News Article: NHL 30 in 30: Winnipeg Jets

[Duke749]

Why would you call a Lowry/Slater/O'Dell be a "goon" line? Slater is a great 4th line center with some offensive capabilities and Lowry projects better then that. O'Dell isn't a goon so I don't know why you even call him that.

 

[Atoyot]

Please re-read what I said.



I have no desire to see Lowry/Slater/O'Dell as 4th line goons. I'm sick and tired of the "5-on-5 penalty kill", and would like to see another competent line on the ice. And yes, that does mean giving them 8-to-12 offensive minutes/night in Winnipeg, maybe more as they improve. I wouldn't dare try that with Tangradi/Wright/Thorburn, who have no business being on the Jets roster.

The only thing I agree with here is that Thorburn has no business being on the Jets' roster.

 

[garret9]

I want Tangradi-Slater-????
???? = best player in camp

The 4th line is going to get buried in the d-zone with a ton of d-zone starts in order to help shelter and push Scheifele and Jokinen's lines (probably in that order).

From what I've noticed Tangradi seems fine in pushing the play forward, but has difficulty in making the most of his scoring chances. Either way I much rather have a guy who when with Slater on the 4th line had positive scoring chance differentials and possession...

 

[Sweech]

Please re-read what I said.



I have no desire to see Lowry/Slater/O'Dell as 4th line goons. I'm sick and tired of the "5-on-5 penalty kill", and would like to see another competent line on the ice. And yes, that does mean giving them 8-to-12 offensive minutes/night in Winnipeg, maybe more as they improve. I wouldn't dare try that with Tangradi/Wright/Thorburn, who have no business being on the Jets roster.

It doesn't matter if you call them 3b they'd still be 4th choice for minutes and therefore the 4th line.

There's only so many minutes and good offensive opportunities in a game. You're either taking the minutes away from the other three lines and/or burying one of the lines in defensive zone starts.

The point still remains their development would be much better served in St. John's.

 

[trouty]

I hope O Dell makes the Jets,im sick of seeing him goon it up in St.John's,that 1 fight hes been in just too much of a goon.Again people mis using the term goon

 

[Guardian17]

They're featuring all the teams.

Or do you mean it's just nice to have the team back?

Yeah, I'm still basking in the glow of having the team back!

 

[knorthern knight]

Why would you call a Lowry/Slater/O'Dell be a "goon" line? Slater is a great 4th line center with some offensive capabilities and Lowry projects better then that. O'Dell isn't a goon so I don't know why you even call him that.

What we have here is a failure to communicate The point I'm trying to make is that I don't see them as a stereotypical 4th line. I see them as one of 2 lines competing for the role of 3rd line. Or possibly sharing the 3rd-line role.

 

[knorthern knight]

It doesn't matter if you call them 3b they'd still be 4th choice for minutes and therefore the 4th line.

There's only so many minutes and good offensive opportunities in a game. You're either taking the minutes away from the other three lines and/or burying one of the lines in defensive zone starts.

The point still remains their development would be much better served in St. John's.

Lots of coaches would love to be able to roll 4 competent lines, especially near the end of the game when a 3-line rotation is getting tired. Again, I'm not looking for a stereotypical 4th line.

 

[BizZombie]

The only thing I agree with here is that Thorburn has no business being on the Jets' roster.

Finding a taker for Chris Thorburn, and any sort of draft pick coming back, would make the team better. While we can all understand the mythical powers of The Nose,and they are indeed considerable, another player in his spot would be an immediate improvement. At the same time, his cap hit becomes available; as well as his potentially tying up a 23 man roster spot. That roster spot has more real value than Thorborn.

 

[Duke749]

What we have here is a failure to communicate The point I'm trying to make is that I don't see them as a stereotypical 4th line. I see them as one of 2 lines competing for the role of 3rd line. Or possibly sharing the 3rd-line role.

Then don't call them a goon line and there won't be a communication error.

 

[Sweech]

What we have here is a failure to communicate The point I'm trying to make is that I don't see them as a stereotypical 4th line. I see them as one of 2 lines competing for the role of 3rd line. Or possibly sharing the 3rd-line role.

They'd still be splitting 3rd line + 4th line minutes.

No matter which way you cut it, that's not optimal development time.

That's why you see "bottom six scorers" like Matt Halischuk who can put up points in the bottom six if you want that type of role player - so that the young kids can actually develop properly. As Halischuk won't really develop further. The O'Dells and Lowry's need to be able to practice the game a top 6 player plays and the only way they'll get those minutes and that role (without sacrificing the top club's success) is to do it at the lower level. AKA the AHL.

Top six and bottom six are taught to play the game differently and are graded differently by most coaches based on that role. I'd rather see how our young guys can develop in a top six role rather than just settling into a bottom six one.

 

[garret9]

They'd still be splitting 3rd line + 4th line minutes.

No matter which way you cut it, that's not optimal development time.

That's why you see "bottom six scorers" like Matt Halischuk who can put up points in the bottom six if you want that type of role player - so that the young kids can actually develop properly. As Halischuk won't really develop further. The O'Dells and Lowry's need to be able to practice the game a top 6 player plays and the only way they'll get those minutes and that role (without sacrificing the top club's success) is to do it at the lower level. AKA the AHL.

Top six and bottom six are taught to play the game differently and are graded differently by most coaches based on that role. I'd rather see how our young guys can develop in a top six role rather than just settling into a bottom six one.

With Noel it's more he has 3 types of lines:

LLW <= toughs with around 50% ozone starts

2 sheltered lines <= shelterdness variable on season-to-season and whether 2nd + 3rd or 2nd + 4th depends on players on roster

heavy d-zone start line <= to help increase sheltering of the rest of bottom 9...


We all know Scheif and Joki's lines will be the two sheltered lines. This means Slater's line will be defensive zone specialists...
IMO that makes the two best wingers leftover for that are (given the top9 listed in article):
Tangradi-Slater-XXX
XXX = likely Wright unless someone from camp proves to be better.

 

[Duke749]

Slater takes a lot of defensive zone draws as is so I would think it's safe to assume his line will have quite a few defensive zone starts.

Would really like to see him stay healthy all year. Every time he's gone down to injury the team for some reason tends to struggle. Maybe struggle isn't the right word but I know the last year in Atlanta, when he went down, the team just fell off the face of the earth and I think the lose of him contributed to that. I think he has a very positive influence on the team when he's healthy. But that's just me.