Jets end-of-regular-season grades

[schmockeyknife]

i might drop stastny a tier. and bullyou gets an F.
but fair grades for the most part

 

[Mud Turtle]

I know we still have one game left (against the Leafs) but I'm doing the rankings anyways. Here goes...

A

Ehlers: Best I've ever seen him play. He was flying, well he always flies, but this time it produced regular results. And man, for a skinny guy can he ever shoot the puck. Great season.

Lowry: Why is a third line grinder so high you ask? Because he's among the best third liners in the NHL, and he's ours! The most physical Jet on a team that lost way too much of it's intimidation mojo. He's the last muscle left. Plus, he found his offensive upside. I'm sure there will be debate here.

B-plus

Scheifele: Listen, he's our best player (with apologies to Nick Ehlers). If Ehlers is our Rocket Richard, Scheif is our Jean Beliveau. Midway through the season, he was poised for an A or even an A-plus. However, our big slump hurt almost everybody's rankings. Still, he was our most consistent point producer and actually improved his defence during the second half of the season.

Andrew Copp: The only thing keeping him from an "A" is all the chances he missed on. He should have been an "A".


B

Josh Morrissey: This shows a big improvement since he was a C-minus a third of the way through the season. He really picked his game up.

Neal Pionk: He slowed down just a tad the second part of the season, and like I said, the big slump hurt everybody. He was an A-plus the first third of the season. Still, he continued to remind us that we won the Trouba trade in a huge way

Logan Stanley: Yeah, yeah, he didn't rack up the points and he was "somewhat" sheltered, but he blew the top off of the ceiling he was predicted. He played most of the season and made very, very few errors compared to his peers. He showed poise, a physical presence, a booming shot from the point (it is one of life's greatest mysteries why he only got one goal) and an elite outlet pass. Oh, and his stick check was pretty slick too. He gets this grade on the curve. It's not that he's as good as Morrissey or Pionk yet, but he had a great rookie season.

Kyle Connor: Here's another guy who was at least a B-plus until his massive slump. Still, he's one of the slickest forwards in the NHL. He's almost as fast as Ehlers, but a better puck handler. Trouble is, he handles the puck too much.

Paul Stastny: He was a solid pick-up when we almost made it to the finals a few years ago and he's still solid. His great hockey sense often makes up for his slower foot speed and penchant for taking penalties.

Mason Appleton: Mason is what happens when a big, strong player with average coordination knows how to exploit his positives... Go-T0-The-Net (Pierre-Luc, take note).

Blake Wheeler: Did he really play all those games with cracked ribs? Maybe he should have sat. He's a rare Jet who's grade actually improved over the last part of the season.

Connor Hellebuyck: He's a workhorse who continues to bail out defensive breakdowns. However, he let in more weak goals this season than last. Still an elite goalie who can be the difference maker starting next Wednesday.

Laurent Brossoit: Very similar season to last year. Highly capable back-up.

Matty Perreault: In my eyes, he was the third most physical forward after Lowry and Dubois... and he's little! Seemed slow out of the gate, but really showed how valuable he is midway through the season. Great supporting player.

Trevor Lewis: It's a stretch to give a fourth liner with minimal minutes a "B", but his work on the penalty kill and the fact that I really liked our fourth line this year helped.

Dylan Demelo: He stunk when he came late to the season. He eventually got his legs and looked pretty good during the second half.

C-plus

Jansen Harkins: Didn't have a bad season, the limited time he was playing. But he has too much talent to produce so little.

Nate Thompson: Given his role on the team, this is as good a score as he could get. I like his game, he's a good fourth liner.

Derek Forbort: He was looking like a solid "B" the first half of the season, then he started fading fast.

C
Tucker Poolman: Every now and then he makes a great play and you wonder why he doesn't do that more often.

D
Pierre Luc Dubois: Sorry, but based on expectations alone he should get a failing grade. To be fair, he looked solid in between quaratines and his injury, but he's a player who has to work his butt off to be effective. When he's working, he shows glimpses of stardom. When he doesn't, you feel sympathy for Torts. They say that he is a playoff guy, so let's keep our fingers crossed. He has all the tools to dominate. He just needs to play smart and angry.

Nathan Beaulieu: Great team player. Bleeds willingly for the team. Weaknesses were all too apparent during the season.

No Grades
Heinola: Didn't see enough action. Not fair to grade him at this point.
Vesalainen: Same as Heinola. Played much harder from what I did see of him, which was positive.

Coaching Staff
D

Sorry, but this team is far too talented - even with the holes on defense - to have suffered through the slump they went through. No excuses.

In my eyes, Ehlers gets an A+. The only one on the team.
Helle with an A.
Personally, I’d move Morrissey and Scheifele down to a C.
Stanley a very solid B.
Sorry Wheeler, I know you were injured, and Id like to give you a C, but you were floating around a lot so you get a D+. Your play just wasn’t C worthy. (pun intended).
Beaulieu gets an F and Forbert isn’t too far behind.


Biggest surprise? Definitely Logan Stanley.
Biggest disappointment? PLD (so far).

 

[Digital Kid]

My seven protected forwards based on watching every game available in Calgary would be Wheeler / Schiefele / Conner / Ehlers / Lowry / Copp / Appleton. If Appleton is exempt, then Dubois fits in at number 7.

 

[Digital Kid]

and am I the only one who thought Stanley was a big man who played like a little man? He honestly seemed hesitant to be physical out there. I honestly thought he was going to be Byfuglien part 2, but nope.

 

[GumbyCan2]

Let's see Wheeler's .....

Are you sure you want to go there?
Kind of like the end of year report card I had in Grade 3, my 1st time through it! Ugly and a solid "failed".

 

[GumbyCan2]

My seven protected forwards based on watching every game available in Calgary would be Wheeler / Schiefele / Conner / Ehlers / Lowry / Copp / Appleton. If Appleton is exempt, then Dubois fits in at number 7.

You are actually willing to expose ( lose) Dubois, for nothing? You can be Maurice's GM in Russia, in the KHL next year. He wasn't very good at times but his whole useage and minutes were eff'd up more by coaching and Scheifele over staying his linemates changed but he is still out there dogging it back to his end and waiting for offensive opportunities, 20+ seconds after his linemates have already gone to the bench. So you are really chosing to discredit Laine's value and worth as a Jet. Anyways, say hi to Paul in Russia for me next year, will you. Thanks.

 

[DannyGallivan]

Biggest surprise? Definitely Logan Stanley.
Biggest disappointment? PLD (so far).

I agree with this. I'm going with the theory that Dubois has been playing injured for most of the year. Can't wait to see him 100 per cent healthy, although I don't know if it will be in time for the playoffs.

 

[DannyGallivan]

and am I the only one who thought Stanley was a big man who played like a little man? He honestly seemed hesitant to be physical out there. I honestly thought he was going to be Byfuglien part 2, but nope.

He didn't run people or take stupid penalties. Being 6'7'' means that the refs will give you a second or even third look when you hit somebody (Buff got so many penalties just because he was stronger than everybody else).

In the first quarter of this games, I agree that Stanley looked tentative. However, he was smart enough to concentrate on playing solid defense before getting overly physical. As the season went on, he took more chances both offensively and physically. He flattened several players with clean hits through the year. Did any other Jet have more fighting majors this season?

Yeah, I'd like to see him play angry. However, I applaud his common sense and restraint in not taking dumb penalties.

 

[Benjamin Doveridge]

Mark Scheifele finishes top 10 in scoring in the entire NHL and everyone here gives him a B or even a C, lol?!?!?! This is hilarious. If you are grading him against himself and his previous all around performance sure. But, if you are grading him against the play of his teammates do you still seriously think that he should get a B or a C? In a regular season Kyle Connor would be well on his way to a 30 goal season. In the past 3 yrs he sits 6th overall in the entire NHL for goals. Jets fans give him an average grade of a C.

 

[Andy6]

Wheeler was nearly a point-per-game, despite whatever was going on, and ... it's between C's and D's for him. This is a tough crowd!

 

[leer2006]

Mark Scheifele finishes top 10 in scoring in the entire NHL and everyone here gives him a B or even a C, lol?!?!?! This is hilarious. If you are grading him against himself and his previous all around performance sure. But, if you are grading him against the play of his teammates do you still seriously think that he should get a B or a C? In a regular season Kyle Connor would be well on his way to a 30 goal season. In the past 3 yrs he sits 6th overall in the entire NHL for goals. Jets fans give him an average grade of a C.

If they were being graded on scoring only sure they would both get A’s. But hockey isn’t just played in the offensive zone and both Scheif and Connor’s games were far from good. I would say a b- for both would be very generous. Their lack of good play in their own zone is a solid F.

 

[JetsUK]

He didn't run people or take stupid penalties. Being 6'7'' means that the refs will give you a second or even third look when you hit somebody (Buff got so many penalties just because he was stronger than everybody else).

In the first quarter of this games, I agree that Stanley looked tentative. However, he was smart enough to concentrate on playing solid defense before getting overly physical. As the season went on, he took more chances both offensively and physically. He flattened several players with clean hits through the year. Did any other Jet have more fighting majors this season?

Yeah, I'd like to see him play angry. However, I applaud his common sense and restraint in not taking dumb penalties.

I tend to agree. Worth noting also that a) he's a rookie, so DeMeloing up a batch of penalties would see him benched PDQ, and b) even while he wasn't blowin' guys up he was playing some solid if sheltered D and that's the main thing, IMO. There were already a few times when you could see opposing players seem to wonder if it was really worth trying to play around his size and reach -- deterrent counts for something, just as with Buff (and Wee Toby, who was not easy to out-position or outplay for the majority of his time here, even when he'd stopped putting up points).

 

[Whileee]

If they were being graded on scoring only sure they would both get A’s. But hockey isn’t just played in the offensive zone and both Scheif and Connor’s games were far from good. I would say a b- for both would be very generous. Their lack of good play in their own zone is a solid F.

Actually, I think the defensive play of Scheifele was decent overall, and improved as the season progressed. Connor still struggled, but he was also better as the year went on.