It’s been a slow few weeks around the Winnipeg Jets in terms of news that is interesting and meaningful. Yes Ehlers signed a three year entry level deal and today the Jets announced their young prospects roster and participation schedule for the tournament in Penticton. But aside from that and the appearance of Evander Kane on the Hustler and Lawless show it’s been slow. Real, real slow.
So what is a guy to write about? Where does the content come from? Well you turn to some sources who say ‘nothing, nothing at all happening’, and then you look around the interwebs. In the case of the latter two recent comments via Twitter caught my eye, and interest.
The first came from Mykael Sopher in response to a retweet of mine linking to the Hockey News article predicting the Jets finish 7th in the Central Division. He said “Reading the reasons why isn’t really that necessary if you’ve been paying attention to this team. #nhljets
#BOOM
I think the comment really sums up the evolution of Jets fans from 2011 to 2014. It’s not longer a group who are happy to have a team back, they are group that has had three seasons to watch, evaluate and form their own opinions about the team. The dismal projections no longer disappoint or offend fans, it more or less confirms their feelings about the team. I feel comfortable saying this as being a firm representation of the fan base. It’s what I hear and what I sense from it. This is not about negativity, these feelings are about reality, and right now in the Central Division reality bites for the Winnipeg Jets.
Adding Galiardi and Perreault along with returning Halischuk, Thorburn, Pardy, and Ellerby is hardly dynamic change for a team that has all but owned the definition of stale. Despite the recent interviews with Wheeler and Ladd, where both have commented that they were aware of actions to acquire players this past off season, there has been little to suggest change arrives.
Yesterday there was another interesting tweet, this time from Rhys Jessop. In a discussion about the Young Stars tournament in Penticton Rhys presented this thought: “Teddier I want to see Ehlers play with a C that doesn’t score 2 pts/GP in the CHL. *looks at Jets roster* *Sees Petan* *cries*…
I’m not some one you dear reader would rely on for prospect or draft information. It’s not my schtick or area of expertise (if I even have one). However, it gave me a second to pause and think about things. Long term there’s a situation developing for the Jets that looks promising. How ‘long term’ that is remains to be seen as the beauty of what Rhys sees could quite simply never be realized.
He followed that tweet up with this one: “@Teddier Perreault-Petan-Ehlers ftw…. Yes that is a pretty tasty, if not Pavlov-like salivating thought. Slurp. Look a bit further and consider the possibility that Kosmachuk could be there too, or with Lowry. The challenge is when? Jets fans are beginning to show signs of impatience and in the more extreme cases a bit of indifference.
Never have I heard of so many season ticket groups looking for buyers of an allotment or share of games (and expenses). Is that a sign of frustration with the team, it’s direction or probably results? It would be foolish to say so with any certainty but those factors have to be considered as they are the ones weighed against the enjoyment of ticket expenses.
Another tweet that caught my eye was that from Blair Hay in response to yours truly. I had used a form of sarcasm with Rhys to talk about that Jets roster being some what blocked by signing players such as Thorburn to 3 year extensions. Hay responded with, “Teddier, what a dumb comment. They aren’t going to bury a young player that is fully ready so Thorburn can play….
No I don’t think Chevy and Zinger would. That would be dumb. But the by product of signing guys like Thorburn to three year extensions is that it impedes players who can make the jump. That’s exactly how the salary cap and CBA work. The Jets either have to trade or waive the players they need to move in order to open space. Put another way, extending Thorburn has it’s own merits and detractions in isolation but in a bigger picture, the unforeseen consequence(s) give the team some limited flexibility to allow a push from below. The argument against Thorburn slot-blocking young talent is that Galiardi and Halischuk have two-way deals. The latter two are the expendables I’ve been told. That simply brings me around to the original point of signing Thorburn anyway so around and around we go again.
The bigger lesson here is when discussing the Jets with some one from afar of the team you can get a different and often, fresh perspective on the whole picture. While it may be of no comfort to many fans that this upcoming season is more of the ‘wait and see’ approach, when it comes to the roster and future, but it’s not all bad. At some point the cycle has to break and a new direction or series of actions enacted. Heading into this season the team and organization are closer to that point than ever.
Regardless of how the team starts or finishes the five year cycle is coming to an end. The question that becomes more relevant is when and how is the current cycle broken, and what direction is the ship steered after. It’s an optimistic view, and perhaps one that stands alone from many others but it’s my attempt to look at the organization as a whole, not just at the different tiers of assets.
Rick Ralph of TSN 1290 said some time ago, and the clip is used in his weekday Rona Roundtable show promo, that ‘you have to have prospects and draft picks to make trades’. He’s right, at least in the case of the Jets because clearly there are some impediments, known, or unknown to trading players from the existing club roster.
It’s hard for fans not to grow impatient but in these stale times it helps to see the picture from a different angle. One man’s trash may be another man’s treasure and in the case of the Winnipeg Jets it will be interesting to see if they wait to dig up their treasure chest or allow some one else to get the riches later in return for help in the short term.
At least the young stars tournament starts soon because it’s getting pretty hard to dig up anything of note on this team. Perhaps it’ s just the calm before the storm right? Boston has to be calling Chevy by now don’t they? ;)