Line Combos: Roster Discussions

[ulf]

Wow so many options.
Is it time to try Little at RW

Perreault Stats Little let Little snipe for his money
Ehlers Copp Laine thought this line worked very well
Connor Shief Wheels
Tanev Lowry we need these two back Army/Roslo who wants it more
Hendricks Dano awesome depth

 

[Kaako Kappo]

Wow so many options.
Is it time to try Little at RW

Perreault Stats Little let Little snipe for his money
Ehlers Copp Laine thought this line worked very well
Connor Shief Wheels
Tanev Lowry we need these two back Army/Roslo who wants it more
Hendricks Dano awesome depth

If this were to happen i'd stop watching until Maurice is out. YUCK.

 

[Jetsfan87]

If this were to happen i'd stop watching until Maurice is out. YUCK.

I agree, we traded for Statsny so we could copy the Pittsburgh model and roll with Scheif, Little, Stats and Lowry as our C for the playoffs (I would assume anyway). Shouldnt be breaking that up to improve our already good winger depth.

 

[Imcanadianeh]

He clearly said in the pregame interview that Stastny will begin with Nikki and Patty but we will check other options with Stastny also, PMOs words which got me real worried...

The way you worded it was that PMO said after their successful game that he was looking at possibly putting Stastny with other wingers, but that wasn’t the case.

 

[Arthur Fonzarelli]

Wow so many options.
Is it time to try Little at RW

Perreault Stats Little let Little snipe for his money
Ehlers Copp Laine thought this line worked very well
Connor Shief Wheels
Tanev Lowry we need these two back Army/Roslo who wants it more
Hendricks Dano awesome depth

The Jets biggest pressing need was depth at centre. We're overloaded on winger depth. Dano scored just below a PPG in his rookie season yet has been in the PB all season.

We pay a premium for a rental at centre & days later we're shifting an established centre to wing?

Please no.

I'm all for roster discussions. It sounds like great fun with our forward depth!

If we're talking about this season though, it all starts however with Scheifele, Little, Stastny & Lowry at centre .

Fill out the roster suggestions from there.

 

[kelsier]

I just can't fathom how some people can be so clouded by Maurice. His decision-making and line utilization has been poor at best. The mistakes are still there and he doesn't seem a whole a lot better coach than he was during 16-17. We have now clear evidence of ELL being one of the biggest, if not the biggest mistakes of the year yet he would overlook it (regardless or not by his own will) for frigging half a season. The biggest differences coming from 16-17 to 17-18 are improved net minding, somewhat better defense and of course special units. When you look at netminding, did P.Mo coach Hellebuyck to become All-Star level goalkeeper? I think not, they have different coaches for that. As for defense, that's the only improvement I can find to give the guy thumbs up, but then again the team hasn't suffered through an injury spree of 16-17 (and hasn't had the previously mentioned netminding issues), so who knows the exact difference. Now should we look at special units and power play in particular, he promoted Laine to the first powerplay unit and what happened? The Jets improved from 18th to 3rd best in the entire league. That begs the question - why was Laine, who's shot in particular was desperately been needed even back then - not playing in the first powerplay? Most likely answer: because he was a rookie. This worship he has for veterans has always been a trademark for Maurice and is even today which to me signals that he fears losing the locker room. Insecurity isn't a strength for someone that is supposed to be a leader. We watched him ice his guys who where by far the most unreliable against the Preds at the last minutes and this blind trust cost the team 2 points vs a team they pretty much the least wanted to lose against. At the end of the day he was given one of the best rosters to work with in the entire league, arguably one that's top 3 on the paper (and even better now than then). I have little doubt that most of the coaches could and would have achieved what he has or even do better given the exact same tools to work with.

 

[Kaako Kappo]

Im so sick of the false narrative that Laine did not play on first PP last year. Yes he did. Most of the year. Then the PP started sucking and Maurice switched it up a bit

 

[kelsier]

Im so sick of the false narrative that Laine did not play on first PP last year. Yes he did. Most of the year. Then the PP started sucking and Maurice switched it up a bit

No mr Maurice, he didn't. Laine played mostly only at 5 vs 3 situations and then in the second PP unit. At the very end of the season he changed places with Lowry I believe, and even that was probably the worst possible role to slot him in the formation (if their goal was to optimize scoring) cause he was used to screen goalies in front of the net and do some heavy lifting, as opposed to shoot the puck from his slot.

At least almost immediately we got another prime example of Maurice's way of using his assets (parking the best shooter in front of the net).

 

[Kaako Kappo]

No mr Maurice, he didn't. Laine played mostly only at 5 vs 3 situations and then in the second PP unit. At the very end of the season he changed places with Lowry I believe, and even that was probably the worst possible role to slot him in the formation (if their goal was to optimize scoring) cause he was used to screen goalies in front of the net and do some heavy lifting, as opposed to shoot the puck from his slot.

Don't know why that post got transferred here as it was about Maurice rather than the lines but all the same to me I guess. At least almost immediately we got another prime example of Maurice's way of using his assets (parking the best shooter in front of the net).

Proof, please

 

[Ippenator]

Im so sick of the false narrative that Laine did not play on first PP last year. Yes he did. Most of the year. Then the PP started sucking and Maurice switched it up a bit

No he didn’t play in the 1st power play most of the season last season. He got to play there for a couple of months but even though he was scoring like crazy from the power play at that point, he was soon demoted to the 2nd powerplay and played there the most of the season.

People have said that the reason why Laine was changed to the 2nd power play, was because the Jets power play was not very good in general. I think this is part of the truth, but in reality it was still about the 2nd power play line being so unefficient then.

Also the Jets power play was then and even now lacking a real quality offensive defenceman whom can quarterback the power play and be a real scoring threat too, with having a hard and ACCURATE shot. Buff is not unfortunately this kind of a player, although Maurice plays him very stubbornly in the 1st power play for some reason. I think Myers or Morrissey should be played in Buffs position on the power play. And don’t take me wrong, I have otherwise loved how Buff has been playing for the Jets already for several weeks. Just not a fan of him on the 1st power play line.

 

[Halberdier]

I like how the complaints that Maurice changes the lines too much and not enough are made simultaneously...

Last season the theme was the infamous PoMo Line Blender TM, but this year he is mostly just stick to the lines he believes to work. Whether them work in reality or not that doesn't matter.

LSW was not separated becouse it didn't work after 2 periods. It was separated since Maurice doesn't like that line for an unknown reason.

 

[Kaako Kappo]

No mr Maurice, he didn't. Laine played mostly only at 5 vs 3 situations and then in the second PP unit. At the very end of the season he changed places with Lowry I believe, and even that was probably the worst possible role to slot him in the formation (if their goal was to optimize scoring) cause he was used to screen goalies in front of the net and do some heavy lifting, as opposed to shoot the puck from his slot.

At least almost immediately we got another prime example of Maurice's way of using his assets (parking the best shooter in front of the net).

Actually, i can provide the proof:


Here:

Patrik Laine NHL Advanced Statistics (Power Play) | Hockey-Reference.com

According to this Laine had 197 minutes of PP time last year. Now we need to find out how much of that time he shared with the number 1 guys, who would be Scheifele and Wheeler.

To find this out we use natural stat trick

Line Stats - Natural Stat Trick

Here you can see exactly what i knew you would: These three played on the same power play for about 30 games from the start of the season. SO that would arguably be Winnipeg's first PP unit. After it did not work anymore, they put Wheeler on the second unit.

Line Stats - Natural Stat Trick

Laine continued to play PP with Scheifele long after Wheeler was gone. 127 minutes out of his total 197 PP minutes in the 2016-2017 season.


So, yes, it is indeed a false narrative and frankly complete bullshit that Laine didn't play on the #1 PP

 

[FinnJet]

He clearly said in the pregame interview that Stastny will begin with Nikki and Patty but we will check other options with Stastny also, PMOs words which got me real worried...

Other options might include an option to put Laine on the side of Sheifele. I'll only get mad, if PoMo re unites that Laine Little Ehlers combo from hockey hell.

 

[grieves]

Wasn't the problem last year with the PP that they could not gain the o-zone to save their life?

They just tried and the PK kept clearing. All that was missing was Benny Hill music.

 

[kelsier]

Actually, i can provide the proof:


Here:

Patrik Laine NHL Advanced Statistics (Power Play) | Hockey-Reference.com

According to this Laine had 197 minutes of PP time last year. Now we need to find out how much of that time he shared with the number 1 guys, who would be Scheifele and Wheeler.

To find this out we use natural stat trick

Line Stats - Natural Stat Trick

Here you can see exactly what i knew you would: These three played on the same power play for about 30 games from the start of the season. SO that would arguably be Winnipeg's first PP unit. After it did not work anymore, they put Wheeler on the second unit.

Line Stats - Natural Stat Trick

Laine continued to play PP with Scheifele long after Wheeler was gone. 127 minutes out of his total 197 PP minutes in the 2016-2017 season.


So, yes, it is indeed a false narrative and frankly complete bull**** that Laine didn't play on the #1 PP

I have over half of those games in the recordings and I rolled back to October and early November 2016 (games against Toronto and Dallas) and it turns out you were correct. Don't know about the 30 games but if the stats say so, then sure. Also I noticed that at least against the Leafs Wheelers was on the second PP so I'm not sure what you mean by the last sentence if/since he was already there (unless it was just one time occurence). Gotta say I didn't remember Laine playing in the first PP at all until the very end of the year, but I have no problems admitting whenever memory plays tricks. Good job in pointing out.

 

[PhilJets]

I think if i can recall

Laine was being use in the pp last year.

But

He played some in the right wing.
Their entry in the zone was dump and chase.
Laine was not the first option as trigger man. Sometimes he was not even second.
I noted games (some) when Buff was just letting it rip on top of the blue line.
He was being use as a decoy.

 

[Kaako Kappo]

I think if i can recall

Laine was being use in the pp last year.

But

He played some in the right wing.
Their entry in the zone was dump and chase.
Laine was not the first option as trigger man. Sometimes he was not even second.
I noted games (some) when Buff was just letting it rip on top of the blue line.
He was being use as a decoy.

The right wing was one of the things they tried out later for a few games. It sucked and was never tried again.

 

[kittiecarlyle]

The Jets biggest pressing need was depth at centre. We're overloaded on winger depth. Dano scored just below a PPG in his rookie season yet has been in the PB all season.

We pay a premium for a rental at centre & days later we're shifting an established centre to wing?

Please no.

I'm all for roster discussions. It sounds like great fun with our forward depth!

If we're talking about this season though, it all starts however with Scheifele, Little, Stastny & Lowry at centre .

Fill out the roster suggestions from there.

Dano had 21 points in 35 games, that is just below a ppg? Had a nice little roll for less than half a season, 24 points in 92 games since I believe. No need to embroider to make points about moving Little to wing.

 

[lanky]

Would trading Lowry this summer help us afford Stastny? I'm sure Lowry could bring us a nice return if he proves to be a playoff warrior while the hockey world is watching.

Connor - Scheifele - Wheeler
Ehlers - Stastny - Laine
Vesalainen - Little - Armia
Perreault - Roslovic - Appleton

 

[FFHockey]

Would trading Lowry this summer help us afford Stastny? I'm sure Lowry could bring us a nice return if he proves to be a playoff warrior while the hockey world is watching.

Connor - Scheifele - Wheeler
Ehlers - Stastny - Laine
Vesalainen - Little - Armia
Perreault - Roslovic - Appleton

That will not happen...Lowry is going nowhere. And shouldn’t be!

 

[lanky]

IF we had to pick Stastny or Lowry and ignored cap consequences, I pick Stastny. I don't care if he's old as long as he helps Laine score a billion goals.

 

[Hulide]

Would trading Lowry this summer help us afford Stastny? I'm sure Lowry could bring us a nice return if he proves to be a playoff warrior while the hockey world is watching.

Connor - Scheifele - Wheeler
Ehlers - Stastny - Laine
Vesalainen - Little - Armia
Perreault - Roslovic - Appleton

Should we not wait and See Stastny perform a little bit more then 2 games Before we Call Him messias and do everything to resign Him I love his game too for now but lets wait and see... No thanks Lowry is Perfect in a shutdown role.

 

[Deedog99]

Wonder when the wheeler contract extension talks begin. Wouldn't be surprised to see him signed in the summer.

 

[NotCommitted]

I don't like the current Scheif and Little lines. I haven't really liked CSW ever that much to be honest, they've had some nice runs of games but also a lot of quite bad ones. Ehlers-Little-Perrault was very good but with Roslovic they haven't been that great. I realize Scheif and Wheels have a serious bromance going, but I think it would be better to split them up. I'm thinking Roslovic-Little-Wheeler & Connor - Scheif - Perrault might be worth a shot since touching that Stastny line would be stupid at this point.

 

[grieves]

I don't like the current Scheif and Little lines. I haven't really liked CSW ever that much to be honest, they've had some nice runs of games but also a lot of quite bad ones. Ehlers-Little-Perrault was very good but with Roslovic they haven't been that great. I realize Scheif and Wheels have a serious bromance going, but I think it would be better to split them up. I'm thinking Roslovic-Little-Wheeler & Connor - Scheif - Perrault might be worth a shot since touching that Stastny line would be stupid at this point.

I would try switching Ehlers and Roslo.

I wouldn't want to touch the Stas line, but we need to have better overall impact across all lines IMO and if Stas line gets slightly weaker, we have to deal with it. It is especially important to have big-minute-eating lines be actually strong lines.

CSW has been quite stale already for a month before Scheif was injured and unfortunately they are not lighting the world on fire anymore. I agree that we could try splitting up Scheif and Wheeler, even if they don't like it.


I hope that the whole Scheifele injury powerhouse we accidentally stumbled upon did not go completely unnoticed, because it is starting to appear that way. I hope they know what they are doing.