nothing at some point if there are better options for that roster spot, what's the downside? Better to deal with that situation than have Halischuk play 60 games for the big club.

 

[puck stoppa]

I just don't see Lowry moving down from the 3rd line, especially to 4th line wing. Probably no player got singled out for his play more than Lowry was by Maurice for his play. I remember an interview with Maurice last season where he said something along the lines...that one day soon when they other team puts out its best, Adam will be the first one over the boards to match up against them. IMO Maurice sees Lowry as a prototypical big bodied center that excels in a down low support role. IMO Lowry will continued to be groomed in that position.

Agree about keeping LLW together and like the idea of Ehlers and Petan in middle 6 wing positions, though I think Petan starts the season with the Moose. I think if we don't see Burmi on the 3rd line wing he will be our 4th line center with Copp being the odd man out. Also can see Armia making the team.

LLW
PSS
Armia Petan Ehlers
Burmi Lowry Copp (shut down 4th line)

I kinda kid here, but is it that unrealistic that Petan and Ehlers could be better than Lowry Burmi? No one wants skill on the 4th line so lets call them the 3rd line and let Burmi and Lowry play on the 4th.

 

[KingBogo]

I hope they bring Stempniak in on a tryout and end up signing him for $1 million or less. I don't quite understand what's so revolting about having some depth and options from Maurice and Cheveldayoff's perspective. There will be injuries and inconsistency. What's so terrible about having a guy around who can literally play wing on any line? Even if they had to waive Stempniak or trade him for essentially nothing at some point if there are better options for that roster spot, what's the downside? Better to deal with that situation than have Halischuk play 60 games for the big club.

From a Jets perspective this sounds like a great idea. There is little doubt if he was willing to sign a Halischuck type 2-way close to NHL minimum contract he would have been signed long ago. My guess is Stemp is looking for a bit more, maybe even considerably more. There are a handful of similar type players out there and most will be signed by camp. IMO you either sign Stemp to be one of your bottom 6 roster players or you pencil in one of your prospects. At this point I don't think Stemp is willing to be a NHL/AHL tweener unless he is left with no other options as the various camps break. Maybe a month from now things change.

 

[Channelcat]

Ive been saying for a year now that this team will finally take that next step when a guy like Lowry is your 4th line centre. That's not a knock on Lowry as I like him a lot but that will finally show our top prospects will surpass him in the top 9 and our bottom 6 can take on big minutes. Something like this to start the year perhaps:

LLW
Per Scheif Ehlers
Petan Burmi Staff
Thor/Armia Copp Lowry

Get rid of Peluso and Hali to the Moose and let Fraser be #13. Let Maurice decide who plays centre on that fourth line but I think Copp and Lowry would be a good combo there and this way our three rookies are seperated in the lineup.

Hard to disagree. We all want Lowry to be more than a fourth line center, but yet he seems to fit that role. We've got skill centers like Petan, Burmi, Connor who will need to be top 9 forwards. So Lowry becomes one of the top 4th line centers in the league? Nice problem.

 

[puck stoppa]

From a Jets perspective this sounds like a great idea. There is little doubt if he was willing to sign a Halischuck type 2-way close to NHL minimum contract he would have been signed long ago. My guess is Stemp is looking for a bit more, maybe even considerably more. There are a handful of similar type players out there and most will be signed by camp. IMO you either sign Stemp to be one of your bottom 6 roster players or you pencil in one of your prospects. At this point I don't think Stemp is willing to be a NHL/AHL tweener unless he is left with no other options as the various camps break. Maybe a month from now things change.

I think we can all agree on this, have Stemp on your 4th line with Copp and Armia, Thor #13, Peluso and Hali in the minors. Two problems with this, Mau will have Thor in the starting lineup on the 4th line, and IMO and I think this is why Stemp is not here: when Stemp said the Jets want to go with youth, I think he meant youth on the 3rd line, Ehlers and Burmi, and he doesn't want to be on the 4th line and that is probably why they parted ways, I think Chevy would want him on the 4th line and he declined. So this is why I don't get fired up over the Stemp over Thor business because IMO that's how I think the "Jets want to go with youth" chat went down. He doesn't want to be here to play on the 4th line for 5 min, but Chevy and Mau would love to have him but he's 4th line on their depth chart. (Who knows, maybe they were honest with him)

 

[KingBogo]

LLW
PSS
Armia Petan Ehlers
Burmi Lowry Copp (shut down 4th line)

I kinda kid here, but is it that unrealistic that Petan and Ehlers could be better than Lowry Burmi? No one wants skill on the 4th line so lets call them the 3rd line and let Burmi and Lowry play on the 4th.

It will be interesting to see how things play out, but I do see a real possibility of 3A and 3B lines. One a little more offense with a couple of the offensively skilled prospects and more of a defensive specialist line that can still produce offense.

I just don't see why a lot of people think we will have some sort of black hole plug 4th line with the amount of gifted young talent we have ready to or close to ready to make the jump to the NHL.

The Jets have introduced 5 rookies over the last 2 years. I expect another 1/2 dozen or more over the next 2-3 years. When you have the top prospect pool in hockey, most of which are already turning pro you need to start moving them into the lineup.

 

[Bob E]

I think we can all agree on this, have Stemp on your 4th line with Copp and Armia, Thor #13, Peluso and Hali in the minors. Two problems with this, Mau will have Thor in the starting lineup on the 4th line, and IMO and I think this is why Stemp is not here: when Stemp said the Jets want to go with youth, I think he meant youth on the 3rd line, Ehlers and Burmi, and he doesn't want to be on the 4th line and that is probably why they parted ways, I think Chevy would want him on the 4th line and he declined. So this is why I don't get fired up over the Stemp over Thor business because IMO that's how I think the "Jets want to go with youth" chat went down. He doesn't want to be here to play on the 4th line for 5 min, but Chevy and Mau would love to have him but he's 4th line on their depth chart. (Who knows, maybe they were honest with him)

Or they think a guy like Armia is ready. He's bigger than Stempniak, perhaps better defensively, has some scoring punch and likely cheaper. Oh, and 10 yrs younger.

Edit: I know you had Armia on a line with Stempniak, but it's likely one or the other.

I think we should just sit back and embrace the youth movement. The young guys are good, and hungry.

 

[puck stoppa]

Or they think a guy like Armia is ready. He's bigger, perhaps better defensively, has some scoring punch and likely cheaper. Oh, and 10 yrs younger.

I think we should just sit back and embrace the youth movement. The young guys are good, and hungry.

Should be fun. First few callups could frustrate a few people on here tho if it's Hali and Peluso and not Petan and Armia if they start in the AHL.

 

[Bob E]

Should be fun. First few callups could frustrate a few people on here tho if it's Hali and Peluso and not Petan and Armia if they start in the AHL.

Yes, but wouldn't be a youth movement then.

If they go with Hali and Peluso over youth, and Pavs plays 60+ games, I predict we finish about 20th in the league. I'm not sure that gives us the lottery odds to move into the top 3 spots.

 

[KingBogo]

Or they think a guy like Armia is ready. He's bigger than Stempniak, perhaps better defensively, has some scoring punch and likely cheaper. Oh, and 10 yrs younger.

Edit: I know you had Armia on a line with Stempniak, but it's likely one or the other.

I think we should just sit back and embrace the youth movement. The young guys are good, and hungry.

It could very well be the Jets believe that they have 4 forward prospects (Ehlers, Petan, Armia, Copp) ready or close to being ready to make the jump. And combined will offer more then the unsigned vets (Slater, Stemp, Tlusty). And it is necessary to start introducing them to the line up because there are more grade A's behind them that are only a year or 2 away.

I say get ready for the ride because the prospects are on the way.

 

[Bob E]

It could very well be the Jets believe that they have 4 forward prospects (Ehlers, Petan, Armia, Copp) ready or close to being ready to make the jump. And combined will offer more then the unsigned vets (Slater, Stemp, Tlusty). And it is necessary to start introducing them to the line up because there are more grade A's behind them that are only a year or 2 away.

I say get ready for the ride because the prospects are on the way.

Yup.

I only wonder about Petan. He will need minutes. Don't see him getting top 6 minutes on Jets, to start. Starting with the Moose makes most sense, Imo.

Petan and Copp are pro rookies. I think they season them a bit, with Morrissey.

Armia has 2 yrs experience in A and Ehlers has outgrown Jr, so I see those two sticking with Jets.

I'm a bit concerned that Cormier may stick, and use him in combination with Hali, Peluso, Thor and Fraser on the 4th line.

 

[puck stoppa]

Yes, but wouldn't be a youth movement then.

If they go with Hali and Peluso over youth, and Pavs plays 60+ games, I predict we finish about 20th in the league. I'm not sure that gives us the lottery odds to move into the top 3 spots.

And I also meant the Stemp over Thor combo discussion. Jets want youth on third line, Stemp wants third line not fourth, some people wonder why he's not here over Thor (and not Armia) and I think it's cause he doesn't want to be on a 4th line.
Cause even with Armia you could still have Stemp Copp Armia.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

Ive been saying for a year now that this team will finally take that next step when a guy like Lowry is your 4th line centre. That's not a knock on Lowry as I like him a lot but that will finally show our top prospects will surpass him in the top 9 and our bottom 6 can take on big minutes. Something like this to start the year perhaps:

LLW
Per Scheif Ehlers
Petan Burmi Staff
Thor/Armia Copp Lowry

Get rid of Peluso and Hali to the Moose and let Fraser be #13. Let Maurice decide who plays centre on that fourth line but I think Copp and Lowry would be a good combo there and this way our three rookies are seperated in the lineup.

I think you are underrating Lowry. We will have a LIKE Lowry as our 4C this year but it won't be Lowry. It will be Lowry lite - Copp. I think that when Lowry is our 4C we have a 4C who is better than our 3C and nobody can understand why.

Burmi could end up at C, either 3 or 4 but I don't expect that. He might be plan B if Copp doesn't make it. The uncertainty about Copp at 4C is understandable but keep in mind that the standard he has to beat is not very high. He will probably be under 50% on FOs for the first year or two but that is not a big deal. It is common for rookie Cs. Other than that I don't see Burmi as being particularly more valuable at C than at wing. It may work out similarly to Perreault where the wing frees him to be more creative. We are short on LWs, not Cs.

I see post after post here worrying about Hali on our 4th line. Hali might be a bit of an insurance policy for the 4th but I expect him to play the entire year on the Moose. He won't even be the first call-up. The same goes for Fraser and Cormier. These guys were not signed to play in the NHL. Peluso will be 13 unless we have 14F in which case he will be 14. He will be spotted in occasionally when Maurice feels the need for him.

I get your idea of bringing up Ehlers, Copp, Petan and maybe Armia and separating them on different lines. You also get Petan in the top 9 which I like. All the signs that we can see point to Copp being the 4C. If he can't handle it I expect him to go to the Moose and learn to play Pro centre until he can handle 4C. I also expect Armia to be pushed to the front of our prospect line. Age and experience point to it as does Chevy's faith in taking him in the Buffalo trade. If Ehlers is a lock for the top 9 then Armia is the next one to be fit in. He has to either play 4th line or push someone else down. I don't think he can push Lowry, Burmi or Staff to the 4th line.

I just don't see Lowry moving down from the 3rd line, especially to 4th line wing. Probably no player got singled out for his play more than Lowry was by Maurice for his play. I remember an interview with Maurice last season where he said something along the lines...that one day soon when they other team puts out its best, Adam will be the first one over the boards to match up against them. IMO Maurice sees Lowry as a prototypical big bodied center that excels in a down low support role. IMO Lowry will continued to be groomed in that position.

Agree about keeping LLW together and like the idea of Ehlers and Petan in middle 6 wing positions, though I think Petan starts the season with the Moose. I think if we don't see Burmi on the 3rd line wing he will be our 4th line center with Copp being the odd man out. Also can see Armia making the team.

Agree on Lowry. He will move up the depth chart before he moves down. I think he will be our 3C 10 years from now.

I get the idea of keeping LLW together. They just work. But I also like the idea of keeping Perry-Scheif-Wheeler together and of keeping Staff away from Scheif. Ehlers with Perry & Scheif might work well ... or not. I would try that first. I also think Burmi-Lowry-Staff could work very well.

I find it hard to see a place for Petan unless he sends Ehlers somewhere else or Copp goes down.

I hope they bring Stempniak in on a tryout and end up signing him for $1 million or less. I don't quite understand what's so revolting about having some depth and options from Maurice and Cheveldayoff's perspective. There will be injuries and inconsistency. What's so terrible about having a guy around who can literally play wing on any line? Even if they had to waive Stempniak or trade him for essentially nothing at some point if there are better options for that roster spot, what's the downside? Better to deal with that situation than have Halischuk play 60 games for the big club.

I don't think Hali is the alternative to Stemp. If he is then sign Stemp now!

LLW
PSS
Armia Petan Ehlers
Burmi Lowry Copp (shut down 4th line)

I kinda kid here, but is it that unrealistic that Petan and Ehlers could be better than Lowry Burmi? No one wants skill on the 4th line so lets call them the 3rd line and let Burmi and Lowry play on the 4th.

You kind'a kid but your bottom 6 kind'a makes sense except that Burmi should be on the 3rd and Armia the 4th.
Burmi-Petan-Ehlers
Copp-Lowry-Armia
As said before though, Lowry is our 3C.

Hard to disagree. We all want Lowry to be more than a fourth line center, but yet he seems to fit that role. We've got skill centers like Petan, Burmi, Connor who will need to be top 9 forwards. So Lowry becomes one of the top 4th line centers in the league? Nice problem.

Easy to disagree. Connor likely plays LW in the NHL as does Petan and Burmi might end up on the RW. Lowry would not be "one of the top 4th line centers in the league". He would be the top 4C in the league. We want him playing a lot more minutes than he will get on even a much improved 4th line.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

I think we can all agree on this, have Stemp on your 4th line with Copp and Armia, Thor #13, Peluso and Hali in the minors. Two problems with this, Mau will have Thor in the starting lineup on the 4th line, and IMO and I think this is why Stemp is not here: when Stemp said the Jets want to go with youth, I think he meant youth on the 3rd line, Ehlers and Burmi, and he doesn't want to be on the 4th line and that is probably why they parted ways, I think Chevy would want him on the 4th line and he declined. So this is why I don't get fired up over the Stemp over Thor business because IMO that's how I think the "Jets want to go with youth" chat went down. He doesn't want to be here to play on the 4th line for 5 min, but Chevy and Mau would love to have him but he's 4th line on their depth chart. (Who knows, maybe they were honest with him)

I have had the same thought. The thing is that if Stemp was signed for the 4th line he would be the first one to move up when we have injuries. He would probably get close to 3rd line minutes in the end.

 

[Boreal]

I wonder if they will do something like:

Ladd - Little - Wheeler (true NHL top unit)
Perreaul - Scheifele - Ehlers (ridiculous O-zone deployment)
Stafford - Lowry - Burmistrov (can handle difficult defensive assignments... even with Staff)
Armia - Copp - Thorburn (big, physical, can skate, with a finisher... ~9 minutes a night)

Interesting ideas that others have brought up already... I'm coming around to this.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

It will be interesting to see how things play out, but I do see a real possibility of 3A and 3B lines. One a little more offense with a couple of the offensively skilled prospects and more of a defensive specialist line that can still produce offense.

I just don't see why a lot of people think we will have some sort of black hole plug 4th line with the amount of gifted young talent we have ready to or close to ready to make the jump to the NHL.

The Jets have introduced 5 rookies over the last 2 years. I expect another 1/2 dozen or more over the next 2-3 years. When you have the top prospect pool in hockey, most of which are already turning pro you need to start moving them into the lineup.

It could very well be the Jets believe that they have 4 forward prospects (Ehlers, Petan, Armia, Copp) ready or close to being ready to make the jump. And combined will offer more then the unsigned vets (Slater, Stemp, Tlusty). And it is necessary to start introducing them to the line up because there are more grade A's behind them that are only a year or 2 away.

I say get ready for the ride because the prospects are on the way.

I sure hope that is what is happening here!
Grab some air!

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

Yup.

I only wonder about Petan. He will need minutes. Don't see him getting top 6 minutes on Jets, to start. Starting with the Moose makes most sense, Imo.

Petan and Copp are pro rookies. I think they season them a bit, with Morrissey.

Armia has 2 yrs experience in A and Ehlers has outgrown Jr, so I see those two sticking with Jets.

I'm a bit concerned that Cormier may stick, and use him in combination with Hali, Peluso, Thor and Fraser on the 4th line.

Then it is no youth movement at all. Nothing like it and it makes no sense to have not signed any NHL players. Not even money.

Cormier, Hali and Fraser were signed to bring some veteran presence to the Moose. If any of them play as much as 2 games something has gone badly wrong.

 

[KingBogo]

I wonder if they will do something like:

Ladd - Little - Wheeler (true NHL top unit)
Perreaul - Scheifele - Ehlers (ridiculous O-zone deployment)
Stafford - Lowry - Burmistrov (can handle difficult defensive assignments... even with Staff)
Armia - Copp - Thorburn (big, physical, can skate, with a finisher... ~9 minutes a night)

Interesting ideas that others have brought up already... I'm coming around to this.

I'm thinking this won't be far off the opening day roster. Though I can see Petan forcing his way in and being on the opening day roster instead of Copp, with Burmi sliding down to 4th line center. Either way I think the Jets go into the season with 3 rookies among their forwards.

If you had to choose between Slater, Stemp & Tlusty...or...Ehlers, Armia, Petan/Copp as a more dynamic line up I know which way I'm leaning.

As a side note on Stafford. The only Jet that had the ice tilted more towards d-zone deployment more than Stafford was Myers. As for strength of competition only Myers and Enstrom had tougher matchups.

 

[DeepFrickinValue]

I reckon stepniak gets signed after 9 games. No waivers then and gives rookies some experience

 

[Aavco Cup]

I reckon stepniak gets signed after 9 games. No waivers then and gives rookies some experience

I doubt the Jets sign anyone 9 games into the season