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On usage, injuries, Jackets and coaching |
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For some it's no surprise that Perreault is injured again this season. It's been his main criticism since arriving in Winnipeg as a free agent and now he's expected to miss 4 weeks. To compound problems Lowry is also injured and expected to miss a few more games and new free agent Dmyrti Kulikov will miss approximately 2 weeks.
The Jets have placed Perreault on IR and have recalled Kyle Connor from the Manitoba Moose. For those not aware Connor being sent down after training camp was seen as a controversial move due to his play and the desire to ice a more skilled roster in the bottom half.
While down on 'the farm' Connor has had 3 goals, 2 assists in 4 games and apparently is ready to come back up to the NHL level. At this point how does he fit in with the Jets given head coach Paul Maurice's penchant for using players in specific roles, regardless of lines/skills?
It's believed that Connor will likely play on the left side along with Little and Laine while the top line of Ehlers Scheifele and Wheeler remains unchanged. The bottom two lines appear to be the biggest area of discussion amongst Jets fans and observers as it relates to the skill gap.
With Lowry out the 3rd and 4th lines are expected to look like this:
Mathias Copp Tanev
Petan Dano Armia
For some it might not be obvious why this is controversial so let's look at production over 5 games from this group (including Lowry). At even strength- 0 points. In all situation 2 assists.
This is from a group with players that have minutes that look like this:
(Team leader in even strength minutes is Trouba at 81:21)
Matthias 59:00 (ahead of Byfuglien)
Tanev 45:13
Lowry 40:51
In all situations the usage as measured by minutes becomes even more polarizing with the bottom six having a considerable disparity compared to the top. This issued was touched on by the The Athletic yesterday and broken down quite nicely.
One challenge with understanding Paul Maurice and usage is that it might be hard to pin how he defines his line's roles by the minutes he gives them. For instance take Adam Lowry.
In 4 games played he has 10:45 of PP time in 4 games played, that's only 3:10 less that Ehlers and Little who have one more game played. This is where the confusion and concern comes in with usage by Maurice. It would make sense that he is not so much assigning minutes as much as assigning roles and the his usage minutes dictate that and less the make up of his lines.
Maurice has long had players he favours and seeks to use, Adam Lowry right now is one. Dustin Byfuglien was last year and a new candidate this year is Tyler Myers. Myers is leading the Jets in minutes played so far in all situations. He is 4th at even strength, 8th in PP time ahead of Ehlers, and tops in PK time, well ahead of Trouba and Morrissey.
Extrapolate this way of usage down the line up and for Maurice it's not about giving minutes or building a diverse and deep roster as much as it is about who is used where and when. In essence it flies against the draft and develop winds that the GM and ownership preach. It's very hard to do the develop part when opportunity is based on how the coach perceives a player's role.
Take Myers as an example. For a player who basically missed a season last year why is he getting such a huge disparity of minutes compared to Morrissey? What role does Myers fill so much better than Morrissey? Maybe when combined with Lowry size does matter?
Take this to the forward group and now see how the 3rd and 4th lines are used and when. The usage becomes not about talent, the talent is there within this group, instead it becomes about the role the head coach wants the players to play. If he's rolling out a 4th line to be an energy or checking line why put three of the more talented bottom six players in such limited capacities.
This is old-school thinking and is probably hindering the coach's results given that the team is being built around skill and not size or ability to play a role.
As for other changes tonight I would expect Poolman to slot in and Steve Mason returns between the pipes for the first time since being shelled in Calgary.
The Blue Jackets are 4-1-1 with two OT wins so far this season. They are coming off a win in Minnesota on Saturday night and have been rested for a few days after playing back-to-back games on the weekend.
If you are a fan who cares about how the players are used and lines matched take a look at how John Tortorella uses his players, he's a coach who has had to adjust to a new approach/mindset and one should question whether Maurice takes a hint from his counterpart tonight.
Winnipeg Jets Blogger •Winnipeg Jets Writer • 
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