GM Thread (Mod warning OP)

[Mortimer Snerd]

My thoughts on the first few seasons was that TNSE was trying to walk a line between drafting and developing into a contender and having a reasonable competitive team on the ice so fans enjoyed the hockey experience and start identifying with the players. They probably could have got away with a full on rebuild since there was such a fierce honeymoon feeling those first couple years and there is enough knowledgeable fans who would have understood the direction. This is balanced against the huge demand for tickets and fans so in love with having an NHL team to cheer and treating Jets games as a night out on the town spending 100's on food and drink before, during and after games. Many of these fans were not diehard hockey fans but those enjoying the experience of something new and novel. Those early years were really good for TNSE bottom line and for businesses in and around downtown. I don't think Chipman had an appetite at that time to put a damper on this by start selling off stars like Buff and Wheeler that fans were growing to love. At the same time Chevy was asked to patiently go about is business of drafting and putting the resources into player development.

Yeah, something like that. They may have failed to take full advantage of the honeymoon period by going full on rebuild. Or not. They did have that once in a lifetime opportunity. They chose not to use it. There is no way to say definitively whether they were right or wrong with that choice.

Hindsight again, the best trades would have been dumping those last 3 Thrashers picks after the '12 season. Even Burmi would have returned something of value. But it certainly would have looked strange to be trading him plus Kane and Bogo at those early ages.

 

[tbcwpg]

Yeah, something like that. They may have failed to take full advantage of the honeymoon period by going full on rebuild. Or not. They did have that once in a lifetime opportunity. They chose not to use it. There is no way to say definitively whether they were right or wrong with that choice.

Hindsight again, the best trades would have been dumping those last 3 Thrashers picks after the '12 season. Even Burmi would have returned something of value. But it certainly would have looked strange to be trading him plus Kane and Bogo at those early ages.

It was probably a better business choice than a hockey choice to not tear it down at the start.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

It was probably a better business choice than a hockey choice to not tear it down at the start.

It probably was made in that belief, but the honeymoon effect was such that they couldn't do much wrong, from a business POV. Or maybe it would be more accurate just to say that it would have been better then than at some later time.

 

[Jetfaninflorida]

No. He's getting praise because most fans and ownership groups can see the bigger picture and past the "hE HasSZNt WON ChamPIOONSHip"

Look at the team he's built.

A top 6 that's tops in the league. Legitimately the best goalie on Earth.

Does the defense need work? Yup. But in reality we're only 1 year away from him getting blindsided by Byfuglien. And NO, Trouba should not have been traded 2 years ago to "maximize value because he could see this coming." The team was in the WCF for God sakes.

Fair to below market value contracts for elite young talent in: Ehlers, Scheifele, Connor, Hellebuyck and Morrissey.

Does he have blindspots? Of course. All GMs do. I would argue his blind spot is Maurice.

If/when Chevy gets fired he instantaneously lands a GM job of his choice. 100%.

I'm not saying the guy deserves a lifetime job, but there's no way the guy deserves to be fired. That notion is laughable, really.

I think that the disagreement that I have with your post is that it doesn't take actual team performance over time into account. That is the key measure of a GM. Objectively, if you look at our team performance you will see that we are below average under Chevy. We have won exactly two playoff rounds in 9 years. We made the playoffs only three of the nine years. Two of those three years we were knocked out in the first round, winning a total of 2 games and losing a total of eight. The single year that we showed a measure of playoff success, we were beaten easily by a team that we were heavily favored to defeat, in the end we lost 4 games in a row.

If you were asked to identify an example of a successful NHL franchise over the last 9 years, you wouldn't say Winnipeg. Who in hockey would say Winnipeg other than a cool-aid drinking Jets fan? If you did, how on earth would you explain your choice? Not based upon success and winning. If the answer has something to do with 'the cupboards were bare', well that was a decade ago. And the skaters that arrived from year 1 performed better on the ice than the skaters from year 9, so there goes that argument.

I really don't expend much effort talking about the GM or the Coach any more. Maurice will be coach forever. Chevy will be GM forever. If that changes, well that will just be a pleasant surprise to me. But so far 9 years in, the franchise has had limited success on the ice. I am a Winnipeg Jets fan true and true, but I call the balls and strikes for what they are the way I see them.

 

[Jets 31]

I look at it as the Jets have made the playoffs 3 years in a row now and that's great. Would i have liked them to win more games in the playoffs absolutely but i'm not down on this team yet. Let's see what happens this year without the surprise of no Buff and no Little and then i think we can pass judgement a little more fairly.

 

[KingBogo]

I look at it as the Jets have made the playoffs 3 years in a row now and that's great. Would i have liked them to win more games in the playoffs absolutely but i'm not down on this team yet. Let's see what happens this year without the surprise of no Buff and no Little and then i think we can pass judgement a little more fairly.

What Chevy needs to do IMO is to treat this year and the next couple years as if his job depended on us returning to contender status. While I have mostly been a Chevy supporter and mostly like what he has done, he cannot IMO let us settle in long term to that bubble range of just in or just outside of the playoffs we found ourselves last season. My personal hope is we see a more aggressive Chevy over the next couple years.

 

[Jetfaninflorida]

I look at it as the Jets have made the playoffs 3 years in a row now and that's great.

Except we didn't.

 

[wpgfishfan]

I look at it as the Jets have made the playoffs 3 years in a row now and that's great. Would i have liked them to win more games in the playoffs absolutely but i'm not down on this team yet. Let's see what happens this year without the surprise of no Buff and no Little and then i think we can pass judgement a little more fairly.

We didn't make the playoffs the real way top 8, or make the playoffs by winning the play in round

 

[Jets 31]

Except we didn't.

Ok , we were right there and had the season been 82 games we could have. We were playing decent hockey right before the Covid stoppage.

 

[Jets 31]

What Chevy needs to do IMO is to treat this year and the next couple years as if his job depended on us returning to contender status. While I have mostly been a Chevy supporter and mostly like what he has done, he cannot IMO let us settle in long term to that bubble range of just in or just outside of the playoffs we found ourselves last season. My personal hope is we see a more aggressive Chevy over the next couple years.

I would agree with you. If we miss the playoffs this season i think both Chevy and Maurice might get let go .

 

[Whileee]

I would agree with you. If we miss the playoffs this season i think both Chevy and Maurice might get let go .

I'd be shocked if that happened.

First, this is going to be a shortened and weird season, with odd Divisional alignments. I think teams are unlikely to make big changes to their hockey department if things go sideways in these circumstances. The only way I could see something big happening is if the Jets completely tank, and it becomes clear that they can't play hard together.

Second, I actually think that the Jets are going to still balance the present with the future this season. They likely think that they have the horses to make the playoffs (under normal circumstances), but I also foresee a bit of a youth movement, particularly on D. I think the Jets are more likely to target 2021/22 as their next best season to make a strong push (especially if Perfetti develops quickly).

 

[blueandgoldguy]

We need to keep more of our draft picks if we are want to be a draft and develop team.

10 drafts so we should have had 70 picks. We have only had 67 picks at this point. Given our relative inability to sign free agents compared to most NHL teams we should be trading for an average of one more draft pick than we would receive each year.

8 picks per season instead of 7.
80 picks over 10 seasons instead of 67.

 

[bumblebeeman]

We need to keep more of our draft picks if we are want to be a draft and develop team.

10 drafts so we should have had 70 picks. We have only had 67 picks at this point. Given our relative inability to sign free agents compared to most NHL teams we should be trading for an average of one more draft pick than we would receive each year.

8 picks per season instead of 7.
80 picks over 10 seasons instead of 67.

But if the Jets can't sign UFAs then trading picks for proven NHLers or depth isn't that bad is it?

 

[surixon]

If the Jets get off to a poor start I forsee Maurice being let go.

I do also agree with @Whileee that the org is likely targeting 21-22 as contention season but I do believe that the org isn't spending to the cap this year to miss the playoffs. I imagine the org expects to make the playoffs and maybe win a round. I would imagine that we see a coaching change if they miss this year.

Chevy will get one more coach imo.

 

[Teemusalami204]

If the Jets get off to a poor start I forsee Maurice being let go.

I do also agree with @Whileee that the org is likely targeting 21-22 as contention season but I do believe that the org isn't spending to the cap this year to miss the playoffs. I imagine the org expects to make the playoffs and maybe win a round. I would imagine that we see a coaching change if they miss this year.

Chevy will get one more coach imo.

I disagree. Chevy and Maurice both have the same time frame as the wheeler contract

 

[Jetfaninflorida]

Ok , we were right there and had the season been 82 games we could have. We were playing decent hockey right before the Covid stoppage.

There are 'could haves', and then there is what actually happened. If we are going to use could haves let's shoot higher. We could have won the Stanley Cup 9 years in a row.

GJG

 

[surixon]

There are 'could haves', and then there is what actually happened. If we are going to use could haves let's shoot higher. We could have won the Stanley Cup 9 years in a row.

GJG

I have a hard time ranking what happened last year given that the playins were counted as playoff stats officially by the NHL. So I'm just going to say we have made the playoffs 2.5 out of the last three years.

 

[Jets 31]

There are 'could haves', and then there is what actually happened. If we are going to use could haves let's shoot higher. We could have won the Stanley Cup 9 years in a row.

GJG

Not without our #1 and best center we had by far and one of our best goal scorers and no Buff . I'm a pretty positive guy when it comes to the Jets but we would have needed a small miracle to win a series last year. With any luck we will play Calgary again this season and destroy them.

 

[JetsUK]

If the Jets get off to a poor start I forsee Maurice being let go.

I do also agree with @Whileee that the org is likely targeting 21-22 as contention season but I do believe that the org isn't spending to the cap this year to miss the playoffs. I imagine the org expects to make the playoffs and maybe win a round. I would imagine that we see a coaching change if they miss this year.

Chevy will get one more coach imo.

I just don't see that happening, especially in a Covid season, with its uncertainty of scheduling and competition, and with the financial constraints teams and owners are facing.

IMO, teams on the bubble, including the Jets, will be looking to 2021-22 as The Real Test, and using this season as a chance to develop talent and systems. So long as the Jets avoid something catastrophic, like a 0-20 start, then we aren't likely to see any changes at the top. It's both too expensive, and too hard to justify this year.

I can see the Lowry hire as a path to the future in terms of coaching -- can well imagine that contract talks included discussion of a succession plan towards the HC position, even if those plans are never realized. This may also impact the Moose coaching staff, since I don't expect Vincent to hang around anymore if he gets a better offer.

But we shall see what we shall see, I guess.

 

[KingBogo]

But if the Jets can't sign UFAs then trading picks for proven NHLers or depth isn't that bad is it?

Some teams are very active trading away and obtaining draft picks as a type of currency to facilitate trades to improve their rosters. Probably the 2 best examples would be the Avs and Vegas. For example, since January 2017 Sakic has made 23 trades that saw 10 draft picks come in and 13 draft picks go out including 5 - 2nd round picks, 2 - 3rd round picks and 7 - 4th round or later picks. In the process added players like Toews, Saad, Kadri, Burakovsky, Grubauer, Graves and Girard. And of course we all know Vegas trades draft picks and top prospects like Halloween candy to get what they want when they want it.

 

[cbcwpg]

What happens when you sign an aging dinosaur to a 5 year $8.250MM per year contract.

You can't afford to keep good things.

 

[Neuf]

Today was the make or break. Chevy's success means Jets are winning, so I hope it goes down as a "make"

 

[cbcwpg]

Today was the make or break. Chevy's success means Jets are winning, so I hope it goes down as a "make"

Chevy just put himself on notice. If this doesn't work out he will get fired. No way Chevy made this deal without Chipman's approval.

 

[Eyeseeing]

Chevy just put himself on notice. If this doesn't work out he will get fired. No way Chevy made this deal without Chipman's approval.

Or Wheeler’s

 

[Whileee]

What happens when you sign an aging dinosaur to a 5 year $8.250MM per year contract.

You can't afford to keep good things.

The Jets could afford Laine. He only needed another 2-3 M and Perrault coming off the books.

But the Jets needed to solve their C position. PLD does that with a loud "Bang". Hard to think of another team as strong down the C than the Jets, and they still have lots of forward scoring talent, with Perfetti and KVes and Torgersson in the pipeline.