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Taking Stock: Thoughts on Jets Consistency |
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Take Stock: Thoughts on Consistency.
A week ago I was far away from Winnipeg in a physical and mental sense. It mattered not to me what happened on the ice with the Jets simply because I was not worried about 2 games. Now the fact that from the last 4 games, before the win vs Carolina, the Jets had scored just 1 goal and allowed 10 was only significant because it reinforced what people saw on the ice. An ugly, disorganized group playing a game that looked somewhat foreign to them.
The game against Carolina had a ‘must-win’ feel to it and the faithful at the MTS Centre were relieved and thankful for the effort and the victory. Is that same sentiment before today’s game against Tampa Bay being felt? Somehow the old adage of ‘winning changes everything’ is taking hold amongst the fans after beating the Hurricanes and just like many said, the win bought the team some ‘breathing room’ from criticism.
That being said the mob is ready to assemble, and quickly. The fingers are ready to take thoughts and criticisms to Twitter and the radio lines are open to help process any oncoming angst. It helps not that Tampa Bay are coming in and only looking somewhat vulnerable due to the loss of Viktor Hedman.
It’s a tall order for the Jets tonight with them playing against former division rival and now eastern conference contender. Bishop has been lights out good so far and had Hedman not been injured no one would be giving the Jets much of a chance. Frankly I think it’s still too hard to know what the probability of a win for the home team is, they are just too unpredictable.
There’s the rub (my favourite expression) with this team, with a record of 2-4 we’re no closer to understanding what they are…again.
What we do know is this, right now they are their record and that record says the Jets aren’t very good. Losses to Nashville and Calgary hurt because those are really their talent-level peers and a team has to be in those games. At times the Jets were but in the end they really weren’t, at least for 60 minutes. Does a 60 minute effort tonight (something that should never be in question) equate to a win? One would hope so but that would be optimistic thinking, something that is in short supply around Winnipeg with either of the major sports franchises.
The thing that keeps coming back to the Jets season after season is consistency. Obviously the better teams win with a better level of consistency but what makes teams consistent. Of course here comes the ‘E-word’ but not the one you’re thinking of, that tired old word is ‘effort’. The ‘E-word’ that applies to the Jets is ‘execution’.
The Jets need to execute the systems designed and taught by head coach Paul Maurice with consistency, not the part-time casualness thus shown. As Yoda would say ‘do, not try’. That’s an attitude for players, an approach or a simply a belief that must be adhered to for success. The best do not try, they do. It’s like the knock against teachers or consultants, the best succeed the others teach or consult.
Once again this leads back to one of may favourite discussions, ‘how vs who’. ‘Who’ is about blame, a target and assignment of responsibility. ‘How’ is about the why, the process and the task. With the Jets we know the ‘who’ rarely changes but the ‘how’ certainly does. So tonight watch the execution, the set ups, the angles, the positioning and see if it looks good. Observe the communication on ice between Jets players and how they adapt to a dynamic Lightning offense.
Don’t worry about who is doing what, watch how all the players are playing. When blame is assigned to a person (the ‘who’) it does not guarantee you understand how problems exist. By watching the processes (the how) work or fail, you will always arrive at the parties responsible but with an understanding of what is working, or not.
The step the Jets have to take starts with execution of tactics and then hopefully leading to some consistency. If and when that happens we’ll know who is doing it and who isn’t. So far in this short season all anyone can say about the Jets is how inconsistent they are and that ‘they’ is everyone on the team.
Winnipeg Jets Blogger •Winnipeg Jets Writer • 
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