Jets Flight Plan- what is it?
The dissension from the faithful in Winnipeg is starting to grow and even the most cautious and calm of fans and media are beginning to ask the most simple question; what direction are the Jets going?
It’s not complex nor is it a difficult question to answer but no one seems to know and some are convinced that Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff isn’t sure either. He may have been confident in his approach to the team with his off-season moves but not that 30 games have been played does he still have the same amount bubbling within him?
Be sure of one thing, if Cheveldayoff and his de facto puppet master, majority owner Mark Chipman, knew the risks they took when icing this roster in October but did they really believe it would turn into this? Why ‘puppet master’? Because that’s what Bill Watters may have inferred yesterday when he said on Sportsnet that Mark Chipman was often intervening if not participating in many hockey operational decisions, ones that may affect how Cheveldayoff proceeds given the situation.
Hope is not a plan. Not for any business, nor for any person, and certainly not for any strategy. Yet hope, it appears, is what so much of this season is based on. Look, TNSE ‘hoped’ no one would be upset with the lodge seating blocking so many sight lines in the arena. Did management and ownership ‘hope’ that losing Frolik would not have a big impact? Did they ‘hope’ that three rookies could start the season and the team would pick up from last April prior the 4-game sweep in the post season? Did they ‘hope’ that Ladd and Byfuglien would simply take whatever piecemeal contract that offered to them?
Surely this is a harsh assessment of the GM and owner and their ability to plan but so are the realities of what is happening to the team this season. Last in the conference and now looking better to have a lottery pick than make the post season. I know what I would be hoping for now that the season is likely lost…
Perhaps though there is some logic to the way Cheveldayoff has set the team up this season. It may be flawed logic, or not, but consider the following idea. The Jets knew at some point they had to test the water with their developing youth and with the Canadian dollar taking a hard dive since about a year ago did that push the test forward? By injecting youth into the roster and taking that chance it put more pressure on the core group of veterans, two of which are UFA after this season. What it may have done was give management a preview of what the future really does hold as they develop and players acquired via draft and trades. That future can be rough through transition and if that transition is starting is betting close to 100 million on two players who maybe aren’t the best pieces to help it a smart decision?
I’m not sure there is an answer for that, at least not one that would be assuring one way or the other. What there is though is enough questions that have people asking what direction this team is going to take. Is it go all-in on it’s assets come the near future and work to build a core for the inevitable 2019 Stanley Cup run as the Hockey News has suggested or hold on to aging yet effective vets and try to battle every year as youth arrives on it’s own time line?
I don’t think either of those plans was what the Jets wanted but now with less than ideal events happening on the ice, a coach trying to re-assert an identity, and contract statuses up in the air the Jets resemble as much of what Claude Noel left behind as they do the changes that happened after.
Using flight terms is and always will be a part of writing about the Jets. It’s fun to tie in something to make your point and be creative. There’s one aviation term few use in regards to the Jets, it’s called ‘load factor’. What it means is the ratio of the lift of the plane to it’s weight. Basically it means that in flight the plane, rather it’s passengers feel the effects of the load depending on what the plane does.
The Jets have a problem with lift and a problem with load. They can’t get the lift right and once up they can’t turn and move without feeling the weight because the load is wrong. That’s not all on the coach and it’s probably more than shuffling bottom six players around, it’s a basic understanding of how to operate the plane thus a messed up load factor. That points to one person, or more, and the decisions they have made.
Now with two more big decisions to make do the powers that be understand where the problem is or do they think it’s some one else’s responsibility to fix that too?