Wings Visit Jets but with no Red?
Mike Babcock didn’t even mutter a casual likliehood of Pavel Datsyuk playing tonight, saying ‘probably not’. Hence the Wings lose their Red- weak I know. That doesn’t mean they are not a formidable foe, they are and are sitting with a 5-2-3 record in their lat 10 games and 23 points in 18 games. Not having Datsyuk is a huge advantage to any opposition the Red Wings face and tonight the Jets have to take advantage.
Right now the Jets are lead by their very even keel coach, one who is carefully helping the players form an identity. Today he said ‘the team is in the early stages’ of that process in his address after the morning skate. He also said that three weeks of good defensive (play) “doesn’t set a tradition in stone…. With Maurice there is always caution, the words are never to grandiose nor are they too harsh, what they are is succinct and focused. Something the Jets are starting to become.
Gone are the days of wild fire wagon hockey were after the rush up the ice you never quite knew what was coming back or who. The post-game comments from the players stress more team-natured success than individual events or accomplishments. ‘Everything his happening’ at least under a guise of a new identity, one that is yet to be termed or completely identified.
What is known is that the some players are doing things far differently than ever before, such as Evander Kane. He’s getting less opportunity to start in prime scoring position but he’s still getting nearly as many chances. Interestingly enough Michael Frolik has taken over Kane’s zone starts but also faces an equally difficult competition. What it appears, based on these two players, is that Maurice is spreading his wealth and making the Jets a tougher team to play against. Today on the TSN website, Hockeybuzz alumni, Travis Yost has an article talking about just that. It appears this change is through usage optimization and after 20 games a consistent type of game and style of play is emerging from the Jets.
Does it continue tonight?
That’s the question that many fans and media are trying to answer. Is this style now a habit, a consistent trait of the Jets, their identity? Paul Maurice is cautious and others should be too as this group, the core group, has sold a pretty good bill of goods before, i.e. December 2011.
The Red Wings are as good a test as any and while not like the Devils, who always play the Jets tough, they present another measuring stick the Jets have to lean against. That measurement is to compete and beat a peer, or rival of equal standing and in 18 games the Wings have 23 points, just like the Jets. While in the east, and not a team the Jets actually have to worry about within their own conference, these are the points that make a difference, the small things.
As far as it’s known the Jets lines stay the same and the one to watch will be Kane, Perreault and Buff. They started buzzing last game and with more time they could be lethal. One should hope so if the rumours of Buff being a possible trade target are true- might want to get his value up some more.