Who Are Jets Core Players Now and Going Forward?

Jimby

Reformed Optimist
Nov 5, 2013
1,428
441
Winnipeg
With the Jets now a cap team they will need to follow the Hawks model of having a core group of players with other complimentary players rotating in and out. How many players? I believe Hawks had 7 plus the goalie but that may have been prior to Toews and Kane's big paydays. Who will this core group be?

My preferred list would be:

Wheeler
Scheifele
Lowry
Laine
Ehlers
Morrisey
Trouba
Byfuglien
Hellebuyck

and Connor if possible.

Little is off my list as he seems to be replaceable.
 

Maukkis

EZ4ENCE
Mar 16, 2016
10,538
7,218
Scheifele, Laine, Ehlers, Trouba, Morrissey should be the group of five which we hold on to for dear life. As far as our goaltending goes, Hellebuyck is the answer, but moving on from a goalie should never be off limits (i.e. we should be willing to look at replacing him if necessary; this, however, will not be a pressing issue for a long, long time).

The Saads, Hossas, Sharps, Hjalmarssons and Krugers are the trickier part. Wheeler, Little, Lowry, Connor, Myers, Buff... all of them are great, but are they completely irreplaceable? I don't think so. We can keep them for as long as we can afford them, but eventually, goodbyes will have to be said.
 

Dayofthedogs

Bettman's hammer
Feb 20, 2016
2,113
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Winnipeg
Chef, Ehlers, Laine, Lowry, JoMo. For the youngsters.

I'd say Trouba as well but who knows with this guy. Until he signs a long term deal he's on the bubble.
 

Jets2point0

Registered User
Oct 14, 2017
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Going from the Blackhawks model, they had a core of 4 players (Toews, Kane, Keith and Crawford) and had to pay them accordingly - with the salary cap I don't really see how this is avoidable unless Chevy can continue to sign steals like Scheifele.

I'd say the true untouchables for our CORE are Scheifele, Laine, Morrissey and Helle. Given the friendly contracts to Scheifele and Ehlers, you can now slide Ehlers in that long term 'untouchable' core as well
 

surixon

Registered User
Jul 12, 2003
48,728
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Winnipeg
Going from the Blackhawks model, they had a core of 4 players (Toews, Kane, Keith and Crawford) and had to pay them accordingly - with the salary cap I don't really see how this is avoidable unless Chevy can continue to sign steals like Scheifele.

I'd say the true untouchables for our CORE are Scheifele, Laine, Morrissey and Helle. Given the friendly contracts to Scheifele and Ehlers, you can now slide Ehlers in that long term 'untouchable' core as well

The Hawks had 6 core players. Hossa was most certainly a core piece and they paid a nd treated Seabroke as one despite him not being that good.
 

Huffer

Registered User
Jul 16, 2010
16,672
6,243
Young core:

Scheifele
Trouba
Laine
Ehlers
Morrissey
Helle

Aging core:
Wheeler
Buff
Little (an off year isn't enough to kick him out)

Young players who could join the core:

Conner
Roslovic

Key component players:

Perrault
Lowry
Armia
Copp
Myers
Toby
Kulikov
Myers

This X100.

Edit: Forgot about Lowry.
 
Last edited:

Adam da bomb

Registered User
May 1, 2016
12,611
9,479
Morrissey
Chef
Laine
Ehlers
Helly
Lowry

Buff for one more year. But not a future piece.
Trouba situation to unclear to include him.
Wheeler is replaceable the way he has been playing the last ten games makes me nervous to build around him. Would not invest a lot of money in him.
Surprised Lowry was left many lists. I guess it's because D is not sexy but whoever he plays with becomes the shutdown line would not want to have to replace him.
 

Peggy

Registered User
Aug 6, 2016
5,274
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scheifele
laine
trouba
helle
ehlers
Morrissey
Lowry

in that order

I think there's usually about 6 players that is your core
 

Spock

Commander
Oct 5, 2017
1,171
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Vulcan
I'm not sure the Jets should follow the "Blackhawks Model."

Lowry over Connor, Peggy? Connor has 23 goals in his rookie year.

In response to adammlis, Wheeler sure appears tired, time will certainly tell whether or not he is now close to major regression.
 

Adam da bomb

Registered User
May 1, 2016
12,611
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I'm not sure the Jets should follow the "Blackhawks Model."

Lowry over Connor, Peggy? Connor has 23 goals in his rookie year.

In response to adammlis, Wheeler sure appears tired, time will certainly tell whether or not he is now close to major regression.
Yes, but, there are a lot of scorers and Lowry can shut down anyone. If you can shut down the other teams scorers you can win 1-0. If you keep trading goals there is a good chance you might end up on the losing end. Also, you would think with the name Adammlis people would drop the mlis and just call/ refer to me as Adam by now.
 

Dayofthedogs

Bettman's hammer
Feb 20, 2016
2,113
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Winnipeg
I'm not sure the Jets should follow the "Blackhawks Model."

Lowry over Connor, Peggy? Connor has 23 goals in his rookie year.

In response to adammlis, Wheeler sure appears tired, time will certainly tell whether or not he is now close to major regression.

Adam Lowry has been scoring Goals like there is no tmrw 5vs5 and able to produce Bergeron like results in shot metrics. He plays center as well and with the Jets depth probably makes him less replaceable.

Finally. Cost should be factored in, and keeping Lowry is gonna be cheaper in the long run than Connor.

I don't see it as illogical to value Lowry's unique skill set and cheaper future contracts over Connor if one must choose.

Of course I'd love to keep both.

If I have to choose between Connor and any other "prospect" (Petan, Dano, Roslo, Appleton i'd naturally take Connor.

We have a boatload of scoring talent but we are lacking the kind of defensive game Lowry brings in our young talent.
 
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Peggy

Registered User
Aug 6, 2016
5,274
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I'm not sure the Jets should follow the "Blackhawks Model."

Lowry over Connor, Peggy? Connor has 23 goals in his rookie year.

In response to adammlis, Wheeler sure appears tired, time will certainly tell whether or not he is now close to major regression.

isn't Lowry's line the jets best shutdown line?
 

Eyeseeing

Fagheddaboudit
Sponsor
Feb 24, 2015
22,090
36,557
Helly is all we are.
And......
Ehlers
Laine
Connor
Morrissey
Scheifele
Must keeps....


Wheeler
Perrault
Byfuglien
Lowry
Would like to keep if at all possible

Trouba would fit in either group provided he wants to be here

Balance replaceable
 

Bigfish

Registered User
Oct 12, 2016
507
626
Adam Lowry has been scoring Goals like there is no tmrw 5vs5 and able to produce Bergeron like results in shot metrics. He plays center as well and with the Jets depth probably makes him less replaceable.

Finally. Cost should be factored in, and keeping Lowry is gonna be cheaper in the long run than Connor.
I don't see it as illogical to value Lowry's unique skill set and cheaper future contracts over Connor if one must choose.

Of course I'd love to keep both.

If I have to choose between Connor and any other "prospect" (Petan, Dano, Roslo, Appleton i'd naturally take Connor.

We have a boatload of scoring talent but we are lacking the kind of defensive game Lowry brings in our young talent.
According to Quanthockey Connor is currently 87th in even strength points per 60 at 2.209. Lowry is 230th at 1.653. That's a lot of points to give up for defense. Connor will be as good as Ehlers next year. I'd really like to keep both.
 
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Dayofthedogs

Bettman's hammer
Feb 20, 2016
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According to Quanthockey Connor is currently 87th in even strength points per 60 at 2.209. Lowry is 230th at 1.653. That's a lot of points to give up for defense. Connor will be as good as Ehlers next year. I'd really like to keep both.

I agree. It is a lot of scoring to give up for defense.

That said Connor has been playing primarily with exceptionally talented Wingers and Lowry plays with players I've heard called AHLers around here. (Tanev, Copp, Matthias)

We know quality of teammates makes a much bigger difference than quality of competition.

If we loose Lowry are you confident we can literally replace a 2 way center who's scoring like a 2nd liner while playing with mediocre wingers?

He's top 5 in Corsi league wide and gets buried in the Dzone more than almost any other center.

I don't have faith any of our current centers can do what he does, never mind center prospects.

I do have faith that Petan or Vesalainen could probably fill a LW spot on Chef and Wheels line in a year or two and come very close to replacing Connors point contributions.

Don't want to loose either but I'd take a scoring winger over one of the best defensive centers in the whole NHL.
 
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Spock

Commander
Oct 5, 2017
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It appears some Jets fans are "spoiled" by the amount of scoring talent the Jets have. When Edmonton lets Peter Chiarelli go, maybe he can come to Winnipeg and move out scoring talent like he did in Edmonton so that Lowry can "win the Jets games 1-0."
 

StatisticsAddict99

Registered User
Feb 24, 2017
3,971
1,324
Future:

-Laine: Potentially the next Ovechkin so that’s pretty easy.

-Scheifele: PPG+ Franchise Center who is a great 200ft player.

-Hellebuyck: One of the best goalies in the league as one of the youngest as well, he’s got s real bright future and a real good game today, we are very lucky to have been able to pick this guy up.

-Ehlers: We might have to wait and see to hope he develops more but he obviously has great talent, he just needs to get better at finishing plays and he should be a 70pt guy in his future.

Maybes:

-Morrissey: I’m not as sold on Morrissey just yet, yes he is very sound defensively and can be a shut down guy but I want to see him run a PP unit and get more done and jump in the game more Offensively more often.

-Connor: Potentially our best overall Winger of the future(he seems good in all areas), but he still needs to get better, he’s similar to Ehlers offensively but not quite there yet with a much better defensive game.

-Roslovic: This one is a stretch but if he can convert to Center he should be a core player for sure with his overall talent and that Center positional need for the future.

-Vesalainen: Kids really surprised me and I’m sure a lot of people this year, hope he can improve but he’s got a lot of talent, I really hope to see him on that Power Play across from Laine sooner rather than later.
 

Jetfaninflorida

Southernmost Jet Fan
Dec 13, 2013
15,539
18,564
Florida
Helly is all we are.

Maybe not too far off. Just looking at Helle's shots faced, and doing a goals against calculation of Helle's 0.925 sv% vs a Pavelec like 0.906 sv% - we would have 34 more goals against.

Looking at goals differential, we would drop from a +45 to a +11 goals differential. That would put is on the bubble and in a fight for the final wild card spot with Dallas (+15 diff) and Colorado (+17 diff).

Gee, I wonder why we missed the playoffs during all those Pavelec years.
 

Dayofthedogs

Bettman's hammer
Feb 20, 2016
2,113
1,038
Winnipeg
It appears some Jets fans are "spoiled" by the amount of scoring talent the Jets have. When Edmonton lets Peter Chiarelli go, maybe he can come to Winnipeg and move out scoring talent like he did in Edmonton so that Lowry can "win the Jets games 1-0."

You're making a lot of assumptions
 

JetsWillFly4Ever

PLAY EHLERS 20 MIN A NIGHT
May 21, 2011
6,211
8,996
Winnipeg MB.
Maybe not too far off. Just looking at Helle's shots faced, and doing a goals against calculation of Helle's 0.925 sv% vs a Pavelec like 0.906 sv% - we would have 34 more goals against.

Looking at goals differential, we would drop from a +45 to a +11 goals differential. That would put is on the bubble and in a fight for the final wild card spot with Dallas (+15 diff) and Colorado (+17 diff).

Gee, I wonder why we missed the playoffs during all those Pavelec years.
Ya we got better as a team this year, but the difference in goaltending is the real reason we're a contender and not just fighting for a playoff spot.
 
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Tom ServoMST3K

In search of a Steinbach Hero
Nov 2, 2010
27,751
18,484
What's your excuse?
Jeez my definition of core is way different from everyone else's. IMO a core can only be one player from each position.

CORE:

Ehlers-Scheif-Laine

Morrissey-Trouba

Helle

VETERAN PRESENCE:

Matty P-Little-Wheeler

Enstrom-Buff

Mason
 

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