I'll be honest, I have a draft of a fake transcript of the Jets closed room meeting after the 5-1 loss to the Wild. I played around with it for a bit yesterday, tired to make it funny and parts of it are. However, my mind drifts back to the seriousness of the situation the Jets face right now with must win game tonight and Saturday.
So what comes of a closed door meeting with a team after game number 80?
Is the message about accountability, effort, discipline, adherence, or something else?
The hope, and yes at this point it is a hope, that all of what ails the Jets is between their collective ears is wishful. That somehow clearing the air in that room so that every player understands what needs to be done on each shift in each game will overcome some systemic issues is possible but how likely?
Frankly, the hope is that there is a switch and the Jets, who have been playing hockey in the dark for 2.5 months have now lit up the room and and can see is a big one. There's nothing to suggest that switch exists nor that it actually has any power to it.
Something changed for this team, and with the help of data we know that happened in December or there about. From the start of the season October 4th to December 15th the Jets looked like this:
32 GP
CF% 51.18 10th
GF/60 2.56 13th
xGF% 49.12 18th
PDO 99.63 20th
From December 16 to now the Jets look like this:
48 GP
CF% 47.09 25th
GF/60 2.49 13th
xGF% 46.08 28th
PDO 101.03 8th
It's not secret that since January 1st the Jets have been near the bottom of the league in many stats that are useful predictive measurements. The one that stands out to me is the xGF% or expected goals for the a team is to score.
Last year for the season the Jets were 5th overall at 52.79%
This year so far they are 24th in the league this season at 47.3% No team below them is in playoff position. They and Washington are total outliers with that stat in terms of playoff position.
Here is a link
Shot Quality and Expected Goals to read to get an idea if why this matters.
I'm going to quote this from the piece as a great illustration of the Jets and their on-ice habits or tactics from Nick Mercadante:
People talk about shot quality but they don’t really understand it. What it is. What it means. Where and when it is appropriate or worthwhile to consider in analysis.
Chasing shot quality is chasing the dragon.
No coach is going to listen to anyone who says shot quality doesn’t matter. They also aren’t going to listen to someone who says it matters but can’t show how.
If they can’t show how, a coach, a hockey person, will use their own empirical evidence. Your best bet is still to show a coach how in a large sample its impact gets largely washed out.
So don’t focus too much on it in the grand scheme of things. Focus on other things that will help produce more sustained offense. Then let your players create out of that. Use intuitive solutions for quality. Like lateral passes and quick touches prior to scoring plays. Mess with goalie angle lines. Use traffic against your opponent. Etc.
One thing we have heard from the coach and in particular Wheeler and Scheifele this season is the idea of taking better shots. In fact, earlier in the season there was talk of the idea of controlling or looking for quality shots and there is some belief the Jets as an organization have some data about how to do that.
Last season the Jets were 10th in the league for CF/60 at 58.6 shot attempts.
This season the Jets are 18th at 55.7 shot attempts.
It's not a huge difference, less that 1 shot attempt per game but go back to the Expected Goals for stat, 52.7 to 47.3% and that is a big move. Now let's look at the expected goal rate...
Last season they were at 2.41/60 for 12th
This season they are at 2.21/60 for 26th
So what we see is a decrease in shot volume has led to a decrease in shot quality. I think it's fair to assume that given the information coming from the Jets there are two possible issues at hand and probably having concurrent effects. First the Jets are sacrificing volume in favor of quality which is what Mercadante suggests is chasing the dragon and the results speak for themselves. Second, in an effort to score the Jets are therefore giving up chances because they want the best chances to score.
The downside of this scenario is the Jets went from 8th in the league for Shots against per 60 at 29.7 last season to 32.24 for 25th in the league.
Now consider what your eyes see with the Jets. How often are puck taken down the ice to have nothing happen? How often are shots not taken because they look for a better shot? How often are the systems used defeating the purpose of shooting the puck?
There are a lot of questions here. The problem after game number 80 and having a meeting is that the process, strategy and tactics may be too embedded to change. Furthermore, do the players even see the issue, does anyone on the team?
It would be nice to say that the Jets will come out of this meeting and small break from practicing to loosen the grip on the sticks. Grab a bit of the force and feel the game while they play it, and just get back to basics. That of course could happen but given the entrenchment of the coaches and systems will they undo any of those habits and tendencies?
With two games left, the division title on the line and some home ice advantage everyone is about to find out tonight against an opponent who could run over them. Just like they did the last time they were in Colorado.
Winnipeg Jets Blogger •Winnipeg Jets Writer • 
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