No one saw this coming late Tuesday as the Canucks prepared to host the Jets on their brief western Canada swing. The 'this' is the coach's decision (Paul Maurice) to sit Evander Kane in his hometown. No explanation was given and twitter blew up like a spewing volcano of hot takes.
Here's the basic facts:
19 hrs before game time which was 7pm PST Kane tweeted out:
#VanCity
That would make the time approximately 12:00 am after the Calgary game- so probably arrival.
Kane was at the morning skate and expressed how he was excited to play that evening.
Here's the speculation:
Go back to last week after the all-star game and the Jets visiting the Flyers. A media person relayed to me that Kane arrived to the rink about 5 minutes after the Jets bus and seemed a bit distracted. Did he get a hall pass?
Last year when Kane was benched in Toronto for HNIC Paul Maurice was asked 'what Kane has to do to get back in the line-up'.
"Show up," was the coach's response.
Did Kane show up late again and that was the breaking point again for Maurice? It seems like a fair question and logical conclusion but it also begs more questions.
1. Are the Jets, to their core, simply an undisciplined group?
A: For some the requirements away from the ice may be a simple responsibility to meet but for others they struggle. Is Kane the first player that should come to mind for lazy and unnecessary penalties? That's the other side of undisciplined culture where it also matters and the Jets lead the league there.
2. Has Maurice seen enough that he had to send a message?
A: A four game losing streak is tough but most teams hit a slump somewhere each season. The Jets in their last 10 games are 5-4-1, in the last 20 games they are 9-8-3. The eye-test would suggest the team is playing in a bit of a systems fog since the all-star break and the coach needed something more severe to shake it.
3. Has the goaltending hidden issues that are now exposed?
A: Forget the micro-sample of last night, where Pavelec was solid in his job, and look at the last 5 games- without strong goaltending are we seeing the Jets that we've come to know and loathe in the past? This is a bit of a chicken-and-egg issue as does anyone want to say the systems make the goalie or the goalie makes the systems again? Consider this though the Jets are at 53.1% as score adjusted Corsi and 52.4% as score adjusted Fenwick in the last 20 games. They have kept the possession game where it needs to be.
4. Is this a tail spin that can be pulled out of and back on the flight plan?
A: Yes, but it does not come without some change. In the previous blog I noted the Jets record through February the past 5 seasons- it's not good. Essentially what the eye-test around the league is telling us is this: teams are tightening up, pushing harder and gearing up for post season. In time we can look at post all-star break numbers and see if this is true but for the Jets it seems that they are in a tail spin. Possession numbers say no and that's where we should place some trust as not everything is forgotten.
5. How do the Jets get out of this spin?
A: Maybe it is just luck and right now the bounces around the net aren't going the Jets way. For the last 20 games the Jets PDO has been 100.4, for the last 10 it's been 102.14 and for the first 10 games 98.43. That's just the way it goes sometimes and right now over 20 games we've seen a dead average team in terms of record with a dead average PDO. Perhaps the bounces will go back a bit the Jets' way- when that happens will be anyone's guess. That might be when the tail spin ends.
6. Back to Kane- is there any end in sight?
A: Probably not this season unless something drastic happens by one of several means: a 'can't refuse' trade offer, trade demand, or injury. The real test will be if the Jets want any more of Kane's 'antics' around the team and if not the summer is when things change.
The pessimist is thinking 'the Jets are what we've always known them to be' while the optimist is thinking 'things have changed and they'll get back to 14-15 Jets soon'. The fun part is we're about to find out who is right as the stretch starts. The one variable that would really hamper any decent understanding about the Jets would be a significant injury to a key player or two. Forget the jinx though and just hope for the best.