So I am not going to suggest a panic move like a firing or a benching, but I am more angry about tonight’s loss than the past few. Some of my rantings and answers to a few of the previous posts:
-firing Maurice now or after the season will not cure what is ailing the team now, but there is some stuff he and the coaching staff should be doing that they aren’t, so they are hardly blameless. More on that in a bit. And Gerard Gallant is one available name out there who would not make me feel like the firing was just a knee jerk move that would replace a good coach with a poorer choice just for the sake of a short term shake-up.
-Benn may not have been the answer, but he is not near the biggest problem right now. In fact he may be playing the steadiest simplest game right now on the back end and the team could use more of that. In fact, at this point I would welcome Dylan DeMelo being the exposed defenceman in the draft instead of Stanley.
- The confidence of this team is so fragile right now, and that is what is really killing them. In the 6-1 loss, after they got down 2 they panicked and made flat out stupid plays that ended up in their own net. In the 3-1 loss they were so focussed on not making any defensive mistakes they forgot that you need to score to win a game. And tonight when they got up 3-1 they still played a straight line game but were skating and trying to make creative plays. But once the game was tied they completely froze up and played the entire 3rd period not to fall behind, and of course it eventually caught up with them. If they played from the middle of the second period like they played for the 2 minutes between giving up the power play and empty net goals, they win this game. And that really angers me, seeing them coast until they realize they might lose, and only then does the urgency and effort on the boards happen. This team flat out is not giving the effort required to win. Not a talent issue, but a commitment issue. The players and not the coach need to answer for that lack of effort.
-Now for the coaches. The penalty kill early on the year was getting burned by pressing up high because teams were getting the puck low and outnumbering them for easy passing plays. So they adjusted and decided to sit back and try to block the shot lanes, which worked for a while and got their average up. But their opponents have adjusted again and now are accepting the box the Jets play and moving the puck around until they collapse down low, and then feed the point (which is the high slot in reality) for the shot, and the blocks are not happening. Time to adjust again and pressure on the penalty kill and force bad passes and rushed decisions. Watched Calgary play Edmonton this way on Thursday to a tee and McDavid looked hurried and human. So the system needs
tweaking and that is on the coaches.
-Also, the best line tonight through 2 periods was the 4th line, and they got 5 shifts and 3 minutes of time on ice in the 3rd (Lewis got an extra shift because of the penalty kill, and the last shift for that trip was after the empty netter), while Connor got 7 shifts and 6 minutes and had zero shots in the game. Scheifele had 7 shifts and played 8 minutes in the third. His shortest shift of the period was 50 seconds and his last 4 shifts were all over 1:10, so he was not adhering to the “short shift” game plan, all to get one shot on net. so blame to the coaches for abandoning the 4th line a bit and blame the players for not regulating themselves and playing selfish.
- Scheifele moped about his benching a bit but he deserved it and had not responded at all the way a leader needs to. Connor has been hot garbage lately. And Dubois does not look like a top 3 draft pick at all. Wheeler is trying but has slowed down and has been hurt all year. Hellebuyck whines even more about getting pulled and has looked extremely below average since (again tor eh Calgary game, Jacob Markstrom was confidently throwing himself at pucks, while Helle just drops to his knees and hopes the puck hits him without much flinching). Our best players are shrinking instead of stepping up. We look slow and don’t hit. Again, Calgary skated with Edmonton, kept them outside, were on top of them at every turn, and battled hard on the boards. Our stars are playing soft right now. I’ll let people debate of that is on the coaching staff not motivating them or on the star players for not putting in the effort needed to be a professional.
And to close with a sobering stat - this is the first 6 game losing streak in Jets 2.0 history. They have never struggled like this in their 10 years since their return, so this stretch truly is rock bottom for this incarnation of the franchise.
Just my musings from the cheap seats.
