Looking for a new center

[DRW204]

Hence why I qualified it with "if Little rebounds."

Ryan O'Rielly also got number 1 Pp minutes which helps his production whereas Little was stuck on unit 2.

The year before last year Little scored 47 in 59. That paced 65 points over 82 games. We are looking at a player with one bad year here. I will wait to see if he bounces back before panicking. Ryan O'Rielly paced 63 that year btw.

so much this. Little's stats the last 3 seasons are very comparable to Stastny whilst being younger and cheaper. Stastny played with some very good talent in STL too. I have a tough time believing he fell off this significantly after 1 off-season where he was actually relatively healthy for once. Just don't pair him with Laine and I think he will produce

 

[ello]

Fair enough. I hope Little rebounds as much as anybody else. When he's at his best he is one of the most underrated centres in the league.

I just thought everything about him seemed a step slow last year and also Chevy felt the need to give up a first + a prospect to replace him with Stastny in the lineup, so I have my concerns, but again this is all just talk until the year starts and we see which Bryan Little we're getting next year.

 

[Romang67]

Oh is he? I don't watch TO a lot so I can't attest to that. What exactly would make you say that? Since atrocious is a pretty strong word.

Over the three seasons before Matthews arrived, when Bozak had to take defensive responsibility (couldn't be sheltered by Kadri and Matthews eating up all the hard minutes), 22 forwards allowed more shots attempts against in the entire league. The players who are ahead of him played an average of 600 minutes more than him over this time span.

Keep in mind that Bozak wasn't the shutdown center over this time span. That was Kadri. Bozak was centering Kessel and JVR (admittedly not an easy job). It was supposed to be an offensive line that simply bled shots against.

Over the past two seasons, he has been sheltered thanks to Matthews and Kadri. Despite this, only roughly 70 forwards in the entire league have allowed more shots attempts against over these two seasons, the vast majority of which are top 6 players.

He's a feel good story, what with him being undrafted and everything. But damn he's bad defensively.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

Bozak scored 43 pts playing third line centre all year. Don't see how that's not a comparable to Little. After all, Bozak has a career PPG of 0.614 compared to Little's 0.630.

But you are ignoring Bozak's defensive weakness.

 

[Flair Hay]

Damn... I dont hate Bryan Little at all. I'm just trying to be realistic about what I think it will take to win the Cup

 

[Skidooboy]

Damn... I dont hate Bryan Little at all. I'm just trying to be realistic about what I think it will take to win the Cup

funny I always thought a veteran Centre who can score some goals, get some assists, and win faceoffs, was on of the things it took to win a cup

 

[Flair Hay]

funny I always thought a veteran Centre who can score some goals, get some assists, and win faceoffs, was on of the things it took to win a cup

Especially if he is in your bottom six doing it against other teams bottom six. Like theres a reason Chevy shelled out a 1st rounder on a rental to fill his spot in between Laine and Ehlers.

I'm not saying the guy is washed. Just that I think we may need better in that spot. The same conclusion our GM and coach came to four months ago.

 

[Skidooboy]

To what?
For what?

to your lineup ideas of swapping Connor and Ehlers.....

not 100% convinced...but I feel like it's a good suggestion.

 

[surixon]

Especially if he is in your bottom six doing it against other teams bottom six. Like theres a reason Chevy shelled out a 1st rounder on a rental to fill his spot in between Laine and Ehlers.

I'm not saying the guy is washed. Just that I think we may need better in that spot. The same conclusion our GM and coach came to four months ago.

The Chicago Blackhawks won a cup in 14-15 with a 34 year old Brad Richards as their 2C. He scored a whopping 37 points that year.

They won with Bolland as their 2C in 2013. He had 14 points in 35 games.

Little is more than fine in that role. Especially if he bounces back to his 50 plus point self.

 

[ffh]

Especially if he is in your bottom six doing it against other teams bottom six. Like theres a reason Chevy shelled out a 1st rounder on a rental to fill his spot in between Laine and Ehlers.

I'm not saying the guy is washed. Just that I think we may need better in that spot. The same conclusion our GM and coach came to four months ago.

Wrong. The Jets went looking for a 3rd line centre once it became apperant roslovic would play regularly to play between Perreault and roslovic. The Jets were never looking for a 2nd line centre. Once st Louis called and told chevy Stastny was available they went after him cause they coveted him for years. To say the jets were looking for 2nd line centre at the deadline before st. Louis called is 100% wrong. They were looking for a 3rd line centre.

 

[Flair Hay]

Wrong. The Jets went looking for a 3rd line centre once it became apperant roslovic would play regularly to play between Perreault and roslovic. The Jets were never looking for a 2nd line centre. Once st Louis called and told chevy Stastny was available they went after him cause they coveted him for years. To say the jets were looking for 2nd line centre at the deadline before st. Louis called is 100% wrong. They were looking for a 3rd line centre.

All the rumours had us getting cock blocked by Vegas trying to get Brassard. Where we also were prepared to burn a first.

Maybe we will end up shuffling the lines around to make something work better. I dont doubt Little could hit 50 points if we put Wheeler back on his wing. But I'm not so sure Maurice is ready to split up a top five duo in the league.

 

[Neuf]

Still curious to try a European developed centre with Laine and Ehlers.

But I don't think a 2C is necessary if Roslovic can be a really good 3C.

If...

 

[Georgetown Al]

Especially if he is in your bottom six doing it against other teams bottom six. Like theres a reason Chevy shelled out a 1st rounder on a rental to fill his spot in between Laine and Ehlers.

I'm not saying the guy is washed. Just that I think we may need better in that spot. The same conclusion our GM and coach came to four months ago.

Hopefully Little got pissed off being demoted, I mean he went from first to third pretty darn fast...

May the real Brian Little show up this season, better than he ever was...

Go Go

 

[Asiantuntija]

The Chicago Blackhawks won a cup in 14-15 with a 34 year old Brad Richards as their 2C. He scored a whopping 37 points that year.

They won with Bolland as their 2C in 2013. He had 14 points in 35 games.

Little is more than fine in that role. Especially if he bounces back to his 50 plus point self.

No he isn't. He doesn't fit our top 6 because he doesn't know how to play with everyone. We won't ever win anything if our top 6 has extremely trash chemistry.

 

[surixon]

No he isn't. He doesn't fit our top 6 because he doesn't know how to play with everyone. We won't ever win anything if our top 6 has extremely trash chemistry.

So why did he have incredible chemistry in the top 6 the year prior when he paced 65 points? Do you really believe he lost all ability to play with the players on the team in a single year?

Some of you have short memories and zero patience.

 

[Gabe Kupari]

So the idea is to trade little so we can trade for a little like player at the deadline? Stastny was good but hes being overrated and also paid more than Scheif so yeah .. Glad we let him move on

 

[Festinator]

No he isn't. He doesn't fit our top 6 because he doesn't know how to play with everyone. We won't ever win anything if our top 6 has extremely trash chemistry.

Perreault-Little-Ehlers was the Jets best 2nd line last year. Bryan Little is fine, ELL is not fine.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

to your lineup ideas of swapping Connor and Ehlers.....

not 100% convinced...but I feel like it's a good suggestion.

Its simple - just swap them.
Ehlers - Scheif - Wheeler
Connor - Little - Laine

Ehlers and Laine are great friends off the ice. That doesn't necessarily mean they need to be on the same line. Assuming that Scheif and Wheeler want to be together, I leave them together. Certainly should be worth a try.

 

[Halberdier]

Sheifele doesn't know how to play with laine either he gave up after a week and went back with wheeler. Laine needs to get better at a lot of things . Copp is barely a 4th liner let alone a second line option. Neither is roslovic next year or petan ever.

After a week? No, it was after a less than 2 periods. And actually he was with Wheeler all the time, and that was in the first game after Scheifele's injury and he was so rusty it was really low punch by Maurice to even try that. Get your facts straight.

Sad truth is that Copp was way better as a 2nd line center for Laine and Ehlers than Little ever was. And I am not saying Copp is a decent 2nd line center, he is not. Though he is a really good complimentary player and can be used as a stunt on 2nd line without a problem.

Petan on the other hand has been just bad every time he got a change. Therefore I have pretty much lost all my faith on him. And that's sad since Petan is a smart guy, that can't be said of all the Jets forwards.

I hope Roslovic is up to the task already next season, but it's not sure he gets the change to even try. Mind you, PoMo is still the coach. Maybe if Little and some other center are injured for a moment, PoMo might give Roslovic an opportunity same way that Connor got his opportunity only because Perreault was injured and Roslovic got his change because of other injuries. Maurice is not too adventurous as a coach, to put it mildly, but by these otherwise unfortunate accidents he got things right (as he lacked other options and was therefore unable to do mistakes).

 

[Halberdier]

Its simple - just swap them.
Ehlers - Scheif - Wheeler
Connor - Little - Laine

Ehlers and Laine are great friends off the ice. That doesn't necessarily mean they need to be on the same line. Assuming that Scheif and Wheeler want to be together, I leave them together. Certainly should be worth a try.

While I dislike the idea playing Laine with Little as all statistical evidence suggests that it's just Bad Idea, swapping Ehlers and Connor could be a really good idea.

Mind you that Connor played his first 1-2 periods last season with Little and Laine (and that looked pretty good!), but got swapped with Ehlers during that first match since ESW was having a bad game, and Ehlers was having a really bad one, so he got demoted.

We already know that ELL is not working. Wr have seen some minor success by PLL and a glimpse of good looking play by CLL, so why not. Anything is better idea than ELL.

 

[StatisticsAddict99]

Wonder if we can get into the Seguin Sweepstakes next season

All I’m saying is whenever Scheifele and Seguin play rock, paper, scissors we always win(and us daily by a wide margin)... So imagine that every night

For real though, our lineup would be sick.

 

[Ippenator]

Perreault-Little-Ehlers was the Jets best 2nd line last year. Bryan Little is fine, ELL is not fine.

That line was not really that impressive with their efficiency. If you just look busy and dandy, but can’t score, it’s pretty much useless to praise the line, especially if they are a number 2 line at that point.

The plain shot admiration must be a very North American thing. It hasn’t been much of an important thing in Europe usually. Well, with kids following hockey it has been at least to some amount thought of being important, but usually in higher level hockey the shot amounts have only quite secondary and trivial meaning. What for example the top class Finnish coaches see as truly important, is the real high danger scoring chances, not just shots by themselves.

 

[surixon]

That line was not really that impressive with their efficiency. If you just look busy and dandy, but can’t score, it’s pretty much useless to praise the line, especially if they are a number 2 line at that point.

The plain shot admiration must be a very North American thing. It hasn’t been much of an important thing in Europe usually. Well, with kids following hockey it has been at least to some amount thought of being important, but usually in higher level hockey the shot amounts have only quite secondary and trivial meaning. What for example the top class Finnish coaches see as truly important, is the real high danger scoring chances, not just shots by themselves.

That line was not really that impressive with their efficiency. If you just look busy and dandy, but can’t score, it’s pretty much useless to praise the line, especially if they are a number 2 line at that point.

The plain shot admiration must be a very North American thing. It hasn’t been much of an important thing in Europe usually. Well, with kids following hockey it has been at least to some amount thought of being important, but usually in higher level hockey the shot amounts have only quite secondary and trivial meaning. What for example the top class Finnish coaches see as truly important, is the real high danger scoring chances, not just shots by themselves.

The average rate of production of that line during that period was 53 points/82 games. Not sure how that is inefficient as 53 points is good second line production.

 

[grieves]

The average rate of production of that line during that period was 53 points/82 games. Not sure how that is inefficient as 53 points is good second line production.

You can't really look at it like that. 53 points in unassisted goals is very different than 53 points with 2 assists per goal.

 

[surixon]

You can't really look at it like that. 53 points in unassisted goals is very different than 53 points with 2 assists per goal.

Ok the line produced 10 ES goals in that time. The Wheeler line produced 12 ES goals in that time.

Either the lines where both productive or both inefficient at putting the pick in the net.