One of the things not being discussed with the Jets right now is the contract status of both head coach Paul Maurice and GM Kevin Cheveldayoff, both of whom are entering the final year of their deals. While it’s not surprising that with the SCF happening and the commissioner’s preference for all other news to be muted, there has been plenty of time to get these deal done already.

For the pessimistically inclined this lack of action is nothing short of the owner being somewhat skeptical of the results to date and the problems that exist within the roster. By so many accounts this team should be better than it is and that means there’s some one or some thing at fault.

Is it Paul Maurice, a coach who presents articulately and with confidence but seems to have mediocre results at best no matter where he goes? What about the roster, one built through some excellent drafting at the top end but hardly enough for a team acquired not built from scratch. After six drafts should there be more to show than Lowry, Copp, Scheifele, Trouba, Ehlers, Laine, Morrissey and Hellebuyck? Both Connor and Roslovic are close and if you consider that Chiarot has played regularly then it’s not looking so bad is it? Is that on Maurice- perhaps.

That’s the curious part and where so many observers arrive, why is this team not better given it’s parts?

The goaltending has been abysmal since the Thrashers moved to Winnipeg, except for a few small stretches. The team did qualify for the playoffs one year but nothing was built upon that small nugget of success and in fact it moved backwards. That move suggests the GM may be at fault for both strategy and execution.

Now take a look at the realist point of view; let both the coach and GM enter the season without an extension. Let the pressure build a little to make sure they know what has to improve, short term and longer.

Even with a contract extension in hand if the Jets opened the first 20 games of the 17-18 season with a 8-10-2 record would anyone see that as an endorsement of the coach? Even with a key injury or some other misfortune would the question of ‘where’s the depth’ be worth asking again? Of course it would. Both the GM and coach have had enough time to prepare for the unexpected, which is something they should have learned about given last season’s early challenges.

Now though the optimists feel that the #summerofChevy is here, just like it was in 2013 when he had to deal with three key free agents in Little, Wheeler and Bogosian. While it might seem premature to feel optimistic about this team given the way it stumbled for most of last season, there’s too much talent on it to be so underperforming.

Again we come back to the repeating questions about where fault lies and how to fix it. It might be wise to let both coach and GM enter the season with a 25 game ‘prove it to me’ time frame but is that kind of pressure a motivator?

It should be and here’s why- if another team fired it’s GM would Chevy be the first name you’d want to bring in? Likewise with a coaching vacancy and Maurice. While the latter has a far longer period to judge his work the former leaves many curious about his methods and tactics given the lack of production from his draft and develop model outside the first round. There are other qualified candidates for both positions and with the stable of prospects the Jets have, along with the talents in the roster should there not be a time when those are used to fill obvious holes?

That’s where most fans keep coming back to time and time again. Prove it to me. Hopefully the owner is seeing it that way too as the #summerofchevy start today now that the SCF is over.

Congrats Penguins and bravo Nashville you were both great.

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