The Jets lost 3-0 to the Flames and for some fans some restlessness set in. It's a blip on the highway to success or is it?
The biggest questions in that game were probably coming from the line of Petan-Roslovic-Armia and the defence pairing of Morrissey-Postma.
I was unable to catch all of the game but what I did see gave me reason to be intrigued about the above forward line and a bit of a pause with the defence pairing.
I found Morrissey a bit tentative and was waiting for him to attack the game a bit more. In fact after seeing some other thoughts around the interest I came to a loose conclusion on Twitter that Morrissey's game was not very good. Never forget the evidence!
Now that's when I was referred to HockeyViz by
Micah Blake McCurdy and his website Hockey Viz I should have looked sooner as I'm a regular follower. Credit to @ice_matty35 for reminding me to look.
Roslovic and company got hemmed in a lot and had more trouble than the eye test would see. They weren't awful but things were not going smoothly for them on the ice. As for Morrissey and Postma, they were smooth. One thing to remember with Morrissey is we expect an offensive style game from him. That's where is reputation lies. However against the Flames he played a tidy game, aware, and effective albeit not noticeable for what people want to notice. That's what the stats say and I'll lean on the side of evidence over eye-test almost 100% of the time.
Tonight's game has some intrigue now as Kyle Connor makes his NHL debut and for some fans and observers it's his linemate combination that is the real intrigue.
Connor- Perreault- Brumistrov is as interesting as it gets. Give the rookie two players who will can get the puck and play a two-way game is a very nice introduction to the NHL. To be fair there is still some question about what kind of player Burmistrov is but remember the end of last season before drawing conclusions. He started getting skilled line mates and his production and effectiveness when way up...that's what you look for tonight.
The top is Ehlers- Little- Stafford which should also be interesting to watch as two veterans make their debut. The third line is Dano-Copp-Kosmachuk as Copp makes his second straight appearance while it's Dano's and Kosmachuk's debut this season. Tanev,-De Leo-Thorburn ride out the fourth line.
Guess that means Patrick Laine makes his debut on Winnipeg tomorrow.
Connor Hellebuyck will play the whole game tonight as well according to Jets assistant coach Jamie Kompon.
The defence pairings are interesting too as Josh Morrissey makes another appearance but with Tyler Myers while old stand by pairing Mark Stuart and Ben Chiarot are the second pairing while Kevin Czuczman and Brian Strait anchor the third line.
The fact that Morrissey is back and paying top line with Myers is interesting and probably a result of inevitable adjustments that come with the holdout of Jacob Trouba.
Face the cold hard facts Jets fans, this should be Morrissey's job to take and if you want to think about safe and likely pairings come the start of the season this may be the best case scenario.
Enstrom Byfgulien
Morrissey Myers
Stuart/Strait Postma/Chiarot
Morrissey has a lot to prove here, more to the coaches and himself though. He has to be able to show he belongs and early indications suggests that could be the case. Morrissey simply needs to make that the case and tonight against a Wild team that seem to like to beat up on the Jets in the preseason is as good as any time to do it. It might get heated tonight and perhaps that why we have Thorburn skulking around the ice too, or not.
Who to watch?
Connor-Perreault-Burmistrov
Ehlers, Dano
Myers-Morrissey
Enjoy the game and FYI, Friday's game against the Oilers is not televised but you can use the TSN Go app to watch it.
Winnipeg Jets Blogger •Winnipeg Jets Writer • 
Join the Discussion:
»