So you got my Olympic take and now we head into the stretch run with the Trade Deadline just a week away tomorrow. Are the Jets feeling bullish on their season and 22 games left to make the final 8 in the west or do they feel like they have turbulence in front of them with a rather ugly schedule?
The fact is no one wants a Jets player that Chevy wants to part with. Yes some want, Ladd, Kane Byfuglien, Wheeler, and Frolik but it makes no sense for the Jets to part with them, especially if they feel there's a chance, that faint hope.
So with a healthy line up and the return of Kane, Slater and Halischuk to active duty something has to change with the team and it should make some expendable. Right????
Not so fast today Paul Maurice said he liked the way his line up was playing before the break and other than inserting Kane back in didn't tip his hand to changes in any other capacity. Surely Slater, even after a long layoff, is an improvement over James Wright at centre on the 4th line.
Would bringing Halischuk into to play third line left wing allow Byfuglien to return to defense, his natural position? One would think but the coach, one few in Winnipeg want to question, sees his lineup as a strong point and doesn't see a need for change...yet.
So with a trade deadline close would getting Slater in and Halischuk make sense to see if a guy like Setoguchi can be expendable? What about Jokinen, the recent bronze medal winner, is he an option should he express desire to go a team with a chance to win?
Who wants these guys though? Who wants marginal third line players on a team struggling to make 8th place?
Probably no one so don't expect some glamourous offers or deals for them let alone the stars. For one of the big stars on this team to be moved a player coming back has to be strong and you know what that means... a hockey deal. Fat chance that happens before next Wednesday as it makes no sense for any contender to give up what Chevy would want.
So yeah, no one wants a Jet.