Reality is setting in for the Winnipeg Jets and it must be hard for the fans to see, even those who look with the biggest blinders. The sum of the parts which make up the Jets is not enough to get the job done. It was enough to allow Phil Kessel to score his first goal of the year on the power play.
Now, with holes appearing almost daily, it creates all sorts of crazy ideas and theories about what can be done with the roster. "Change the lines!" "Dump Ponikarovsky!" "Play Byfuglien as a forward perhaps?" And my favourite, from
Adam Wazny, was him suggesting Scheifele should be playing for experience if Wellwood and Ponikarovsky are running 8-10 mins of ice time with zeroes across the board.
If you saw my exchange with him yesterday on
Twitter you may think I vehemently disagree with his notion. Well I do but for different reasons than what we discussed- it's an economic reason. By my rudimentary math skills it seems silly to burn a year off of Scheifele's contract for 48 games. If he's not playing full time should waiving a player and still having to pay him a million plus make economic sense for the club if the coach is not willing to use Scheifele full time.
Experience for Scheifele is important, and I am with Wazny there but this team may not be the best example for Scheifele right now.
So what now? What is Noel to do with his roster, his lines?
Kane Jokinen Ladd
Wheeler Little Burmistrov
Poni Slater Antropov
Wright Thorburn Wellwod
Sure- why not or mix them around again, and again and again as it appears no one can build something that can make sense from top to bottom. Thus the sum of the parts are not enough and the bleak future of a 13-15 finish in the east predicted by many is looking accurate. However, the Jets are one point out of 8th and far from out of the race.
What Jets' fans see on the ice is happening but mixing up the lines is only temporary and the reality of one area that should be concerning is being glossed over-
Ondrej Pavelec. With 9 games played he is posting a save percentage of .885 for 36th out of 43 goalies who have played this year.
However look at the breakdown between even strength and penalty kill percentage .920 vs .718. It speaks a lot to what the league's worst PK is doing doesn't it? Makes the hiring of Perry Pearn to run the special teams a point of interest, or at least it should.
2011-12 it was .917 vs .862
2010-11 it was .928 vs .852
2009-10 it was .908 vs .898
Whatever ails the Jets as they limp into Ottawa for a Saturday afternoon game will be a point of concern that few seem be able to answer, particularly Claude Noel. There's no quick fix but one thing is certain, the sum of the Jets parts no matter how they are assembled does not appear to be enough.
Claude Noel is running out of combinations to unlock some chemistry between his players and it appears the elixir may have to be the return of Byfuglien and/or Bogosian. Their return couldn't hurt and right now it can't come soon enough.
Winnipeg Jets Blogger •Winnipeg Jets Writer • 
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