The Winnipeg Jets opened up their pre-season last night against the Wild with a 2-1 win. Special teams were a prominent feature in the game with Dustin Byfuglien getting the opening goal on the PP. The game had four prominent Jets prospects in it who were getting all the buzz leading up to the game. Lowry, Petan, Ehlers and Morrissey were all given the opportunity to strut their stuff and some did while others seemed noticeable only when you looked for them.
So here are your 'hot takes' from the game for discussion.
1. Is Ehlers ready for prime time? Even though it was one pre-season game what did fans learn abot the 2014 first round draft pick from this game?
2. Is not noticing Josh Morrissey until he took a high sticking penalty a sign of good play or tentative play?
3. Did Nick Petan raise his stock value that much? Probably. I've never heard Shane Hnidy gush so much about about passing in the three years the Jets have been in Winnipeg
4. Adam Lowry garnered lots of praise for his game across the Twittersphere- did he deserve it? I'm not sure he had a great game as much as he had enough of a game for what fans wanted to see.
5. Why was Thorburn dropping the gloves? He has a job, he has a a role and he has a high salary so why risk it all in the first preseason game with Bickell- a guy literally fighting for a job?
6. And if Thorburn is going to drop them, why wait around and watch two guys whack the snot out of Ehlers?
7. What did we see at forward with Byfuglien that is not there when he is on defense? He scored a PP goal from the point as a defensemen, something we already know he can do well.
8. Bryan Little looked to be in mid-season form. The guy is a chronically underrated centre man and has hands- he showed that on his goal by making the pass getting a rebound and putting it in.
9. Perreault added a new dynamic. He has been touted as a possession monster and he showed why. He moves around the ice well, great vision/sense and has an eye for the net. Did anyone expect to see him on the PK?
10. Pav or Hutch? Did we learn anything from the split time in net they had?
What we got last night was a look at several variables that head coach Paul Maurice is considering. What we did see is something the always astute Ed Tait said in the pregame show on TSN 1290. It was the first time since the Jets came to Winnipeg that we have seen a showcasing of prospects. As Tait went on he exclaimed that it was at first Scheifele, then Trouba but now there were serious contenders for spots. Players like Lowry, Petan, Chariot, Morrissey, Ehlers and Kitchon are all potential Winnipeg Jets, this season or in the nearer future. To date the Jets have not had that reality with what they have drafted and inherited from Atlanta.
Is the 'draft and develop' model working? It's far too soon to say but what it is doing is producing challengers and options which is the first step. If you as a the GM cannot get the process to do that, something has gone wrong. As one of the harsher critics of Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff's work to date, he gets a big 'thumbs up' from yours truly for what we are seeing, now three years after his his first training camp.
Even the critics have to admit when the things go right and it appears the flight plan for the future of the Jets is on track. Let's see what we say about the others after Wednesday's game vs Edmonton.