Tony Fresco

Check out the epic tee Ryan reaves is sporting for his post game interview ....

Mason Appleton really tearing it up on the score sheet lately. 7 pts in his last 4 games (incl 5 assists in his last 2), now up to 7pts in 8 games on the season. Almost a ppg in the NCAA last year with Michigan State (31 for 35). Might be a bit of a hidden gem in the system. Decent size at 6'2, 201 lbs. I haven't been able to see any of the games, but as was mentioned above, playing with Robinson and Sgarbossa. Anyone know who is playing the wing (Sgarbossa or Appleton)? Will be interesting to see where Petan slots in and who that pushes down the depth chart.

Lindy Ruff out in Dallas. We all know PoMO is getting an extension, but if he wasn't, I would be OK with Lindy as coach. He likely won't be out of work long.

A small selfish part of me would rather KC stay down with the Moose this year and keep his NHL games played below 25, so he can be eligible for the calder conversation next year. Also because I think a worthy candidate this year might get jobbed.

Not sure how sound that logic is. Our guy is doing just as little as this other guy did so he will be fine? Plus by his third season in Minnesota, Skjei wasn't a healthy scratch more often than not, something that can't be said for Glover, who seems to have regressed from last season. http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=168703 Also, not that draft position means everything to a player's future success, but a first round pick (Skjei) will tend to get more "second chances" than a 3rd round pick (Glover). Will be interesting if the Jets sign him this off-season, because if they don't, I believe he can pursue the free agent market the season after. I would say so far, Glover has been the second most disappointing draft pick from Jets 2.0, right after Lucas Sutter. Hopefully he can accelerate his development because our depth in the D Prospect cupboard is a little bare.

Further to what Rich said, Miller is very customer-focused, and he is instilling that culture throughout the Bomber office. I received 3 calls directly from the Bomber office this season as a season-ticket holder. Two of the calls were initiated by the Bombers, one from Miller directly, asking about the quality of my game-day experiences and asking for feedback. The third was because I had complained to a staff member about not being able to see the game feed while in line for concessions (the screen facing our line was showing the twitter feed). The staff member had noted my seat number and I got a call back the next week. In almost 20 years as a season ticket holder, I have had exactly 0 calls prior to this past season from any of the previous regimes.

Garret Hohl over at Jets Nation was pondering the same thing. The fancy stats say that it is not the case, but I prefer to rely on the eye test and anecdotal evidence. http://jetsnation.ca/2017/2/20/by-the-numbers-jets-record-with-enstrom-doesn-t-have-much-to-do-with-enstrom?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

Is it me or have the Jets been playing much better defensively since Enstrom has been out of the lineup?

Helle played well enough to win last night IF he had received the same goal support Pav has enjoyed this year. This has been the most telling stat among the results we have seen. Pav has won more frequently because he has received the most goal support. Per stats.hockeyanalysis.com, here is the goals support received by Jets goalies this year: Pav : 3.82 per 60min played Helle: 2.88 per 60 Hutch: 1.92 per 60. Pav gets almost 4 goals per game support, Hutch gets the short end of the straw at less than 2. Helle let in 3 last night, If Jets score 4, like they have in most of Pav's games, the team wins. Wins is a team stat. PERIOD.

Erik Foley too

"Interesting" take on The Trade from a Sabres fan perspective, calling the deal a bust for both sides. http://thecomeback.com/puckdrunklove/nhl/on-evander-kane-tyler-myers-and-a-trade-that-has-no-real-winners.html From the blog, particularly the takes on Armia and Lemieux, of which I presume the writer is basing purely on stats and not from observing any play since they have left the Buffalo organization: Armia will never be a top line scorer, but he's shown definite signs that he can be an effective middle 6 winger. Lemieux's key attributes are not going to be purely offensive. Further still to get what the Jets got in moving Kane, when they had absolutely no other choice but to move him after the tracksuit incident, hard to call the trade a bust from a Jet perspective.

He isn't in the best shape. Here is is at son Matthew's draft day.

I kinda like the horns. It's a different take on it. These boys from Winnipeg/Steinbach area did a pretty decent version of Supernaut

Is this tweet from NHL.com a spoiler as to our next captain?

According to Cap Friendly, Jets sign Jamie Philips (2 years @ 675K) and re-sign Julien Melchiori (2 years @ 625K). Nice they don't lose Philips for nothing, although he is still down the depth chart. Likely to spend time in the ECHL this year.

I agree there will be some nice skill to throw over the boards on the PP unit, but Laine combined with the group you've listed means we have too many men on the ice. ?

If Chicago is eliminated in the first round, I believe it's been stated, the worst the Jets pick would be is 22.

More cap trouble for the Hawks, as Panarin is poised to finish in Top 10 of scoring, earning him a $1.725 million bonus. http://www.thehockeynews.com/blog/blackhawks-panarin-closing-on-1-725-million-bonus-cap-crunch-could-worsen-in-chicago/ Hawks have had to expose players like Leddy, Sharp and Saad in years past. With our cap space and Chevy's relationship with the hawks, would be nice if we could be opportunistic here. Unfortunately, not a lot of great fits. If we target LHD, Hjalmarsson has a cap hit of $4.1 million and 3 more years of term. He's 28 but would leave Chicago with Keith/Seabrook and not much else. At forward, Andrew Shaw is 24 and a pending RFA who made $2.0 million last year and will be due a raise, although not as much as Saad earned last year. Frankly, after that, there wouldn't be much else that would interest me, as they won't be moving their core. At some point, unless the cap were to grow significantly, the Blackhawks' shell game of cap management will blow up and they will no longer be able to keep over 50% of the cap on 5 players (Toews, Kane, Keith, Seabrook, and Crawford) plus 5 more years each of Hossa at $5.2 million and Anisimov at $4.5. Come on Chevy! Bring Toews home!

Confirmed on TSN2

I'm not disputing Demko is a higher rated prospect than Phillips, 2 years younger and will in all likelihood with the Richter award, but the 2 have pretty similar numbers over the last 2 seasons, with Phillips playing almost every single minute for the Michigan Tech squad. Phillips 2014-15 Michigan Tech NCAA 41 1.74 .933 2015-16 Michigan Tech NCAA 33 2.00 .921 Demko 2014-15 Boston College NCAA 35 2.19 .925 2015-16 Boston College NCAA 32 1.77 .937

This should likely be in the Around the NHL thread, but speaking of Goalie Bob, he suited up tonight as an emergency backup for the Bruins when Jonas Gustavsson was taken to hospital with an illness. For the record, Bob is now 50. http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/bruins-goaltending-coach-bob-essensa-jumps-into-emergency-backup-duty--photo-211824108.html

Confirmed:

So this happened last night ... I know as die hard Winnipeg sports fans, we always feel like we are picked on by the men in stripes. What gets me is the inconsistency from game to game and how if there is seemingly any grey, it sure feels like it goes against Winnipeg (either the Jets or the Bombers). How is that goal allowed when the Blake Wheeler shorthanded effort the other day is erased and on top of it, Wheeler gets the penalty to put us down 2 men? Here is the Wheeler play to refresh your memories:

Both Kyle Connor and Jamie Phillips on the preliminary Hobey Baker ballot ... http://www.freep.com/story/sports/college/university-michigan/2016/01/20/u-ms-compher-among-locals-hobey-baker-fan-ballot/7906918 Can go to the Hobey Baker facebook page to vote (1 vote per 24 hours) https://www.facebook.com/TheHobey/app/169616693395433/