It’s the same three letters but the way in which they are positioned changes many things. Right now the Winnipeg Jets are in a sort of free fall from mediocrity and the reactions from fans and certain sections of media are harsh, knee-jerk, and somewhat explosive. After the loss last night in Buffalo, after giving up 4 straight goals when up 2-0, it's time to ask bigger questions.
Those reactions often evolve from the ‘who’ side of the spectrum. Who did what, who is to blame, who isn’t trying, who keeps making mistakes. The list can go on and on to suit your observations and there is nothing wrong with looking at the state of the Jets that way as limited as it may be.
I’ve become far more concerned with the ‘how’ aspect of the Jets current state of affairs. How did they arrive here? How did that mistake happen? How will they change? How did that player end up on the ice then? How did Schiefele get all that room last night? Continue, as you like.
‘How’, at least to me, has a lot to do with a deeper understanding and analysis than ‘who’. You can identify who sucks (Stuart), who makes frequent mistakes (Byfuglien), who can’t score (Wright), who gets preferential ice time (Thorburn), and so on and so on. So ‘how’ did that come to be?
Kevin McCartney(he’s a really smart guy!) from Jets Nation expressed this too but more on the decision making process that seems plague the Jets if not be their Achilles heel. Furthering this thought, what I wonder is how come no one on the Jets is getting better, improving or growing? Trouba and Schiefele aside.
Back up a bit and think about the roster change over from the previous two seasons. It was inadequate, in that the team did not progress further to the goal of competing in the post-season. Out were Hainsey, Antropov, Wellwood, Burmistrov, Miettinen, Stapleton, Glass, and Mason and in came Clitsome, Halischuk, Tangradi, Wright, Frolik, Pardy, Setoguchi and Montoya along with draft picks Trouba and Scheifele. Take the picks out of the equation though as none of the players that left were actual TNSE picks as Jets.
However, think about that for a minute- the picks have been as good or better than all but one or two of the pick-ups; Frolik and Montoya.
Other than Burmistrov the players that left the Jets were or are not over 30 and the average age of the departing players was 31. The incoming group, Trouba and Scheifele aside, has an average age of 26.
Why I find this interesting is that Claude Noel was known as good coach of developing talent and growing it. This is how he earned his pay cheque and current job. The Jets got younger and probably because how were they to get anymore out of the players that left (Burmistrov aside) who were all 31 by average age? They were on the ‘downward slope’, at least one could argue that’s how Chevaldayoff and his crew may have looked at the situation. So for a coach with the bulk of his experience teaching younger developing players it makes sense to give him more players who have a development upside and that’s how the Jets will improve.
So, how’s that working out?
Not very well right now as even the friendly month of December has been less than kind and the Jets sit just slightly below the .500 mark. The question this past off-season was ‘how will the Jets get better?’ as Chevy and TNSE all but set expectations of competing for a playoff spot. This team appears to be moving further from that spot than closer.
How come these younger players with a collective average age of 26 are not moving towards better production? How come the Jets are getting less from them than the older players? How come there is no improvement?
We’re almost at the half way point of the season with 47 games left and the only two players to show meaningful change are Trouba and Scheifele, honourable mention goes to Frolik. That has to be of concern and instead of worrying about the ‘who’ is playing well or not, it’s time to worry about ‘how’ come nothing is changing, improving or progressing.
That’s a big concern because it would be fair to say the roster was designed to capitalize on the coach’s strengths and the player performance cycle. No how come that is not happening?