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Jets Set to Take On Av's, Potential Bowness Return; Schmidt Trade Incoming? |
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The Winnipeg Jets will visit Ball Arena to take on the reigning Stanley Cup Champions, the Colorado Avalanche.
After missing the first two games of the season, Rick Bowness could be set to return to his rightful place behind the bench tonight, after testing positive for COVID-19 last week. The newly hired head coach must be eager to get behind the bench and get the players playing his way.
Through the first two games, we have seen a lot of last seasons cycles and strategies. When you take into account the near identical roster, who many of which played under the same systems for quite a number of years, as well as Bowness not being present for the first two games, there should be nothing to worry about. The Jets first game was nothing to worry about, while the second game, against the Dallas Stars, could have a bit more to be concerned about, but it is easy to forget,, this is the third game of the year. Don't overreact.
Projected Lines 10/19/22 - WPG @ COL
WPG:
Connor-Scheifele-Ehlers
Perfetti-Dubois-Wheeler
Barron-Lowry-Appleton
Maenalanen-Gustafsson-Gagner
Morrissey-DeMelo
Dillon-Pionk
Stanley-Schmidt
Hellebuyck
COL:
Lehkonen-MacKinnon-Rantanen
Rodrigues-Newhook-Nichushkin
Cogliano-Compher-O'Connor
MacDermid-Sedlak-Kaut
Toews-Makar
Girard-Manson
Byram-Johnson
Francouz
The Avalanche are missing a few key players, and may result in a slower start to the season. Captain Gabriel Landeskog and Darren Helm are both injured, and Martin Kaut was recalled from the AHL, likely to fill in on the fourth line.
The Jets lineup will likely stay the same, with Dylan Samberg potentially joining the team in place of Logan Stanley, but for now, these are the projected lines. I am not sure how I feel about splitting up Connor and Dubois, though the top line has been playing very well, so you can certainly look at the move from both ways. I will be looking to see some extra spark from the second line tonight, as they were pretty quiet against Dallas.
The defensive system has been similar to the one we saw last year, but like I said, that can be expected with such a fresh season with similar players and no boss on the bench so far. The top-four have looked good, but Nate Schmidt and Stanley have been struggling. I would really like to see one, or even both come out of the lineup and see Samberg-Capobianco as the teams third pair, but just a little shakeup for a couple games will do.
It has been reported around the league that there are quite a few teams interested in a right-shot defenseman. While Schmidt is a left shot, he is more comfortable on the right side, so I have to wonder in Kevin Cheveldayoff has been busy on the phone.
Among teams reportedly interested in a defender, Montreal jumps off the page for me. Now, of course they just claimed Kovacevic, who is a right shot defenseman, but they have been vocal about wanting another, and as a team who is clearly willing to take on salary, they may have interest. Now, money would have to come back to Winnipeg, as the Canadiens only have roughly $1.8 million in cap space right now, but I am sure the teams could make it work.
I will have a post-game column up tomorrow, but for now, let me know your thoughts on the Jets season start, and have a great day!
Winnipeg Jets Blogger • 
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