I agree with Zhamnov10.
Lets face it, the Jets are a longshot to win the Stanley Cup - so let's use these years to develop our young players. Wellwood & Jokinen are good players, but given their ages and short contract lengths, I think it would be move beneficial to the Jets long term if Burmistrov & Sheifele were put in a more offensive role, and given powerplay time. Not saying they are 100% ready, but at some point, they need the experience, and the only way to learn is by playing in those situations.
Almost every young player struggles at first, but most high draft picks end up succeeding. Sometimes, the olders guys just need to get out of the way for the younger guys to TRULY be given an opportunity. History shows this over and over; a few examples:
1) The Sedins were stuck at 40 point a year or less until Naslund / Morrison / Bertuzzi finaly lost their powerplay time. The very first season the Sedins where given 1st powerplay minutes (as opposed to 2nd line duty) their points exploded to 80+ per year. Unbelievably, they had to play nearly 7 years as 2nd fiddle until their coaches realized they were better than their 'annointed' top line
2) Claude Giroux was up and down between the AHL and Flyers, scoring a modest 40 points per year or less. Finally the coach give him 1st powerplay duty (after 5 seasons) and his points exploded to 70+. With his emergence, they got rid of Carter / Richards, and his points jumped to 90+
3) James Neal was up and down between the AHL and the Stars, never given enough ice time to put up any kind of numbers. A trade to the Pens, some powerplay time, and you have yourself an 80 point player
This list is almost endless. Joffrey Lupul getting no PP time until he gets to Toronto, and now he's a point a game player. Marty St. Louis traded by Calgary, Pominville in Buffalo finally getting an opportunity, this year watch for Cam Atkinson and Anisimov in Columbus ... it really goes on and on ...
You simply cannot compare players by their point totals in the NHL without looking at powerplay time. It's almost impossible to get 50 points in this league if you're not first unit powerplay. The fact that Ladd and Little were only in the mid-50's (point wise) yet got OVER 200 MINUTES on the powerplay last year speaks volumes on how unproductive they really were.
A little long winded, but given Burmistrov's ability to carry the puck (we might actually gain zone every once and a while), speed (we might recover a dump in), and his remarkable ability to win battles along the boards and create space, I CAN'T SEE HOW THE POWERPLAY WOULD NOT BENEFIT by having him out there. And, if he ever became a regular on the powerplay, his point totals would rise rapidly, as would his confidence, which would translate to even more even strength points.
Last thing, don't tell you "you need to earn your powerplay time". Wheeler, Little and Ladd were our 1st powerplay unit from game 1 to game 82 last year despite having a painfully slow start (Wheeler took 20 games to score a goal). They were given 20 games to "click" ... I would love to see Burmistrov (or Scheifele) be given a 20 game committment of 1st powerplay duty without fear that one mistake will relegate them off the unit completely. Only then could we truly tell if they would improve our powerplay.
