Last night at the Bell MTS Centre was a mess. Not your regular mess that comes with poor play and bad coaching and a poor roster but one that raises the other eyebrow. It's the 60 minute question, and a few others.
Pavelbuyck
Yeah, I said it. It's not my original thought as it appeared in my Twitter timeline but right now it's pretty hard to argue against it. Helleybuyck is good for one free soft serve a game right now, and who cares that snow is coming down and Winnipeg hasn't seen a plus temp in 3 weeks. One free cone a game or if you come on Tuesday's it's three.
Sure Sidney Crosby may have a more dangerous backhand than anyone else in the league but given his position and the way the pass came he had one option and one place to put it and Hellebuyck was not set, not in the least. Lowry's back check didn't help either but that one was on the goalie though.
It's got to be a bit tiring though for the team right now. After last season they likely thought the fear of the unknown between the pipes was gone but this is a different kind of fear because there's more going on that Hellebuyck and is play.
That being said where's the captain? No one will ever know what kind of leadership role Wheeler takes with guys on the team. Sure there's that great image of him comforting Laine after the young Finn put the puck in his own net like that was the opposition's two seasons ago but what's going on now requires more.
Take a look at this great feature in SI (it's long) but focus on leadership and accountability. Is there not some for Hellebuyck from within? It was tried with Pavelc, on more than a few occasions and not just with team mates. This is a guy who was a few votes from winning the Vezina last season. Hellebuyck had a series vs Vegas that looked like this: .905 .893, .897, .897 .953. Before that he was relatively hot against Nashville and in the post season he had two shut outs. This is Hellebuyck's last 10 games played: .903, .947 .846 .933 .944 .964 .880 .667 .921 .867
His season save percentage is a .907 so far which is very Pavelecian so what is he- Vezina or Pavelec? He's either entirely brilliant or lost. Last night was the latter and it could have been much worse and frankly this team is not going anywhere without .915 play, probably higher. Be nice to see come accountability here, that your job Wheeler, and you to Maurice.
The Coach and those minutes
What's going on with Maurice and his lines? The loss of Andrew Copp should not throw a wrench into things as much as it has but is that the real issue?
Jack Roslovic has gone over 10 minutes of ice time just three times this season. Brendan Lemieux has gone over 7 minutes of ice time just three times and 9 minutes once. That nine minutes came in the 8-4 win over St. Louis where had Laine not scored 5 goals the Jets may likely have lost. The was also when Lemieux took a dumb o-zone penalty for no reason and was then allowed back on the ice. The other recent 4th liner is Nic Petan who's total of 10 games played have all come in November, has a slightly better TOI scenario, only one game with under 5 minutes played.
Remember the line juggling that happened a few weeks ago? Perreault was a 4th liner too at one point although he got some special teams time to boost his time but.... he only crossed 15 mins of ice two times so far. However as recently as games against Washington and Buffalo he was under 10 minutes a night.
So last night there were only 2 players on the Penguins under 10 minutes of ice time, Wilson with 7:41 and an assist and Grant with 9:34 who also had a goal and an assist. Only Crosby touched 20 minutes while the Jets had four forwards at 22 minutes or more.
So what is Maurice doing then? He's riding his hot players- sure he has plenty but guess what he lost to three role players for the Penguins. That can't be lost to the guys on the fourth line who sit in the bench for about 53 minutes on any given night.
Maurice is a coach who grinds. He's great in front of a camera and microphone but he grinds players and by his own admission he can 'make anyone cry' if he wanted to. The Jets do exit interviews each year and the scuttlebutt was that some of the team leadership were not entirely happy with Maurice's approach. In fact it's believed that Chevy was told this. It's also believed that some on the team were none to impressed with the Enstrom scratch in game five vs Vegas and the subsequent fall out of his finish with the Jets.
Now you don't have Enstrom and a few other guys from last year, the skill is there but the depth is reduced so Maurice cannot insert guys like Armia or Hendricks or Matthias depending on what made sense. So he manages minutes to compensate because he doesn't have guys he trusts. Whether Hendricks was skilled or not is irrelevant, Maurice trusted him. Want proof look at his ice time from last season. If you compare last year's averages compared to this season so far only Little of the top forwards has seen a drop and Perreault has dropped by 3 minutes everyone else is up. Sure players want to be on the ice but it comes at cost somewhere else and that's with the fourth line. That's on Maurice and is it a popular move and one the players want?
There's other problems too, anyone believe Jacob Trouba is playing like a 6-7 million dollar defenseman that he and his agent believe? Let's not forget Perreault's comments when Trouba was negotiating his eventual bridge deal, “A little bit selfish of him I would say,… said Perreault. “I don’t want to bash the guy cause I like Jacob, but for him to be so young and asking for a trade, it’s not something I really appreciate it.…
It all starts to add up and what exactly is going on with Trouba? His play is fine and he's a good top two guy but is there any more to draw from him? The Jets probably don't believe so and as we turn the eventual Christmas corner, the team looking to 'find their identity' as captain Blake Wheeler has said, what comes of Trouba towards the trade deadline? The Jets were working overtime this past summer to move him, so why not try again?
There's no smoking gun of controversy with this team, at least not yet. What there is however is a smoldering of possible discontent arising from the coach's tactics, his player usage, the play of certain players and accountability. Remember the #4thLaine hashtag when he was doing a stint in Perreault's spot? He was held to account for his play where is that for Lemieux? A guy who Paul Maurice expressed disdain with after his blatant head shot on Trocheck and then the dumb penalty after penalty. Who is holding him to account?
What emerges out of this smoke is a sense of detachment. Detachment from the coach, detachment from each other and detachment from accountability. The Jets have probably held onto various veterans in the past for leadership and intangibles but last year was the big step forward and gone now are Hendricks, Enstrom, Matthias, Mason, and deadline acquisition Stastny, leadership and stability. Now what has filled the void?
That's Maurice's role, establish the team to fill the void of leadership and personality while guiding the team to execute on the ice. Something isn't working and while no one seems to be putting their finger on what 'it' is the answer may not be one thing. Paul Maurice is not going anywhere, nor is Kevin Cheveldayoff about to trade some key piece to shake a team up given the two big questions he has to deal with as contracts this coming off season, three if you include Trouba, and four with Myers.
What does this team look like to the average observer? Talented but underperforming? If that's the case it's probably time to start figuring out why and if whoever is trying to learn that answer figures it out- there might be some uncomfortable truths to death with.