We get a headline in this weeks version
31 Thoughts: What the Jets are doing to make the post-season
12. Anecdotal evidence from exhibition play: Laine is shooting the puck even harder. “Just exploding off his stick,” one opponent said. In 2015-16, Laine played a full Finnish League season, the world juniors and the world championships. After becoming a Jet, there was the World Cup, 73 NHL games and a concussion. The organization wanted him to make sure there was enough rest during the summer. “In his draft year, I think he flew over here four, five or six times,” GM Kevin Cheveldayoff said this week. “Even for an 18-year-old, (the last two years) were a lot. We just wanted him to come back feeling stronger.”
Many of his peers are changing their training, spending more time on the ice and less in the gym. Laine didn’t skate as much and added muscle. When he got back, he needed a slight adjustment because he hadn’t skated much with the extra strength. He spent time working on his release to get the timing
13. Before the summer, we had some notes about Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck doing some new off-season work. The GIF above has some insight into one of the techniques. Holding the giant rubber band is Adam Francilia, whose NHL client list includes Devan Dubnyk, Eddie Lack, Andrew Ladd and Tyler Myers. Francilia is standing on the bench. What are they doing? Helping Hellebuyck use his body “more efficiently,” Francilia said.
“The hip and pelvis, postural issues, goalie-specific core, down through the knees and ankles. We work on co-ordination of all that, so the body stays together and move better. I look for ‘hiccups,’ failures of movements. We want him to understand how to use his body better.”
How does the band help? While attached, when the goalie moves away from the bench in the butterfly or with a T-push, he’s in what Francilia calls the overload. “They have to push out more than they are used to. The further they get out, then you pull them back in. Remember when you were a kid running down a hill, and another kid pushed you? All of a sudden you have more speed than your body can handle. It forces your brain into overdrive, make your feet run faster than normal, increases stimulus. On-ice, we are trying to make his body move faster than it normally would be able to. (Hellebuyck) has to adapt and stay together.” That’s called “overspeed.” Even though the Jets signed Steve Mason, they will need Hellebuyck.
14. As for Myers, limited to 11 games due to injury, it was about “reprogramming and restructuring muscles around his surgery. There was lots of scar tissue, muscles not letting go, guarding the area operated on. When you are stroke rehabbing, say you can’t use your right arm. It’s not a matter of grabbing a dumbbell and doing 10 curls. You hold the dumbbell and retell your arm how to do a curl. You have to teach certain muscles that were dormant how to refire. You also have to reprogram your brain, teaching other muscles not to fire unless needed. It takes a hell of a long time. Tedious process.”
The neurological part of body doesn’t recover the same way as the physiological system. Should have paid attention in biology class.
15. Word is the Jets did a deep dive into analytics, trying to get greater understanding of what kinds of statistics correlate to winning on a regular basis. “I wouldn’t say that means we didn’t look at analytics before,” Cheveldayoff said. “But when you miss the playoffs, you take a good hard look at everything. You’re asking, ‘How much does (a certain stat) matter?’”What did you learn? “I’m not going to tell you that,” he laughed. “That’s why we do it.”
16. Okay, let’s try a different one: What did one of the NHL’s most penalized teams learn from an in-house visit by retired referee Paul Devorski? “The one-on-one interaction was great. Having him telling you that if your stick goes to a certain place, his eyes are attracted to it.”
17. Finally on Winnipeg, one coach pointed to Bryan Little’s health as an underemphasized piece of the Jets’ puzzle. He got hurt in their opener last season and missed six weeks. When he came back, the team was dead last in faceoffs (44.4 per cent to Chicago’s 47.9). From that day on, they were 13th (50.2). Little himself finished 55.6. And, the new rules should not affect the way he wins them.
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