Understanding Maurice’s Decision Making
As Jets fans recover from the disappointing opening light loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night they can take solace in the savage beating the Penguins took at the hands of the Chicago Blackhawks. Consider the fall out of that Penguins loss, does anyone think they won’t bounce back and make adjustments? Of course not. Therein lies the difference with the Jets and their coach, the fans and pundits are not so sure about how they will respond.
The uncertainty goes right to the heart of what many consider to be the main culprit for the Jets problems and lack of success, Paul Maurice. He’s an articulate man, thoughtful and comes with experience in dealing with adversity as he will soon become the all-time leader in NHL coaching losses. The concern simply comes from other than one year of defence first hockey the Jets have not been able to adjust to what Maurice wants.
Defence first right?
Maurice: "I told them today, we'll deal with this every day, all year. Because this franchise doesn't move forward until it can defend."
— Paul Friesen (@friesensunmedia) October 5, 2017
All those defence breakdowns that are bemoaned on Twitter during games then in the papers, radio, TV and most importantly blogs, after each game happen for a reason. There is a fundamental flaw in the defence system employed by the Jets under Maurice.
Let’s start here with this tweet referencing Josh Morrissey speaking on TSN 1290 the morning after:
And surprisingly, they seem to struggle with positioning and often appear tentative in their own end. Hard to fathom, really. https://t.co/Y6zucY5WGH
— Robert Cleave (@rmcleave) October 5, 2017
Here’s another one from the ever poignant and very smart Pat WIlliams who used to cover the Jets for NHL.com
Seeing the same system breakdowns and blown coverages over and over. #NHLJets
— PATRICK WILLIAMS (@pwilliamsNHL) October 5, 2017
Now here is some video evidence courtesy of Sean Tierney who has many cool things to contribute with hockey.
Nylander was mildly open on this one. pic.twitter.com/jUvMpzaAcB
— Sean Tierney (@ChartingHockey) October 4, 2017
The Jets play a hybrid defence which relies on reading the play and then recognizing when to play man-to-man and when to use zone coverage. I theory it should work but there are some issues as to why it wouldn’t I had a great conversation with a regular critic of mine Maurice Fan Acct about this very issue and he raised three valid points which I think are worth discussing.
1. Players are too dumb to get what Maurice is is trying to do 2. Players are unwilling to to do what Maurice wants them to do 3. What Maurice wants them to do isn’t working
I think Tony is right on all three and that the three issues tie together to explain the results on the ice. Now compound this system with a team like the Leafs that has enough individual skill and creativity to exploit the weaknesses of that system and plays like the one Tierney captured become a regular event like they were on Wednesday night.
Read this thread from former 1.0 and WHA Jet Scott Campbell and Robert Cleave and get a better understanding of how this defence tactic impacts play.
Yep, it's not much wonder we were discussing the difficulty in figuring out what they were running last year. As Mo said, they're the same.
— Scott Campbell (@NHL_Campbell) October 6, 2017
Simply put there’s lots to be concerned about and when you look at Friesen’s quote another concern might be if Maurice has buy-in, one of Tony’s points too.
Maurice after practice: "Oh, that wasn't even close to a bag skate. Nobody puked. If we'd spent another 20 minutes at 'er...." #NHLJets.
— Paul Friesen (@friesensunmedia) October 5, 2017
That kind of sums up where the coach sees the problem doesn’t it?
What about player usage?
Adam Lowry had the most minutes of any forward for the Jets on Wendesday night. He is the third line or fourth line centre or left wing depending on usage. However on Wednesday night he was being given minutes like the last kid to show up at a house gets candy on Halloween. Why?
Lowry was used on the PP for nearly as much time as Laine, Wheeler, Scheifele and Ehlers. He was also on the PK more than any other forward. Consider that skating is not Lowry’s best attribute and ask why he gets those minutes?
On the PP he was set in front of the net but had so little control of his game there. Often he was between the Leafs defender and the goalie spun around with his back to the puck. It’s a difficult position to be in when the puck is shot towards the net, the defender can take it down and if it gets passed him the player does not see it. The long asked question with the Lowry and Maurice is what does the latter see in him that no one else does? The follow-up question is: what part of Lowry’s game supports the way he is used?
Tyler Myers, he of only playing 11 games last year, had the most minutes of any defender for the Jets. Certainly one of the goals for Maurice is to limit Buff’s minutes to a more manageable amount compared to last season. That being said is putting all the minutes in Myers’ hands a smart move?
Myers is not fleet of foot when it comes to lateral motion. He has reach he can move up the ice well but he’s not great in tight or down low when the puck is in his own end. Myers like Lowry had the most minutes on the PK, one that was torched for 2 goals. Josh Morrissey a much more mobile defender had 12:38 of ice time and only :24 of PP time. What had Morrissey done to warrant falling behind Kulikov and Myers and Enstrom in ice time?
The number don’t lie and the discussion around the roster with Petan sitting out in favour of Tanev seems to be another sore point for many, as it should be. Tanev was torched on the ice and now due to decisions like this fans are starting to notice. They have had 7 seasons to know, learn and assess this roster and this is why there is concern about Maurice and his decisions.
Bag skating won’t fix systems and it won’t make a team fix anything due to the threat or duress it causes. It’s a old school tactic, one that perhaps lends itself to the logic that some say still invades Maurice’s mind. That’s a logic that stopped being useful in 1995 as some one on Twitter suggested- Maurice has been around long enough as a coach to recognize that too.