Closer to a prime pick

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/03/2016 (3495 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Watching the Winnipeg Jets in the latest instalment of their rebuild-retool-relapse Thursday night from Motown left yours truly wondering just one thing:

Any chance somebody could hammer down on the fast-forward button to the NHL Draft Lottery?

Look, as much as there were some juicy Jets moments in Thursday’s 3-2 loss to the Detroit Red Wings — Marko Dano’s first with his new club and Tyler Myers highlight-of-the-night-candidate goal among them — the next game that matters for this franchise will be the one determining where it will select in the first round of this June’s draft, and whether they have a shot at Auston Matthews, Patrik Laine or Jesse Puljujarvi.

Yes, the minutes the likes of Scott Kosmachuk and J.C. Lipon are earning here could be critical in their development and blah, de-blah, blah.

Ditto for Dano. And Mark Scheifele in these games as the clear-cut No. 1 centre with Bryan Little shelved.

But, beyond that — and the occasional call-up of a prospect such as Josh Morrissey for a look-see — how much will the team the Jets iced in Detroit Thursday look like the outfit that suits up in the 2016-17 opener?

Put on your GM hat here and let’s analyze the crew Paul Maurice had to work with against the Wings versus what it could be next October. The Jets were minus Little, Nikolaj Ehlers and Joel Armia, all out with injury. The organization’s top netminder, Connor Hellebuyck, is wearing Manitoba Moose colours. And the best prospects in the hopper — Morrissey, Kyle Connor, Brendan Lemieux, Chase DeLeo, Nic Petan and the possible Top 3 pick — won’t begin making their best impressions until development camp or next September’s Young Stars event prior to training camp.

Knowing all that, how active — if at all — would you be in free agency this summer, knowing cap flexibility to lock up Scheifele and Jacob Trouba was part of Kevin Cheveldayoff’s inactivity around the trade deadline?

Do the Jets have the veteran pieces they want to surround their young core around already in house in Little, Blake Wheeler, Dustin Byfuglien, Mathieu Perreault, Tyler Myers and Drew Stafford?

Does keeping Chris Thorburn and Mark Stuart around as part of that help or hinder here? Both are respected, character types, but are also fourth line/third pairing placeholders that could also be filled as part of a youth movement.

All of those decisions are as critical as which of the young guns earns a promotion next fall. And it’s why what unfolds this offseason will be far more interesting than watching this bunch play out the string here and now.

That was obvious while seeing the Wings rally after falling down 2-0 to the Jets in their own barn. The Winged Wheel are a curious case study for Jets fans intrigued by what is going to happen with their own club. Detroit is not a cup contender, but is pushing to extend its playoff streak to 25 years. They have winners still in place in Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, Niklas Kronwall and Johan Franzen and have been effective in drafting late in the first or mining for gold in the later rounds.

Consider this: of the 24 players listed in the Wings media notes for Thursday’s game, 19 were drafted by the organization, two were signed as free agents, two more signed as undrafted free agents while one was claimed off waivers. Nine players were also part of the Calder Cup championship won by the Wings’ farm club, the Grand Rapids Griffins, just four years ago.

And, incredibly, the average draft position for those 19 picks was 109th.

All of this is to say that for the Jets there are any number of ways to retool/rebuild this thing, but it can’t just be about tinkering. Not with a lineup that once again played its collective backside off Thursday at the Joe Louis Arena, but was clearly lacking in the skill/finish department.

Now, some fans undoubtedly turned the lights out lamenting the Wheeler shot off the crossbar with the net empty, just as they cursed Scheifele’s shot off the iron in a similar situation in last week’s loss to Edmonton.

The bigger-picture take, ultimately, might be this: those two misses push the club closer to a potential huge score in the next game that matters — the draft lottery.

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPEdTait