|
Is the Jets' bottom-six a work in progress? |
|
|
|
|
|
Now that Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck's deal is done the team, both forward and defence groups are pretty much set until the inevitable professional tryouts for training camp comes.
The crux for the Jets after the bottom pairing defence and goaltending is the bottom six forwards. In fact some would suggest it’s the middle six forwards that can dramatically affect the fate of a team when it comes to depth.
For the Jets there really isn’t a question as to who the top six forwards are it’s obvious:
Scheifele
Wheeler
Little
Laine
Perreault
Ehlers
But the next six are a work in progress in terms of how they will fit together and be employed by the coaching staff. The challenge when it comes to the bottom six is what is the tactical goals the team wants to employ as those are likely going to be what determines lines and usage.
Traditionalist thinking would say that a third line needs to be able to check the opposition’s top lines and hold down the defensive zone while the top lines get a break. Furthermore the fourth line would be the ‘energy line’ going out and hitting everything in sight to create chaos.
More conventional thinking is that the third line needs to be an extension of the second line providing enough scoring skill to drive the play away from the defensive zone. The fourth line becomes a lesser extension of the third line but with a bit more physical edge but not near the traditional style.
So the next, and probably most important, question becomes what does Paul Maurice see? Is he a traditionalist or moving to conventional thinking or a bit of both?
Based on past experience it would make sense that he sees a hybrid approach, something that gives him something from traditional thinking while using the youth that may be more accustomed to a conventional, more modern style. One can hope.
Lowry
Armia
Petan
Dano
Copp
Matthias
Tanev
Sgarbossa
Connor
Of this group of eight there are some obvious choices but how do they fit together? Surely Lowry, Armia and one of Petan or Connor will be the third line one that provides Lowry’s intangible grit and the skill with the scoring skill of the other wingers and whatever it is that Armia does. This is a question mark because the player has skill but defensively he loses is assignments and position frequently looking lost and chasing the play.
What this part of the roster suggests is that it’s design may be dependant on the what the coach wants based on opposition and tactics. Of course the play of individual players will certainly affect the decisions but what about various combinations?
Considering the variable of combinations what pairs make sense?
Lowry and Armia? Connor with Dano? Tanev with anyone?
While the Jets have more options and talent than ever before in the bottom six forwards there are still many questions that remain which might determine the success of this group. Simply put even as the Jets enter their seventh season there are still problems that existed in the same spots as the first season. That reality should be a bit troubling but based on the roster it could be a short-lived challenge or to the contrary not a problem at all and wealth of assets.
If one had to guess the roster to start it might look like this:
3rd line
Connor, Lowry, Armia
Copp, Matthias Dano
Petan
Tanev Sgarbossa in the AHL.
Now those lines are guesses based on what would be a good dispersion of talent and size, remember that size still matters on the Jets. However in an ideal world perhaps Kyle Connor is given more than Armia as an opposite winger but that would mean the coach seeing more in Dano than he has in the past. This type of scenario can be played out over and over again with any combination and probably will.
The challenge is to maximize talent and reduce liability and for the most part the Jets likely have the players to do so, but do the coaches have the chops to make the adjustments and build the roster to achieve it? That’s what will probably be the most intriguing early season story aside from goaltending once the pre-season starts.
Winnipeg Jets Blogger •Winnipeg Jets Writer • 
Join the Discussion:
»