Pre-Game Talk: Jets @ Blues | Thurs, Oct 4th, 7PM CT | TSN | Season Opener

[Mortimer Snerd]

Thank you, a little sanity.

Putting Chia up with Buff makes that possible and I don't mind that at all. I don't mind Morrow playing there either.

Maybe swap them in and out depending on performance.

There is nothing wrong with Sami Niku playing another year on the Moose. He's going to get his opportunity and I'd bet he plays his way onto the team much like Connor did last year.

Poolman? I'm not so convinced. I saw a guy who did a yeoman's job filling in when needed last year but might have been playing over his head. Will he ever be more than a tweener? Who knows, he still has time to improve.

Yes.

JoMo - Trouba
Chia/Morrow - Buff
Kuli - Myers
Morrow/Chia

That is still a good D corps. Both Chiarot and Morrow have played well with Buff in the past. They may need him carrying them to play on the 2nd pair but what do we care? As long as it is effective.

We don't want to rush Niku. I'm not sold on Poolman. I hope Kuli is able to bounce back. In the meantime, we have Morrow & Chiarot.

I was unimpressed by the Morrow acquisition initially but he is better than I expected and we needed the depth more than I expected. Good move Chevy!

 

[DannyGallivan]

Did I ever tell you my Ulanov Jets story?

I was a young lad and frequented Scandals night club back in the day. Well anyway one night me and my buddy were sitting at one of those long oval shaped tables and this guy taps me on the shoulder and asks if he and his buds can sit at the table. I look over and say "sure" well it turns out its Darrin Shannon,Keith Tkachuk,Stu Barnes and Igor Ulanov. Great night, lots of girls around us. But the thing I remember is I was eating a slice of pizza that they used to make at the bars all the time. Ulanov is looking at me and points to the pizza and says "where". So I take him over to the pizza spot and he gets a slice and in about 10 seconds he inhales it. He turns to the pizza guy and orders 2 large pizzas. I thought he was buying it for the table so we return back with them and he plops down at the end and proceeds to eat both of them himself! He then gets up goes back and orders 2 more and eats them!. I was like holy **** what a machine! He probably had about 20 beers too! Good old Ulanov!

My Ulanov story...
Was at Grapes on Main around '94 after a Jets/Blues game. Players from both teams were there. Me and friends were sitting at the bar, when Brett Hull and Phil Housley sat directly beside me. After awhile, Ulanov came up to Housley to say "hi". After a bit of small talk he left, then Housley proceeded to mock him to Brett Hull as they both cracked up. Not very nice. Another small detail, both Hull and Housley chain smoked big time.

 

[1stDan]

Chiarot in the top 4 to start the year......... My expectations are diminished. Hopefully Kuli gets it together soon so they can at least throw Morrow up there with Buff. Not like that thrills me though. That left side D has been the elephant in the room all summer and through camp.

Perreault and Little were really effective together for a good stretch last season. Matty P can drive that line.

Chia is good when he plays a physical game.
I wish he would shoot more too. The guy has a cannon.

 

[1stDan]

Enstrom on a cheap one year deal sure would look good right now...…

A cheap 1 year deal while he misses half the season from multiple injuries?

 

[Peggy]

I like the idea of having ehlers with little and perreault
Could end up giving ehlers another gear

 

[DannyGallivan]

I really loved the Russian influx, even though not all the players were... great. Khabibulin, Davydov and Zhamnov - I loved those guys

For me... worst period of my Jets fandom. I even preferred the painful but quaint early years with Lukowich and the goalie of the week (anybody remember Lindsay Middlebrook?)

And I can understand Khabby and Zhamnov, but Davydov? You liked Davydov?

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

the 4th line is a quintessential 3rd scoring line, while line 3 is a defensive/shutdown line. I wouldn't get to caught up in the numbering.

Intrigued to see Maurice put Ehlers-Roslovic-Vesalainen on a line together. 3 relatively young players, with Rosie playing as a full time C for the first time and a rookie in Vesa.

Would rather see

Morrow-Buff, though.

Without getting caught up in the numbering, Ehlers is still in the bottom 6. He is the steadying veteran presence on that line.

I get that Connor found immediate success when put on the Scheifele line but does anyone think that Ehlers could not have been as productive there? I understand Scheifele and Wheeler being cemented together but Connor on the 1st line does not need to be cast in stone.

Whatever, we will see how this works out but Ehlers needs more minutes.

 

[cbcwpg]

There are teams in this league that would have Ehlers-Roslovic-Vesalainen as their 2nd line or in the case of Ottawa, probably their first..

The Jets lineup shows just how much skill and depth the Jets have.

 

[nobody imp0rtant]

"Modo’s dreary notice - the dream recruit allegedly wants to stay in the NHL”
Modos trista besked – Tobias Enström uppges vilja stanna i NHL
from 22 June.

All the Swedish articles and interviews with his agent and Modo’s management over the summer have painted a picture that he really did want to stay in the NHL, and Modo was only his backup plan. His agent has also explicitly stated this being the case.

Toby Enstrom: The Backbone of Northern Norway.

You gotta love Google Translate.

 

[Aggie204]

I’m curious on how many coaches in the NHL deploy their 6 million dollar forward on the “4th” line?

Ehlers will feast, ala 4th line Jesus last season.

 

[Joe Hallenback]

Enstrom was ok but the guy was passed his due date. No other team wanted him either.

 

[Zhamnov5GoalGame]

For me... worst period of my Jets fandom. I even preferred the painful but quaint early years with Lukowich and the goalie of the week (anybody remember Lindsay Middlebrook?)

And I can understand Khabby and Zhamnov, but Davydov? You liked Davydov?

Sorry is someone talking about Zhamnov? (peaks out from the bushes)

Davydov is most famous for being hit from behind into the CBC camera. He smooshed his face on the lens. SCTV smell-o-vision style. I believe that was the Canucks playoff series... could be wrong.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

Most teams would be salivating over second line Ehlers.

This is absolutely a worse team than the 114-point team of last year. In part because the bar is simply so high, and because we have lost important players.

We have lost some important players. We have also lost some sub-par players. If we compare to the same time last year, I think we are better.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

So you don't see Perrault as a top 6 guy. Good to know.

He is our 3rd best LW. You do the math.

 

[DannyGallivan]

We have lost some important players. We have also lost some sub-par players. If we compare to the same time last year, I think we are better.

It all depends on how we do in the playoffs. Don't forget, we made it to the conference finals with an astonishingly low four goal performance by Laine and Ehlers COMBINED (as we know, it was all Laine... which was still less than half of what you'd expect from him).

If everything else remains equal, an improved playoffs by Laine and Ehlers will be enough to put us over the edge. Plus, our young depth is looking very good.

 

[garret9]

OHHHHH BUT PLUS MINUS IS EVIL AND HAS NOOOO VALUE (fancystats crew)

+/- has it's flaws but there's a reason it was used forever and still is. If you are consistently a plus it does mean something good
Doesn't feed the narrative, though.

Also, it's hilarious to me when people squawk that poor little Petan and Poolman are somehow getting jobbed by the org and not getting chances.

The Jets have proven since day one that if you are young, and you do something with the opportunities given, you will be given more. Hell, Poolman got that last year. He sucked this preseason and will have to get back into the good books.

Petan has done jack **** to get more opportunities. Sorry, your stellar CHL career (and AHL prowess) only get you an audition. You have to perform to succeed at this level.

It's hilarious to me that a group of professional men who manage and coach these players are being chastized for picking the players who made us close to the very best team in the NHL last year (after missing the playoffs the year before)

Oy vey.

Correction: +/- was used, but no longer really is... because it is known to be deceptive. It has nothing to do with fancystats even or goals being inferior to shots... It just doesn't say what people think it says.

One season Mark Stuart was 16th out of 16 Jet defenders in all three of PP goal differential, PK goal differential, and EV goal differential, but 8th out of 16 in +/-.

People should really just use 5v5 or EV goal differential instead of +/-, *with* Corsi. Then realize that less than a season worth of data you should be far more confident of the Corsi than the 5v5 goal differential, as the latter moves towards the former.

In large samples they tend to be the same:

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

Opposing coaches won't be so happy when VRE eats up their bottom 6, though. Maurice is following the approach of spreading his play drivers over all 4 lines, which is an approach recommended by Garret and other analytics folks. I think Vesalainen and Roslovic are going to be very effective.

And this is why I am in 'wait and see' mode. I'm hoping they get to dominate weaker opposition and also that TOI distribution is relatively flat. If we get that and Perreault is the catalyst we need with Little and Laine, we're golden. Its worth a try.

 

[buggs]

Without getting caught up in the numbering, Ehlers is still in the bottom 6. He is the steadying veteran presence on that line.

I get that Connor found immediate success when put on the Scheifele line but does anyone think that Ehlers could not have been as productive there? I understand Scheifele and Wheeler being cemented together but Connor on the 1st line does not need to be cast in stone.

Whatever, we will see how this works out but Ehlers needs more minutes.

I love me some farm league, but yeah, with Wheeler and Ehlers who wouldn't feast? That's not to take away from Connor as he has sick hands and is going to be an absolute beauty, but part of the product of his success is those linemates.

Ehlers will need minutes for sure or he will be wanting a way to get them, that may mean requesting a trade down the road if it doesn't happen. I don't think he's any less talented than Connor (perhaps different gifts) for example.

Aside, didn't both Lukowich and Hawerchuk both smoke a ton while they were players? Seems like it used to be really prevalent in the WHA/early (Winnipeg) NHL days.

 

[Jet]

For me... worst period of my Jets fandom. I even preferred the painful but quaint early years with Lukowich and the goalie of the week (anybody remember Lindsay Middlebrook?)

And I can understand Khabby and Zhamnov, but Davydov? You liked Davydov?

I LOVED HIM

He was enigmatic. A guy who had a ton of skill but could never put it together (Nic Petan )

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

Last year before the season I predicted 103-105 points and a second place finish in our division.

I don’t see us getting 114 again and I would be satisfied with anything over 100 points which would put us in the top 3 in our division again.

I think we will have a mild regression in the save % and our PK will drop into the mid to bottom half tier again if we are a shooting gallery like last year and that combination will cost us about 12-14 points. Last year was the perfect storm and we had a goal differential of +59 which is insane and that is not repeatable IMO. That took a great save % by Helly and an insane PP/PK. I would say anything over +40 this year and we are in Great shape.

The good news is none of it matters if we make the playoffs. For me I really don’t care how it goes I just want to get back to the dance.

Goaltending will be key. As always. But the range for our finish has to include the Presidents Trophy too. I'm optimistic but with the competition in the Central, the vagaries of injuries, etc, we could finish 1st OA or out of the playoffs.

 

[Robinson2187]

I think if VRE stays together we should call them the REV line instead. It sounds healthier.

 

[garret9]

Enstrom was ok but the guy was passed his due date. No other team wanted him either.

I heard he got offers, but not from teams or $value he wanted.

 

[Tommigun]

My Ulanov story...
Was at Grapes on Main around '94 after a Jets/Blues game. Players from both teams were there. Me and friends were sitting at the bar, when Brett Hull and Phil Housley sat directly beside me. After awhile, Ulanov came up to Housley to say "hi". After a bit of small talk he left, then Housley proceeded to mock him to Brett Hull as they both cracked up. Not very nice. Another small detail, both Hull and Housley chain smoked big time.

Did they also drink?

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

I love me some farm league, but yeah, with Wheeler and Ehlers who wouldn't feast? That's not to take away from Connor as he has sick hands and is going to be an absolute beauty, but part of the product of his success is those linemates.

Ehlers will need minutes for sure or he will be wanting a way to get them, that may mean requesting a trade down the road if it doesn't happen. I don't think he's any less talented than Connor (perhaps different gifts) for example.

Aside, didn't both Lukowich and Hawerchuk both smoke a ton while they were players? Seems like it used to be really prevalent in the WHA/early (Winnipeg) NHL days.

People seem to be very aware of KC's 31 goals on a great line but somehow manage to forget Ehlers 29 on a dysfunctional line. I have no doubt that Ehlers would have scored at least 2 more with Scheif. Of course, I don't know how many KC might have managed with Little & Laine. I speculate that he would have done very well.

Standards of performance have changed. I may be mistaken but I think I remember some athletes smoking on the sidelines/bench. It used to be so common that no one even noticed. It was everywhere. Rich athletes used to party pretty hard year round too.

I think it is quite visible in the pace of play in the NHL. I don't remember it being near what it is today, years ago.

 

[DannyGallivan]

Did they also drink?

Oh yeah. Shooters for awhile. For a small venue, the place was packed with players from both teams... mostly Blues.

Even almost 25 years ago, it was a stark contrast to hockey in the 40's, 50's and 60's, where players wouldn't even eat in the same restaurant as their opposition.