I think for the 27 vs. 81 debate one thing you have to consider is pure entertainment value.
Both of these guys can dazzle, but Connie more often drives excitement when he's on the ice
That's multiple coaching staffs.I guess it depends on what you want to do. If outscoring your opponent at even strength is the priority, then Ehlers has been significantly better than Connor over time.
Last 3 seasons at even strength the Jets have been outscored with Connor on the ice 162-171 (-9).
Without Connor on the ice the Jets have outscored their opponents 263-235 (+28).
With Ehlers the Jets have outscored the opposition 100-83 (+17).
Without Ehlers the Jets have outscored the opposition 325-323 (+2).
Connor's a big part of the power play though...if you want to maintain that 20th-best spot (2021-present). To be fair, it was the 19th ranked power play if you exclude this year's numbers and just look at 2021-22 and 2022-23.
There are other factors: Ehlers has been in a slump recently. Connor never seems to slump for too long. Ehlers is more injury-prone. Also, Ehlers' play frightens and confuses many coaches. Even though he's out there outscoring his opponents consistently, they see him skating around in circles and passing when they think "shoot!" and shooting when they think "pass!" and carrying the puck when they think "dump!" They'd rather watch Connor feebly stick-wave at opponents in his own zone and get outscored because that's "the right way to play!" or something...
People keep going back to history when comparing the two. My only qualm is this, what if he is not the same Ehlers is not the same player after his long term injury. What if it has affected his game. Then what he did 3 years ago doesn’t matter.KC is hot and luke warm, probably like most players. Some games like last night, he is everywhere and super engaged all over the ice, and skates his butt off. Some games he does next to nothing but drive by's and stick waving.
Those latter games are very frustrating, but then you see a great game and he's mind boggling.
As for Ehlers, I agree with whoever above said that Ehlers drives a lot of offence. Just his speed alone puts the other team back on their heels. I think he adds a lot without scoring, but can be frustrating, like KC can be.
Both integral parts of the team right now, and I hope they continue to grow and reduce some of their weaknesses.
this thread got derailed like 3 pages back. @mods can we clean up some of this junk?
Ehlers' weak defense doesn't show up in the results because he's tilting the ice the other way.I find it interesting how knowledgeable people are on how flawed KFC is in his own end, and say absolutely nothing about Ehler's weak defense.
He's pretty opportunistic with his line changing, helping out his +/-. I'd love to know what the coaches think whenever he does that. I'm sure that they're feeling some of that "tilt" that you're talking about.Ehlers' weak defense doesn't show up in the results because he's tilting the ice the other way.
Oh he absolutely is! I'm just saying Connor for me provides more GPM (gasps per minute).Seems rather subjective... I believe when JetsFan815 had a player popularity poll, Ehlers was second after Buff.
Dunno how you can watch the game last night and not think Ehlers is entertaining, his fight was worth full value for me
He has a point - I just realized this is the Nino thread (I'm just as guilty for taking it ot, sorry mods!)Nobody's stopping you from making your own contributions. People aren't posting here to entertain you personally.