Jets 4th line once again playing the least minutes in the NHL

[Arthur Fonzarelli]

Every year it's the same off season banter that the Jets will play the 4th line more. Lots of talk, but never backed up by the numbers.

All NHL teams have now played at least 9 games. Among players playing at least 9 games, the players averaging the least amount of minutes played in the NHL are Andrew Copp (7:06) & Chris Thorburn (7:23)

The two Jets forwards that have been platooning are Peluso (7:08) & Petan (9:24). Petan however has received a total of 10:57 of PP time over 8 games. Without that his ice time more close resembles the rest of the 4th line (8:01)

There was lots of talk last year that Jets ended up as banged up as they were due to overplaying the top 9, yet the Jets are falling into the same pattern once again.

Sources:

http://espn.go.com/nhl/statistics/player/_/stat/timeonice/sort/avgTimeOnIce/count/41/order/false

http://www.nhl.com/stats/player?rep...=2&aggregate=0&filter=gamesPlayed,gte,8&pos=S

Click to read more...

 

[Jets4Life]

When Raffl recovers and plays a few games, I am sure he will be called up, with Peluso, and possibly Thorburn going down to the AHL.

 

[Daximus]

When Raffl recovers and plays a few games, I am sure he will be called up, with Peluso, and possibly Thorburn going down to the AHL.

I doubt either of them get sent down. They'll send down Petan before Thor or Tony.

 

[Koonta]

I thought the 4th line was quite good against Chicago. They were generating some offense I thought, I think you'll see them gradually getting more icetime.

 

[Arthur Fonzarelli]

It's not like this is even close to other teams. The Kings are the next closest team playing their 4th line roughly 8:30 per game.

Looking at the 90 least played players that have played at least 9 games, Only 10 players average less than 8 minutes per game & 3 of them are Jets.

7-8 minutes 10 players
8-9 minutes 13 players
9-10 minutes 24 players
10-11 minutes 40 players

The majority of NHL teams are playing their 4th line 3-4 minutes more per game than the Jets.

 

[Arthur Fonzarelli]

When Raffl recovers and plays a few games, I am sure he will be called up, with Peluso, and possibly Thorburn going down to the AHL.

I doubt Thorburn goes down. I actually think he's looked pretty good this season.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

It's not like this is even close to other teams. The Kings are the next closest team playing their 4th line roughly 8:30 per game.

Looking at the 90 least played players that have played at least 9 games, Only 10 players average less than 8 minutes per game & 3 of them are Jets.

7-8 minutes 10 players
8-9 minutes 13 players
9-10 minutes 24 players
10-11 minutes 40 players

The majority of NHL teams are playing their 4th line 3-4 minutes more per game than the Jets.

But the Jets are playing their 4th line 2+ min more than last year.

 

[jetsforever]

When Raffl recovers and plays a few games, I am sure he will be called up, with Peluso, and possibly Thorburn going down to the AHL.

I doubt those 2 will go to the AHL. If Raffl comes up at all it will be due to injury IMO.

 

[Sweech]

Yup same old, same old.

Everyone was saying we would have this new improved 4th line taking up minutes and I said I'd believe it when I see it. I still don't see it.

 

[YWGinYYZ]

It's unfortunate that rookies never improve their play, to earn expanded minutes. Oh, wait: that happens, from time to time.

Minus the snark: it could be that those guys are simply learning their craft, and may earn expanded minutes going forward. Right now, I agree: the 4th has been fairly ineffective outside of about 2 games, leading to expanded icetime for the other lines.

Hopefully I'm right, and Petan and Copp can wick it up, and start taking some of that TOI from the other lines to spell them off.

 

[Evil Little]

Too much PK time.

That's all.

If they ever sort that **** out the ice time will look much less Slater/Peluso-y.

 

[Arthur Fonzarelli]

Too much PK time.

That's all.

If they ever sort that **** out the ice time will look much less Slater/Peluso-y.

In comparison to other teams, the Jets rank 18th in terms of penalty minutes taken & 11th in time short handed, so they're about average in that regard.

http://www.nhl.com/stats/team?repor...lltime&season=20152016&gameType=2&aggregate=0

geez are statistics readily available or what!

What's nasty is the PP/PK differential. Jets are the 3rd worst team in term of of this. Clearly a sign the refs still have it out for us?? We've been on the PK 17:53 seconds more in total than on the PP.

 

[PhilJets]

Coach PMO is in love with
Little Line and Lowry's Line

too much minutes specially the Lowry's line. They played first line minutes a couple of games already, which shouldn't happen.

 

[Aavco Cup]

Some of those teams 4th line playerskill penalties. Would be interesting to see how teams compare in 5 on 5 TOI.

 

[Sweech]

It's unfortunate that rookies never improve their play, to earn expanded minutes. Oh, wait: that happens, from time to time.

Minus the snark: it could be that those guys are simply learning their craft, and may earn expanded minutes going forward. Right now, I agree: the 4th has been fairly ineffective outside of about 2 games, leading to expanded icetime for the other lines.

Hopefully I'm right, and Petan and Copp can wick it up, and start taking some of that TOI from the other lines to spell them off.

We're not the only team with those types of issues though.

What we are is the team that consistently has the absolute least minutes going to the 4th line. I don't really think it has anything to do with rookies anymore than it does the other litany of excuses we've seen run out last year either. If someone can think of an excuse that is 100% unique to the Jets I'll listen. So far nothing has come close.

 

[YWGinYYZ]

We're not the only team with those types of issues though.

What we are is the team that consistently has the absolute least minutes going to the 4th line. I don't really think it has anything to do with rookies anymore than it does the other litany of excuses we've seen run out last year either. If someone can think of an excuse that is 100% unique to the Jets I'll listen. So far nothing has come close.

Have we ever run 2 rookies on the 4th line? Does this 4th line look the same as last year? The year before? There are some differences this year. I understand the consternation, but I do think we have to look at the situation: one 20yr old, and one 21yr old raw rookie on that line.

I think it's too early to judge - it looks like a bit of an experiment to get away from what the 4th line was in previous years.

 

[Sweech]

Have we ever run 2 rookies on the 4th line? Does this 4th line look the same as last year? The year before? There are some differences this year. I understand the consternation, but I do think we have to look at the situation: one 20yr old, and one 21yr old raw rookie on that line.

I think it's too early to judge - it looks like a bit of an experiment to get away from what the 4th line was in previous years.

Having a 20 year old rookie and a 21 year old rookie doesn't seem to prevent other teams from giving those players more icetime.

The excuses change, but the results do not.

We don't give our 4th line minutes. Period. It's not in the slightest bit more complicated than that.

 

[Jesus Christ Horburn]

I think Petan should go down to the AHL. Not because he doesn't deserve to be in the NHL, but because it makes no sense to give him so little ice time. Even Copp could use some time with the Moose tbh.

It was ambitious to think that both Petan and Copp would have Ehlers/Lowry-like rookie seasons.

 

[YWGinYYZ]

Having a 20 year old rookie and a 21 year old rookie doesn't seem to prevent other teams from giving those players more icetime.

The excuses change, but the results do not.

We don't give our 4th line minutes. Period. It's not in the slightest bit more complicated than that.

I'm sorry, but I feel that it is. This year is different - are you denying that we've never played rookies on our 4th line, Sweech? I've always hated our 4th line, but think that we could see a difference this year, as we're doing something we've never done before.

I'm patient though. I can wait for the results if they're truly going to make a go of a more talented 4th line. I won't deny that the end result could end up being more of the same, but I'll withhold any further judgement until we're further into the season.

 

[Sweech]

I'm sorry, but I feel that it is. This year is different - are you denying that we've never played rookies on our 4th line, Sweech? I've always hated our 4th line, but think that we could see a difference this year, as we're doing something we've never done before.

I'm patient though. I can wait for the results if they're truly going to make a go of a more talented 4th line.

I'm saying there's plenty of other teams who do exactly what we do with our 4th line, like playing rookies and yet they find a way to get them more icetime. This rookie excuse is not unique to the Jets. What is unique is that we are dead last in 4th line icetime - again.

Not to mention we play rookies up and down our lineup, they still get icetime...somehow being a rookie on any other line is no longer a hindrance.

 

[YWGinYYZ]

I'm saying there's plenty of other teams who do exactly what we do with our 4th line, like playing rookies and yet they find a way to get them more icetime.

Not to mention we play rookies up and down our lineup, they still get icetime...

Right: I'm not disputing that. What I'm saying is: we've never played rooks on the 4th line. I'm willing to let this play out a bit further before passing judgment and deeming it to be "more of the same crappy 4th line that doesn't get any minutes so we run our top 9 into the ground" type stuff.

 

[Sweech]

Right: I'm not disputing that. What I'm saying is: we've never played rooks on the 4th line. I'm willing to let this play out a bit further before passing judgment and deeming it to be "more of the same crappy 4th line that doesn't get any minutes so we run our top 9 into the ground" type stuff.

I don't really think we run our top 9 into the ground I just don't think we play our 4th line. To me it's some coaching decision that I don't quite understand, but to me it is what it is.

 

[Aavco Cup]

LLW 18:33 - 19:53 (avg 19:12)
BLS 16:01 - 17.26 (avg 16.40)
PSE 14:40 - 15:44 (avg 15:07)
PPCT 7:05 - 9:23 (avg 7.44)

Where would you take the ice time from? LLW? Are you OK with the 4th line taking matchups that would normally fall to LLW or BLS? Will that help us win games?

 

[Guerzy]

LLW 18:33 - 19:53 (avg 19:12)
BLS 16:01 - 17.26 (avg 16.40)
PSE 14:40 - 15:44 (avg 15:07)
PPCT 7:05 - 9:23 (avg 7.44)

Where would you take the ice time from? LLW? Are you OK with the 4th line taking matchups that would normally fall to LLW or BLS? Will that help us win games?

Agree Aavco.

I am all about rolling 4 lines, I think you have to, but I have absolutely no complaints about how the ice time is being distributed to this point. We have 3 solid lines that are sharing the bulk here and I don't think playing the minutes they are now will run them into the ground. Having 3 very competent lines right now who all contribute and carry the load is something that hasn't always been the case over the last 4 years. With how the ice time is being distributed, and with the depth we have in the top 9, I personally don't want to see ice time cut in the top 3 lines so we can give the 4th a bit more.

 

[SensibleGuy]

Meh, we're moving in the right direction. Running the 4th a couple minutes more per game than last year. Sending petan down to the A isn't going to increase the 4th line's minutes.