Connect the dots to figure where the winds of change are blowing.
The writing is on the wall for the Jets. Fans accept it, albeit still expressing disappointment, but they know it’s time to move on. There’s a game tonight but does it really matter in the grand scheme of things? The Avs played last night in Patrick Roy’s return to Montreal as a head coach. They lost. The Jets host them tonight and a win would keep the faint hope of the playoffs still in the back of fan’s minds. Go Jets.
If you sense a bit of melancholy in the tone here, you’re correct. Winnipeg is a melancholy place right now. A long, never-ending winter turning into a slow sloppy melt with grey skies that make the city resemble the wet coast, not the sunny prairies. With no team to cheer for the city is entering the time of year where nothing in sports happens here and for some fans it’s time to get honest about the Jets again.
The interesting shift here is that many in the general Winnipeg media seem to be coming around to the long held view of Troy Westwood who’s long promoted that Pavelec is not good enough. What’s intriguing is that many are talking about a Jets team without Pavelec as being on it. This is a stark change, one that seems similar to others in the past, at least with some 20/20 hindsight.
Before the trade deadline the name of Mark Stuart was really being bantered about in the papers and airwaves. A possible target for a contender needing that ‘grit and sandpaper’ in a depth defense role? Then the notion of the team not having ‘that same player’ and how he’s played a huge role with Trouba as a mentor. The week of the deadline we hear the Jets are working on a new deal with Stu and voila! Come the end of the deadline with no moves to announce or discuss there is Stu with a shiny new 4-year deal with a $900k per year raise.
Go back a bit further before Claude Noel was fired and the calls to move Buff anywhere but defense were near rampant. Easily the Jets most popular player and one who takes a beating for how he plays, or doesn't, more than any other player not named Kane, he became the poster-boy for the ‘Atlanta Association’ move Buff and all would go right.
Gary Lawless recently wrote that the Jets, in particular Paul Maurice should head to Russia to talk to Alexander Burmistrov. You can read it all in this piece as it includes info on two more Jets players in Kulda and Telegin. With Oli Jokinen needing a new deal and clearly being a step too slow for even Byfuglien, bringing back Burmistrov could solidify a third line that has had a rotating cast. Are the Jets going to find a better centre on the open market? Jim Slater is a 4th line guy and pretending that Jokinen, for all his heart and veteran experience, is capable on the 3rd is misguided. He’s not the player the Jets need to latch on to any longer than this deal.
While Lawless often pokes the ‘inner bear’ in many with his thoughts and style you cannot deny he’s plugged in and connected. Perhaps the most in Winnipeg and trusted enough to be part of TSN’s national broadcasts in Sochi and on its “Reporters… show. See this piece as an example of the validity of his Sources.
Like it or not if Lawless is on to something he’s usually right so it makes sense that we either ask him for lottery numbers or trust his instincts around the moves the Jets could make. In fact if you take Lawless out of the equation it’s good PR, in fact it’s classic PR strategy. Get the masses to believe something to be their own idea before you do it.
A source of my own has offered that the Jets might have already had some minor contact with Burmistrov’s ‘camp’ if not the player himself. Not directly through the GM but a person who can dangle that ‘olive branch’ to build a relationship. As for Telegin the Jets have ‘un-suspended’ him and are prepared to welcome him back in the fold- whatever that looks like. If you read the quote from Kulda given to Lawless, it sure seems that he’d be in if you made space- he couldn’t be a downgrade from Ellerby could he?
If you like a good conspiracy then this chain of events sets up an interesting set of possibilities, so why not throw a couple of more out there. There was a tweet from Leafs goalie, and Manitoba native, James Reimer’s agent after Leafs coach Randy Carlyle threw him under the bus in the 3-2 loss to Detroit last night. Darren Dreger followed up this morning too. Reimer’s agent simply called Carlyle, and the Leafs out, on the same old act; blaming the goalie when the entire team plays poorly. Reimer is an RFA this off-season and clearly on the outs in Toronto. Is he a realistic target for the Jets should Pavelec be bought out? Would giving Reimer the cap savings from a Pavelec buy-out, in a three year deal, (where the savings are the largest) a smart move until a Jets goalie prospect matures? Here is a LIST of goalies since 2005-06 who have played a minimum of 30 games with a Save % over .910. Pavelec shows up once while Reimer appears twice. The next list may be even more telling as it’s for goalies aged 21-26 from 2010-11 to current season with a save % .910 and above having faced more than 3000 shots in that time. See it HERE. Finally another list with the same time period but with no goalie age restrictions HERE.
For the Jets it’s not so simple as asking Burmistrov to come back, making a spot for Kulda and signing Reimer to a contract. Other things have to happen for all of this to take place should it even be possible but ask yourself this: on paper do the Jets look better with Kulda, Burmistrov and Reimer on the roster instead of Jokinen, Ellerby and Pavelec?
There’s upside to the former three and almost no chance of anything better happening with the latter. It’s worth a chance, at least on any one of them let alone all three. However, getting to that point is difficult as a spot needs to be made for both Burmistrov and Kulda while acquiring Reimer will certainly cost Chevy something.
While there’s sure to be winds of change around the Jets this coming off-season what blows in may be more familiar than many fans think. At least if all the indicators to date are pointing in the right direction and there’s no reason to think they’re not.