Rattled Jets need to stick with Hutch

Opinion

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This article was published 12/03/2015 (3838 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

PLANTATION, Fla. — This isn’t the moment for Jets management to get nervous. Panic is the enemy. This is a moment for faith in what has been built. For trust and for strength.

A moment of distrust right now would prematurely send the Jets reeling.

What message would be sent by a third goalie walking into the Winnipeg Jets dressing room? Panic. That’s exactly what coach Paul Maurice can’t have in the minds of his players.

No, the Jets can’t make a frantic call to the farm and have AHL rookie goalie Connor Hellebuyck shipped to Florida for the weekend. It would rattle the entire operation and now is the time for calm, not frazzled guesswork.

Maybe Hellebuyck is the best goalie in the organization. But maybe he’s a rookie who would grow weak-kneed at the sight of Jaromir Jagr or Steven Stamkos. It’s simply a risk the Jets can’t and won’t take right now.

The Jets have been at their best this season when they’ve combined team defence with steady goaltending. It’s their formula for success and they have to get back to it. Just two games ago, they put it together against the Nashville Predators. It’s not a distant memory.

They’ve wandered into a stretch of inconsistency and two of their last three games have been losses with starting goaltender Michael Hutchinson not finishing the game.

Hutchinson isn’t an elite goaltender who can steal games. He wins when the Jets limit the opposition. Low shot totals against and fewer scoring opportunities are the keys to wins with a goalie of Hutchinson’s abilities. Team defence is the catalyst. It doesn’t work the other way around.

Maurice and his leaders must find a solution for pulling out of this mini funk. There’s no magical goaltending solution in the minors. This is about the Jets as a team. They’ve spoken all season about playing the right way. Their way. Now is the time to put that game on display.

Goaltending has been an issue for the Jets for some time. It’s become clear the Ondrej Pavelec contract was a mistake and so was last spring’s pronouncement he would be the team’s starting goaltender for this season.

The signing, development and emergence of Hutchinson has, for long stretches of this season, covered up Pavelec’s shortcomings.

Of late, however, Hutchinson has struggled, too. Cause for alarm? Certainly. But it’s too early for the Jets to make a last-gasp move, which is exactly what recalling Hellebuyck would represent.

The Jets have a plan where Hellebuyck is concerned and that’s to play big minutes for at least a season and more likely two in the AHL before climbing to the NHL.

Interrupting that developmental scheme is always a possibility but only if the Jets think he’s ready for tougher competition. That’s a test to be made in December or January. Not as March and the regular season grow old.

There’s a history of young goalies appearing on the NHL scene and having an impact late in season or even in the playoffs. Could Hellebuyck be the next Ken Dryden? Perhaps. But Maurice hasn’t seen much of him and has little to go on. The coach isn’t at the point of blindly throwing darts at the board.

Blaming the goaltenders is always the easy answer. Sometimes it’s right. But Hutchinson has proven he’s good enough when the Jets give him the right support. That’s the move to make right now. If the players in front of the goalie straighten out their work, Hutchinson’s play will follow.

The Jets need desperation in their play right now. Not in their decision-making.

gary.lawless@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @garylawless