Something isn’t right…right?
The Jets are in a major tailspin and there are no signs that this team will pull out safely. Some call the current representation of the Jets ‘Noel-ian’ while others may suggest the ‘Atlanta Association’ looms large again. The coach stands resolute in his assessments and his approach with no ‘give’ in his stance towards, strategy tactics and execution the players must abide by. The idea or thought by some that there is a ‘line in the sand’ drawn between players and coaches is once again being discussed.
Here’s what the number say:
From the start of the season to October 31st the Jets at even strength had a 50.2% Corsi rating, 8.4% shooting rate, and a .931 save percentage.
From November 1 until today the Jets at even strength have a 54% Corsi rating, 6.3% shooting rate, and a .879 save percentage.
Those same spreads based on all situations are
Start to October 31 48.6% Corsi, 10.4% shooting and .914 save percentage
November 1-16 52.5% Corsi, 6.3% shooting and .851 save percentage
When looking at these spreads is it any wonder the Jets are in a 4 game losing streak right now? But how do they change it? That’s what Maurice is charged to do but consider this, he has to do it int he toughest division in hockey and with a roster that has 3 rookies in the bottom 9, 2 pugilists and 1 ex-KHL player. There were bound to be growing pains and this regression should not be surprising or maybe it should. What exactly changed with the defence?
That’s one question that some want to know because it seems many of of the problems start and end with the defence core, at least based on opinion, and that core has not changed. However perhaps the defence core is reacting to something else.
The Jets have had 9 players 25 and under play 10 or more games this season. Of those 9 only Ehlers and Scheifele have a Corsi rating above 50, 56.29 and 55.85 respectively in even strength situations. Petan, Copp and Burmistrov have been getting killed while Lowry, Chairot, Myers and Trouba are barely treading water.
The symptom of the current Jets malaise may be that the youth aren’t as well supported by veterans with experience and aren’t sure how to handle adversity. Let’s be clear it’s not the losing streak that is the adversity, it’s the on-ice events that are confounding too many of the Jets younger players.
Of those same players there is not one in positive territory for High Danger Scoring Chances. That being said if you take the next age range of the players from 26 up you will see that only 5 are in positive territory with 4ht line blogger whipping boy Anthony Peluso leading at +8. It’s all negative for the younger group.
Of this older group there are 6 players in the positive side for general scoring chance percent and in the younger group only 2. Something is amiss and right now it’s hard to figure out what exactly. Did the offensive system change so much this year that Ladd, Little and Wheeler along with Buff, Enstrom, Myers and Trouba all forgot how to move the puck?
The system is not working, at least not like it did last year if indeed it is similar and if it isn’t why? The Jets have a core group, they have a foundation to build on and used it to make the post season for the first time under Paul Maurice. Yet it seems either abandoned or neglected but most likely modified or replaced with something different because the roster changed.
Leaving the team were Frolik, Tlusty, Slater, and Stempniak, two of which were late season help but also the loss of Kane and Bogosian too. Both of those players played the bulk of their season last year with Winnipeg. In came Stafford, Copp, Ehlers, Petan, Myers and Burmistrov and while there has been success it could be argued that it come because of hot goalies and some shooting luck.
In this case I would argue there is more going on the for the Jets than growing pains but what it is exactly is unclear. I would say that if these pains are to become longer term, as in for duration of this season GM Kevin Cheveldayoff will have a bigger problem than he imagined.
This past summer it became obvious the Jets were about to change course in terms of personnel and that there was risk associated with the move. How Cheveldayoff weighed the risk would be interesting to know but right now there are signs are that what exists as the core today is not ready to carry the youth of tomorrow and maintain success from last year. That’s a statement based on recent events but if those events become trends then the next question that gets asked should be about Buff and Ladd, and what future they should have in Winnipeg as upcoming UFA players.