Line Combos: 2019/2020 Roster Discussion

[surixon]

This is how I see it right now:

Conner Scheifele Laine
Ehlers xxx Wheeler
xxxx Little Roslovic
Copp - Lowry - Appelton

Morrissey xxxx
xxxx xxxx
Kuli Niku

Helle
Brossoit

I think the team needs to really revamp our defense. I move both Trouba and Buff plus a prospect to get that young second line C and a couple of new defenseman.

Ves would be given first shot for the third line LW spot.

 

[nobody imp0rtant]

I didn’t base it on a “friend of a friend said there was locker room issues between players X and Y”.

Better keep an eye out for those crocodiles.

 

[Guffman]

That's fine. May be a case of head in the sand is what Chevy needs too.

There is nothing tangible to base the alleged locker room issues on. Chevy would obviously have more insight into this and yes, he will have to take that into consideration when making changes in the offseason.

I just can’t base my suggestions on fan forum gossip.

 

[snowkiddin]

Connor Scheifele Ehlers
Laine Little Wheeler
Vesalainen xxx Appleton/Roslovic
Copp Lowry Tanev

Morrissey Buff
Beaulieu xxx
Niku Poolman

Hellebuyck Brossoit

I can see lots of variations to this, of course. This is more what I want to see than what I expect to see. For example, still not sure Wheeler and Scheifele get split up.

By clearing out Trouba, Perreault, Kulikov and Myers, there should be room to fit Tanev under the cap, even with our RFA raises. I feel like management likes him and he is a heart and soul guy who won’t command too much of a raise. Don’t sign him for any more than 3 years though.

3C is either a stop gap UFA signing or whoever we acquire for Trouba. If it’s the latter, then he can probably play 2C. I could also see them playing Roslovic here and keeping Appleton in the lineup as a winger.

Speaking of Appleton, I think they might pull a Dano/Petan on him, and have him rot in the press box. It’s stupid, but I can see them doing it.

Defensively, we take a big hit with Trouba and Myers gone. Buff moves up to play with Morrissey and you play that pair half the game. Alternatively, you can switch Buff and 2nd pairing xx and have Morrissey carry xx and Buff carry Beaulieu. Xx is likely a UFA signing, or Trouba’s return. I think they’ll bring Beaulieu back because of his draft pedigree and he looked fairly decent for us. He shouldn’t be too expensive either.

Niku and Poolman is a good, cheap 3rd pairing. However, I can see them playing Niku on the right, or sitting him completely if they decide to bring back Chiarot or if they can’t move Kulikov’s contract.

Hellebuyck will be back, obviously. I think Brossoit will be too. He didn’t play enough to earn himself a starting job elsewhere, IMO.

I wouldn’t mind bringing back Shaw and Griffith. They are top players at the AHL level, and should help the Moose. The better the Moose are, the better for our prospects. And they aren’t bad depth pieces either.

Berdin, Stanley, Kovacevic, Samberg and possibly Gawanke will be the prospects to watch on the Moose, arguably better than what they had going this year.

 

[jetsfan15]

There is nothing tangible to base the alleged locker room issues on. Chevy would obviously have more insight into this and yes, he will have to take that into consideration when making changes in the offseason.

I just can’t base my suggestions on fan forum gossip.

Agreed. Everyone keeps mentioning this locker room issue thing, yet there’s no real evidence to base it on. The only thing that surfaced was Buff getting angry when Trouba stayed on the ice for the full 2 mins on a PP one time... I don’t think that this suddenly means there’s locker room issues affecting team performance. It’s probably something both players put behind them a couple hours after the game, quite frankly.

 

[jetsfan15]

This is how I see it right now:

Conner Scheifele Laine
Ehlers xxx Wheeler
xxxx Little Roslovic
Copp - Lowry - Appelton

Morrissey xxxx
xxxx xxxx
Kuli Niku

Helle
Brossoit

I think the team needs to really revamp our defense. I move both Trouba and Buff plus a prospect to get that young second line C and a couple of new defenseman.

Ves would be given first shot for the third line LW spot.

I wouldn’t move Buff.

Vesalainen will hopefully make the team and be a nice addition.

I agree we need to figure out that 2C situation. Can’t be trading a first rounder & prospect at every trade deadline. Maybe we get that 2C piece in the almost inevitable Trouba trade.

 

[Gil Fisher]

There is nothing tangible to base the alleged locker room issues on. Chevy would obviously have more insight into this and yes, he will have to take that into consideration when making changes in the offseason.

I just can’t base my suggestions on fan forum gossip.

It came from the Freep originally. Guy who spends every day around the team. I understand where your line were coming from and stated they were good. But there is a sense of the definition of insanity about them. We can't just assume it'll work next year.

 

[jetsfan15]

Connor-Schiefele-Ehlers
Laine-Little-Wheeler
Copp-Lowry-Tanev
Vesalainen-Roslovic-Appleton

Basically, modest changes up front. I will have to navel gaze over our D for awhile.

This.

 

[Board Bard]

Agreed. Everyone keeps mentioning this locker room issue thing, yet there’s no real evidence to base it on. The only thing that surfaced was Buff getting angry when Trouba stayed on the ice for the full 2 mins on a PP one time... I don’t think that this suddenly means there’s locker room issues affecting team performance. It’s probably something both players put behind them a couple hours after the game, quite frankly.

Are you guys forgetting the locker room meeting already? Teams don't have those to talk about what great team solidarity and unity they have.

 

[jetsfan15]

Offer Hayes a cheap contract all you want, he won't take it. He's gonna get money on the open market. Might not be the best fit for the Jets cap situation.

I expect Kiselevich to go back to Russia.

Yeah I think Hayes will command a fair bit on the open market, and his experiment here didn’t really work out - so I don’t see us paying him what he can get elsewhere. Had he produced like Stastny did last year for us, I’d say pay him the fair market value long term (and he’s only 26 or 27 yrs old). But unfortunately he didn’t produce in the same way. So we’re probably better off keeping our cap space for our pending RFAs (and some of our UFAs). We do need to address that 2C situation tho... it’s a big problem. I thought reuniting Little & Wheeler might work, but obviously that never materialized despite all the line mixing that Maurice tried over the season.

 

[Arthur Fonzarelli]

Nothing has changed since the last time this was addressed in March, so if we're going to go round in circles and rehash the same topics over and over again, then the same posts may as well be shared....below is my post from March 7th 2019

As it stands the Jets will move into next season with the following under contract:

Perreault-Scheifele-Wheeler
Ehlers-Little-Roslovic
x-Lowry-x
x-x-x

Morrissey-Byfuglien
Kulikov-x
Niku-x

Hellebuyck
x

All of the above are under contract for 2019-2020. In addition the following are signed with some, perhaps all, expected to play a role next year. Like the roster above, I've simply listed each player on their natural sides.

Vesalainen (LW) Appleton, (RW), Poolman (RD), Stanley (LD).

We'll address these players after signing our RFA's. I'll note that at this phase of creating the roster, I don't see the point of citing Niku as a RD or Vesalainen as a RW. All in due time.

First thing is resigning RFA's. The initial roster contains 12 players & costs $55,627,497 with cap space of $27,372, 503 remaining to sign 11 roster spots.

For the Jets the main pieces include Kyle Connor, Patrik Laine, Jacob Trouba, Andrew Copp. Of course there are more but let's see where adding in these players leaves the team.

Connor-Scheifele-Wheeler
Ehlers-Little-Laine
Copp-Lowry-x
Perreault-x-Roslovic

Morrissey-Trouba
Kulikov-Byfuglien
Niku-x

Hellebuyck
x

As for where this places the organization from a cap perspective, I looked for the most recent comparable for each player. None are perfect, but this entire post is simply an exercise into what our future may look like. Accept it for what it is.

-Copp (comparable Nick Ritchie signed October 18th, 2018 at 3 years for $1,640,000.00),
-Laine (comparable Kucherov signed July 10th, 2018 for 8 years at $9,500,000.00)
-Connor (comparable Teuvo Teravainen signed January 21, 2019 for 5 years at $5,400,000.00)
-Trouba (comparable Dumba signed July 21, 2018 for 5 years at $6,000,000.00....and YES I doubt he will sign for that amount, but let's not overly complicate this)

The above roster now brings the team to 16 players and a cap hit of $78,167,497.00. This leaves (previous contract in brackets):

-Morrow ($1,000,000)
-Beaulieu ($2,400,000)
-Broissot ($650,000)
-Comrie ($650,000)

as the prominent RFA's left to sign. Lesser names like Suess, Dano, Nogier, Appleby, Griffith, Oligny, Shaw make up the remainder.

With less than $5,000,000 remaining to sign 3 starters & a backup goalie as well as maintain 2-3 more positions in the press box, things are certainly tight to say the least.

Before embarking on the task of signing or perhaps talk of trading the above, it's important to look at those becoming UFA's this summer. These include:

-Tanev
-Myers
-Chiarot
-Lindholm
-Hayes
-Kiselevich
-Hendricks

In addition there are AHL'ers including Schilling, Broadhurst, Kerdiles & Lipon.

Of this bunch only Tanev is BOTH effective AND affordable. Let's match Copp's 3 year at $1,640,000.00 contract. And begin inserting prospects into the mix.

Other than Comrie who I gave a $700,000 contract to, all of the prospects listed in CAPS have existing contracts which appear in brackets.

Connor-Scheifele-Wheeler
Ehlers-Little-Laine
Copp-Lowry-Tanev
Perreault-Roslovic-APPLETON ($741,647) /VESALAINEN ($925,000)

Morrissey-Trouba
Kulikov-Byfuglien
Niku-POOLMAN ($775,000)
STANLEY ($863,333)

Hellebuyck
COMRIE $(700,000)

I'd suggest this lineup is the starting point for any dialogue. It's quite apparent that even a hometown discount on UFA Myers or the resigning of UFA Hayes is next to impossible without major roster moves. Even resigning RFA Beaulieu or providing Broissot his much deserved raise would be tight.

This roster puts the team at $83,812,497 with potential bonus' of $1,335,000.00 being within the K-Ves contract. In a nutshell even under the best circumstances the team appears $2.1 million over the cap.

As many have pointed out before, Perreault's contract is one that seemingly has to go. I'd suggest however regardless of how you feel about Kulikov, his current cap hit of $4,333,3333 is a tough pill to swallow.

There's more to address, but time for a break....

EDIT: as for my promise 6 weeks ago about addressing this after a break...I'm still on a break. Mentally exhausted after watching this team since the new year began.

 

[Arthur Fonzarelli]

Fire this coach and staff and get a progressive thinker in there.

It's funny how many posters think PoMo isn't progressive with the manner he approaches the game when his tactics mirror the rest of his NHL peers.

Others attack his use of analytics, but when pressed for answers by Murat Ates, his answers are succinct and the numbers he quotes are correct down to the decimal point. Maurice, like every NHL coach, every assistant & every GM have access to analytics far beyond what Ates has at his disposal. Whereas the Athletic is using fan created analytics sites, the Jets and the rest of their NHL brethren are paying top dollar for the information at their disposal. Not sharing this information with the press on a regular basis is on par with not disclosing the injury status of players. If you're of the belief Maurice doesn't understand this aspect of the game, you're 100% wrong.

As for his return next year, unlike many teams, the Jets have yet to publicly share the financial details of any of their coaches contracts. In Maurice's case, even the term of his current contract is unknown to anyone but the Jets brass.

As such, who knows if Maurice can even be fired. Perhaps he's not even signed on for the upcoming year. Here's what cap friendly has on the matter:

Coaches - CapFriendly - NHL Salary Caps

Maurice has a long history of developing young teams into contenders and then being replaced once the team becomes a contender. Perhaps history repeats itself, perhaps not.

All I know is the "flip the switch" storyline wasn't entirely accurate. Truth be told, the Jets had a miserable schedule after Christmas and their record clearly showed they weren't up to that daunting task.

Once they were on an even keel with their oppositions schedule in the playoffs, the team clearly displayed they were in fact for real. Sadly they played the best team in hockey over the second half of the schedule and did so to a virtual draw in every manner other than the final score in many games.

Perhaps we'll know more about injury status' tomorrow, perhaps not. The exit interviews last year had no one disclose their injuries. The team simply took account for their loss to Nashville and the same could occur tomorrow.

Pulling for the Blues to win it all. Have a great summer everyone!

 

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

This is how I see the lines next season as of right now. Will likely change in July or September 2019.

Laine-Scheifele-Wheeler
Connor-Little-Ehlers
Vesalainen-Roslovic-Appleton
Perreault-Lowry-Copp

Morrissey-Byfuglien
Beaulieu-Niku
Kulikov-Morrow

Hellebuyck
Brossoit

 

[Guffman]

It came from the Freep originally. Guy who spends every day around the team. I understand where your line were coming from and stated they were good. But there is a sense of the definition of insanity about them. We can't just assume it'll work next year.

Do you have a link to the article? Who are the problem players based on the article and what is the root cause? Can this be resolved internally without trading a core player?

I don’t mind making speculative combos to address an issue but I don’t know what the issue was. Does anyone? I just heard third hand gossip from the other thread.

 

[Guffman]

Are you guys forgetting the locker room meeting already? Teams don't have those to talk about what great team solidarity and unity they have.

Usually, I thought they do that when the team isn’t playing well. I didn’t know they call them to deal with teenage drama.

 

[Al Camino]

It's funny how many posters think PoMo isn't progressive with the manner he approaches the game when his tactics mirror the rest of his NHL peers.

Others attack his use of analytics, but when pressed for answers by Murat Ates, his answers are succinct and the numbers he quotes are correct down to the decimal point. Maurice, like every NHL coach, every assistant & every GM have access to analytics far beyond what Ates has at his disposal. Whereas the Athletic is using fan created analytics sites, the Jets and the rest of their NHL brethren are paying top dollar for the information at their disposal. Not sharing this information with the press on a regular basis is on par with not disclosing the injury status of players. If you're of the belief Maurice doesn't understand this aspect of the game, you're 100% wrong.

As for his return next year, unlike many teams, the Jets have yet to publicly share the financial details of any of their coaches contracts. In Maurice's case, even the term of his current contract is unknown to anyone but the Jets brass.

As such, who knows if Maurice can even be fired. Perhaps he's not even signed on for the upcoming year. Here's what cap friendly has on the matter:

Coaches - CapFriendly - NHL Salary Caps

Maurice has a long history of developing young teams into contenders and then being replaced once the team becomes a contender. Perhaps history repeats itself, perhaps not.

All I know is the "flip the switch" storyline wasn't entirely accurate. Truth be told, the Jets had a miserable schedule after Christmas and their record clearly showed they weren't up to that daunting task.

Once they were on an even keel with their oppositions schedule in the playoffs, the team clearly displayed they were in fact for real. Sadly they played the best team in hockey over the second half of the schedule and did so to a virtual draw in every manner other than the final score in many games.

Perhaps we'll know more about injury status' tomorrow, perhaps not. The exit interviews last year had no one disclose their injuries. The team simply took account for their loss to Nashville and the same could occur tomorrow.

Pulling for the Blues to win it all. Have a great summer everyone!

Perhaps I should have Used forward thinking instead of progressive. This coach has demonstrated he can’t adjust to what other teams do. If he did I suspect he would have made the playoffs more than he did in a league where half the teams get in. How many organizations would have given the amount of opportunity that Tanev and Chairot got? Again not their fault for getting in the lineup, full credit for making the most of an opportunity. But it’s horrible asset management and maybe that’s more on the GM. I can’t say for sure what analytics the Jets have access to but judging by how they deploy players they must be the kind no one else uses. No analytics say Matt Hendricks is worth a 7th round pick let alone an NHL player. Not sure you need some strange new stat to tell you Tyler Myers shouldn’t be on the ice in a one goal game in the last 2 minutes.

 

[Gil Fisher]

Where there's smoke there's fire, innit.

 

[kittiecarlyle]

Agreed. Everyone keeps mentioning this locker room issue thing, yet there’s no real evidence to base it on. The only thing that surfaced was Buff getting angry when Trouba stayed on the ice for the full 2 mins on a PP one time... I don’t think that this suddenly means there’s locker room issues affecting team performance. It’s probably something both players put behind them a couple hours after the game, quite frankly.

Besides MM's article Rick Ralph also said he knew of issues in the room for one. So perhaps no definitive proof but but it should be clear there is something negative to this.

 

[Arthur Fonzarelli]

Do you have a link to the article? Who are the problem players based on the article and what is the root cause? Can this be resolved internally without trading a core player?

I don’t mind making speculative combos to address an issue but I don’t know what the issue was. Does anyone? I just heard third hand gossip from the other thread.

It was Mike McIntyre who wrote that for the Free Press. I wouldn't put any stock in what a first year sports journalist has to say.

MM has spent the past 25 years as a crime reporter, offering zero insight into Winnipeg's well known ties to organized crime families in Montreal and New York.

He's an even worse sports reporter.

 

[jetsfan15]

Something that might explain a bit (but not entirely) why the Jets underperformed this year: many expected Laine (21 yo), Ehlers (23 yo), and Roslovic (22 yo) to all take significant steps forward this year. It didn’t happen (in fact they all had worse offensive stats this year compared to last year). Doesn’t mean they won’t get better tho... I still think those players’ better days are ahead of them (given their respective age). I also think Kyle Connor’s better days are ahead of him (he was fantastic this season, but I think he’ll get even better).

I still think the sky’s the limit regarding the offensive potential of this team. Just didn’t happen this year.

 

[jetsfan15]

Besides MM's article Rick Ralph also said he knew of issues in the room for one. So perhaps no definitive proof but but it should be clear there is something negative to this.

That’s what I mean tho - he says he knows of issues, yet doesn’t say anything substantial about them... he only mentions the Buff & Trouba PP thing. You’d think he’d mention it if he actually knew what those other issues were... he’s a journalist! That entire article seemed like he was grasping at straws without any real basis for it. There wasn’t a whole lot of substance to it.

The article was very reminiscent to “I heard from a friend of a friend of a friend that....” without saying anything to substantiate it.

 

[jetsfan15]

Besides MM's article Rick Ralph also said he knew of issues in the room for one. So perhaps no definitive proof but but it should be clear there is something negative to this.

Quite the opposite. When reading the article, it’s anything but clear. There’s not substance to it.

 

[DowntownBooster]

Geez, with all this talk of problems in the room you would think we're the Ottawa Senators.

 

[Robinson2187]

Yeah I think Hayes will command a fair bit on the open market, and his experiment here didn’t really work out - so I don’t see us paying him what he can get elsewhere. Had he produced like Stastny did last year for us, I’d say pay him the fair market value long term (and he’s only 26 or 27 yrs old). But unfortunately he didn’t produce in the same way. So we’re probably better off keeping our cap space for our pending RFAs (and some of our UFAs). We do need to address that 2C situation tho... it’s a big problem. I thought reuniting Little & Wheeler might work, but obviously that never materialized despite all the line mixing that Maurice tried over the season.

It's not fair to compare Hayes and Stastny based on this. They are pretty different players when it comes to skillset. Not to mention, Maurice used them very differently.

I didn't mind Hayes here at all and think he could fit. He kinda has an Armia type game which maybe we missed. Having said that, I don't think he comes back.

 

[Robinson2187]

People I don't want to see here next year:

Maurice
Huddy
Comrie
Perreault
Trouba
Kuli
Morrow

I think the forwards are mostly fine and get a nice bump with a new bench boss.

I think we need to get quicker and more mobile on D

I know this will be your most challenging summer to date Chevy.
Get 'er done.