Jets vs Capitals Preview
There’s been a lot of noise about the Winnipeg Jets and what seems to ail them. After a rebound game against the Stars they travel to Denver and beat the Avs with a shutout. After that they go down 3-0 to the Sabres at home before finding a bit of life in the third period.
Did Michael Hutchinson have challenges and give up too many goals too fast? What about the latest Jets whipping boy, Alexander Burmistrov, is he the cause of the inconsistent play?
Let’s not forget that there are other options for this roster that have yet to be explored. Why is Marko Dano up without playing yet? Would he not be an alternative option to centre the second line between Perreault and Armia? Perreault is also another player who has not lived up to expectations thus far this season and he clearly favours playing left wing over centre, at least with his line mates right now. But there’s another question, how do you slide Perreault over if you want Connor on the 2nd line?
The Jets are suffering without Bryan Little and while you may have read in this space that he can be expendable as a valuable trade piece, it’s not something a GM should do lightly. Little brings a tremendous amount of stability to whatever line he is on and that cannot go ignored, even more so right now.
Here they set up for the Capitals tonight at the MTS Centre. Not since the full season after the last lockout would anyone consider these two team having a home and home series but here they are about to do just that. After the game tonight the teams will make their way to Washington where the Jets will begin a heavy stretch of road games this month.
The Capitals are a top 10 team in the league and are 5-2-1 in their eight games played thus far. For most fans though this game and the one after it will not be about what the teams are as much as comparing Patrik Laine to his childhood idol Alexander Ovechkin.
The comparisons started early between the two with both having a penchant to blast shots on the same side via a one-timer. If the two players are true comparable then fans should look at a few more things than what Ovechkin does and compare that to Laine. It’s the reason why you need to look at the team as a whole system as opposed to individual players.
You’ve seen the theories that Ovechkin might be the greatest goal-scorer in NHL history based on attributing variables to compensate for different generations so the logical question comes about how he does it. It’s not all god-given skill and practice, the team has to be structured to get him the puck too and if Laine is anywhere near this kind of talent then it’s worth watching what the Capitals do to support Ovechkin.
The other areas of concern areas of concern has to be goaltending and defence. Right now the Jets goaltending is like Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde, who knows what is going to show up each night. As for the defence, it’s a bit like a clown car at the circus. Guys pop out, fall all over each other and then try to sort out what they are supposed to do before they get back in the car. Translate that to a shift and you have described what nearly 50% of the Jets defence does at times.
Frankly, even though this is the tenth game for the Jets the unpredictable nature of their collective play leaves for many concerns and unanswered questions. In the short term I would suggest that another ten games is needed before trends can be identified thus we look for more micro issues to discuss. That’s why we have discussion on Burmistrov across social media and airwaves as happened this morning. There’s lots to pick apart though and that means the rest of the roster too.
Jets lines for morning skate:
Ehlers, Scheifele, Wheeler Connor, Perreault, Laine Mathias, Lowry, Armia TAnev, Burmistrov, Throburn
Morrissey Byfuglien Enstrom Postma Stuart Chiarot
#freeDano