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It’s the Bottom 6 that matters for the Jets

July 27, 2016, 12:38 PM ET [21 Comments]
Peter Tessier
Winnipeg Jets Blogger •Winnipeg Jets Writer • RSSArchiveCONTACT
It’s the Bottom 6 that matters for the Jets

It’s been the Achilles heel for the franchise since they moved from Atlanta and this year might be the first year we talk about it in positive terms. What is ‘it’? The bottom six forwards of the Jets.

Last year as the injuries took hold and the Jets looked up at the top 8 in the west, after being in it the year before, there were a lot of players who were in the line up that cannot possibly fit in it at the start of this season.

Armia, Tanev, Petan, Kosmachuk, are names that come to mind as well as vets like Thorburn and Peluso along with 2nd and 3rd year forwards Copp and Lowry. Add in newly acquired players like Dano along with enigmatic Burmistrov plus Kyle Connor and Jack Roslovic, two US college players no professionals, there simply are not enough spots. Then remember that the Jets signed Sean Mathias and Howden and they are overflowing with depth players.

If you remember last year Petan started the season with Jets but after a few weeks it was obvious he needed time in the AHL. In his sophomore season Lowry seemed to regress and also needed time in the AHL to find his game or better said his foot speed.

Kein Wiebe of the Winnipeg Sun wrote a piece suggesting the Jets lines might look something like this come the start of the season:

Ehlers Scheifele Wheeler
Laine Little Stafford
Mathias Perreault Armia
Tanev Lowry Howden/Thorburn


You can debate Ken’s lines all you want but for this pieces we’re only interested in the bottom 6 forwards. From a personal stand point I see Stafford as a 3rd line winger and would move him down and put Ehlers on his regular side. To compensate for moving Ehlers down I would move Perreault up to LW or perhaps Laine is that good.

Perreault Scheifele Wheeler
Laine Little Ehlers

The reason I move Perreault is I think there’s a question that’s not being discussed about one player, the 6 million dollar man Mark Scheifele. Is he a shooter or a set up player? He had 29 goals last year the most since Evander Kane had 30 as a Jet in 2011-12. Perreault is a puck retrieving possession stud and having him with Scheifele and Wheeler, another strong assist player, could help with production. Of course Perreault’s durability is in question based on his style of play but he’s a top 6 player in my book and I think he should be up there.

By making my change it puts Stafford where, in my opinion, he should rightfully be on the third line. So let’s look at those possible combinations.


Mathias Lowry Stafford is one option
Burmistrov Dano Stafford is another

Then again…

Conner Lowry Stafford
Burmistrov Lowry Stafford
Lowry Dano Stafford
Mathias Dano Stafford

…are four other variables on the lines as well.

Now look at the 4th line as this all trickles down and players get pushed aside.

Mathias, Howden Thorburn
Mathias Copp Armia
Mathias Howden Armia

You can see where this goes and we haven’t even considered adding in Connor or Roslovic let alone Peluso, Tanev, or Petan. It’s a plethora of wealth or it’s placeholders blocking development, depending on your point of view.

Howden and Mathias, along with Peluso and Thorburn would all have to clear waiver in order to go to the Moose but based on what we see something has to happen and one has to wonder if it favours the vets or not.

Consider that Pittsburgh won a cup with no one on the roster like Peluso or Thorburn and the NHL being a copycat league….it makes you wonder. Now recall that the Jets have let it be known that every year they get calls on Thorburn close to playoffs and does a trade happen?

As you can see there’s a log jam and at some point either players, younger protected ones, are going to the farm or junior (see Roslovic’s unique situation) or vets are being paid to be on the Moose.

Other than the rare obvious exception the Jets under Paul Maurice have been an earn your ice time type team. A ‘may the best player win’ level of competition for position and time is good and the Jets have had it and now have it in spades. It does however come with change and certainly there are some changes coming to fit in the players who have shown they deserved the ice time.

As you can see dear reader it’s not an easy fix and Paul Maurice has his work cut out for him, as do those players trying to make an impact and earn ice time and the NHL wage. We’ll look at each of these players more closely as training camp draw closer but in the end and how they may affect the starting roster. In the mean time put out your bottom six lines and then perhaps give a reason as to why- there’s no right answer here and it’s worth seeing different opinions.
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