New broke today from the Twitter feed of
Greg Brady that the St. John's Ice Caps, farm team of the Winnipeg Jets will be moving to Thunder Bay Ontario this next season. That was the first I saw so it's where I am giving credit. Mark Chipman is scheduled to make a statement and address the news this evening from Anaheim.
As it stands now the Ice Caps lease runs our after the 14-15 season and there has to be an arena in place TB which could happen in the next few years. Mark Chipman explained that the lease in St. John's could be extended as the earliest a team could move to TB would be the 16-17 season. Here is a
LINK to the some current information on the proposed arena. Chipman did say that TNSE is part of the group looking to build and perhaps operate the new TB arena.
Chipman stated that it was the travel issues for managing the team and nothing to do with the city or fans. One has to wonder how many other AHL partners and NHL owners enjoyed the cost of getting teams to St. John's as well.
This has to be disheartening for the fans in St. John's- they sell out every game! Who wouldn't want that for a team, an AHL team? Apparently the Jets as the obvious travel issues are trumping fans support and perhaps economic sense but that remains an unknown with the latter. What we can assume is that TNSE wants it's team developing closer to home for obvious reasons- travel, connectivity and cohesion with the big club. It's that simple as why leave a good situation, one that is like St. John'? The obvious reasons are the answer and that's a cold, simple reality of professional sports. George Street won't be the same ;)
Duck Calling
As for the big club they have the first big test under new head coach Paul Maurice tonight in Anaheim. The Ducks have not had a regulation or overtime loss at home this season and nothing in their recent play should suggest it will be easy for the visitors from Winnipeg.
So what should Jets fans expect and what are reasonable expectations? Foremost on every Jets's fans mind should be the over-used term 'compete level' and how the Jets skate with the Ducks as well as how they battle, position and cover the game.
The biggest difference now between Claude Noel's version of the Jets and Paul Maurice's is the lack of collapse the team has through the neutral zone and into their own end. The Jets are pressuring the puck carrier with far greater effort now and trying to force plays rather than react to them. It seems a simple and perhaps obvious change to make but if the coach is not giving his blessing to do so and making sure the other players on the ice act accordingly it can be a disaster. So far with Maurice that has not happened although a few bad habits, ones many fans thought were exorcised, appeared against Edmonton.
The other change and perhaps the biggest one is the return of Evander Kane after missing 4 games with a deep hand cut. Kane is slated to line up with rookie centre Mark Scheifele and right winger Blake Wheeler to create a line with speed to burn and hopefully some deft passing too. While there was discussion this morning by some in the media that Kane had some chemistry with Scheifele and Frolik, who has moved up with Little and Ladd, and it should not be ignored, why can't an in-game adjustment be made?
Frolik gets the puck, he battles and he sets up well. The one knock on Andrew Ladd's game is his work along the boards- it's not as good as the rest of his game. Frolik compensates for that in ways Wheeler could not and Wheeler brings some speed and passing that Frolik did not with Kane ans Scheifele, although he was not a bad fit. Suddenly one could argue that this is the kind of problem deep teams have but it's far too early to make that an indicative statement about the Jets.
Here's why it's important to start Kane with 55 and 26. The new zone overage of puck pressure has helped the Jets break out of their end much better the last three games. Rather than put the puck to stationary winger on the boards the team is skating and passing the puck in motion up the ice. Why is this happening comes down to the change in defensive coverage.
The Jets played even strength a lot like a team does the PK collapsing back and trying to take away anything inside but they just weren't that good at it when it came to coverage low. When they did force a turnover they were far too close together to make a pass because that pass would not improve their position. Often a player would have to skate around the net or across the ice while they waited for a teammate the get into position, or worse- catch up. With the space created because the Jets are pressuring the puck in all areas on the ice when turnovers happen they can break out starting from a better place on the ice and transition faster.
If you go back to the Edmonton game the breakdowns came when the old 'collapse and cover' tendencies happened. The goal that tied the game was a direct result. They lost the faceoff and scrambled back before Enstrom had nowhere to go with the puck. Tie game.
Watch this tonight as I bet the Ducks do everything to get the Jets to revert to that style.
Reasonable Expectations
It's time to set them and the most important one is when the team gets down by a goal or two- a most likely situation. Treat this game like blackjack in Vegas where you always assume the dealer's hidden card is a 10. Accept the Ducks go up and hope the Jets understand how to respond to adversity. They did last Saturday against Edmonton when the Oilers went up 1-0 and after the late goal to tie it. The difference tonight is I would not expect Trouba to be in front of the Ducks net unchecked during a 4v5 situation or in OT- the Ducks won't let that happen.
A telltale game this is not but it will be somewhat indicative of the inroads Paul Maurice has made to changing this club in the short time he has been in Winnipeg. It will also show which players have and have not bought in to the changes and that is important going forward as well.
Puck drop 9:00 CST.
Winnipeg Jets Blogger •Winnipeg Jets Writer • 
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