|
Jets win but don’t get too excited |
|
|
|
|
|
Jets win but don’t get too excited
Sure it was a win, but it was against the 29th best team in a league out of 30 and the same team that beat the Jets a week ago. Yes the Jets scored 6 goals but they also allowed 3 and it does not matter who was between the pipes for them, it’s the same result.
The controversial move was made to recall former Jets number one starter, Ondrej Pavelec from the AHL Manitoba Moose. It was a hail Mary option really but something had to be done because the tandem of Hellebuyck and Hutchinson was not working, at least not to the level it needed to for a positive result.
For those that believed this move came because the coach had lost faith in his two starters, take pause and give your head a shake. Did anything that Pavelec has done in the AHL give assurance that he would be better in the NHL? Looking back at history, what had Pavelec achieved to show that he was a better option than the other two?
Again, as I mentioned in the last piece, this was about a break for the minds of both Hellebuyck and Hutchinson. Some would suggest that it was also a shot towards the skaters and forwards that ‘you too are responsible’ and ‘if your play does not improve it won’t matter what goaltender is between the pipes’. While it’s been noted, studied and presented that skaters rarely if ever influence save percentage, they certainly influence scoring chances and shot location. However the Jets are pretty damn good when it comes to scoring chances allowed per 60 minutes.
Here’s something to consider:
In the 48 games the Jets have played this year the Jets have only outscored 3 goals allowed in a game 6 times. That means when the Jets have given up 3 goals in a game they have only scored more than that 6 times.
The Jets have allowed 3 goals or more against them in a game 32 times in 48 games!
The Jets have only scored more than 3 goals in 13 of 48 games this season.
So they give up goals and they really don’t score enough. Well that’s not true they score plenty as in 135 goals so far this season and that’s good for 8th in the league, tied with Edmonton. However goals allowed is 148, tied for 1st with Flyers and just ahead of Dallas and Arizona.
Of those 148 goals allowed, 40 have come on the penalty kill which is the most in the league. The goals allowed per 60 minutes is near the top and the save % (all at even strength) is near the bottom too which should come at no surprise. The goal scored per 60 minutes is in the middle of the pack so what we see, again with the Jets is that they are a decent team being sunk by poor goaltending and brutal special teams.
Rinse wash and repeat.
The difference last night was that the team scored some goals, six in total, and they made it look somewhat easy. For a high scoring team, one that is top 10 in the league, any effort to capitalize on that ability is being undermined in the back end and apparently the GM and coach are down to desperation call ups to provide any stability.
Again the call-up of Ondrej Pavelec was not about the option of being better, it was a pressure release valve designed to take the heat away from Hellebuyck and let him regroup. The kid, albeit 23 years old, was not ready for prime time with an NHL workload. That’s not to say he won’t be but he’s just not ready yet. They found out the hard way just exactly where their goalies were and right now it appears there was no back up plan if things went wrong. They have gone wrong but likely not for the reasons management thought.
That’s the point many Jets fans are missing. They knew a young team was coming up. They knew there were would be more rookies in the lineup and they knew there was a learning curve. The ‘they’ is fans and management by the way. What they did not plan for was if the goaltending was a disaster, again.
Here they are, with no goalie ready to take hold and provide some level of adequate play and stability and a calamitous penalty kill that only exposes the goaltending struggles. If your best penalty killer is not your goalie then you better not be taking many penalties? Is that how new school thinking is?
Consider this, since Eric Tulsky, considered by many to be the reigning Tony Stark of hockey analytics, was hired by the Hurricanes their PK unit has gone from 28th in the league to number 1. Guess where their goaltending sits- near the bottom in save % for the same time. Perhaps there is something to learning some systems and using analytics.
It’s a circuitous look at the issues with the Jets, their are many but don’t confuse the action of the team in regards to personnel to be looked at as solutions, short or long term. They are part of the process and right now the biggest issue with the process is dealing with the best chance to have good goaltending and that is with Connor Hellebuyck.
Winnipeg Jets Blogger •Winnipeg Jets Writer • 
Join the Discussion:
»