All-star break could be reset Jets need

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/01/2017 (3151 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg Jets goalie Ondrej Pavelec has dominated headlines and social media for more than a week, but it seems the story is winding down a bit as Connor Hellebuyck got the start Thursday against the Chicago Blackhawks.

With two wins and two losses since being recalled from the Manitoba Moose, Pavelec’s save percentage sits at .894 — the same as regular backup Michael Hutchinson. Connor Hellebuyck was at .907 prior to Thursday, and reality has set in.

It’s no wonder some teams struggle to find a good goaltender — this is a group of players that decided when they were young it would be fun having hard rubber pucks shot at them. Predicting their play even baffles the analytics community at times.

Every player needs confidence, but skaters can often get through rough patches by simplifying their game. Goalies don’t have that luxury; their technique has to be close to perfect.

Even something simple such as their glove being a couple of inches lower than it should be leaves an opening opposition snipers cherish. It’s why Hellebuyck needed a reset — both in mind and mechanics. (Hutchinson, hopefully, too, benefitted from this time off the ice as well.)

Jets head coach Paul Maurice said the current three-goalie situation wasn’t a long-term one, but I never had trouble with it as a teammate in a similar situation. It wasn’t a distraction: I knew whoever played well would be back in the net the next game.

The Jets’ last Avco Cup team (1978-79) in the World Hockey Association had that happen for a few months, although under different circumstances.

Gary (Suitcase) Smith was brought in to join Joe Daley and Markus Mattsson over the last few months of the season, with Smith getting hot and grabbing the net the last few weeks and the playoffs. It was Daley’s final season of a very good, long NHL/WHA career (retiring with his third Avco Cup ring) and young Mattsson was considered the goalie of the present and future at that point.

We had a new head coach (Tom McVie) come in late in the season, and I was a lot more worried about learning and adhering to his systems than I was about who was going to be in net.

I would hope the current Jets skaters think the same way.

Defencemen and forwards aren’t usually afforded the luxury of taking a mental break and working on mechanics for a week (although every once in a while you’ll see a good NHL player sent to the press box for a game). To me, it’s an opportunity for them to watch from above, where the game looks slower, gaining a valuable look at what they can improve on. I didn’t like it when it happened to me, but I quickly learned from it.

My teammates and I would find ourselves on the bench for a shift or two as well — likely after taking a bad penalty or repeating a mistake that was outside the systems in place.

When explained it was to just calm me down, go over the play and make sure I didn’t repeat it, it made sense. It looks to many onlookers like it is punishment, but most often it is a time out for the skater — just like the Jets, hopefully, helped their goalies the past week.

The Jets players — except for team representative Patrik Laine — get a chance to reset their minds and heal their bodies as they head into the all-star break this weekend.

There are still opportunities for them as a number of teams ahead of the Jets in the playoff race are reeling.

Before Thursday night’s NHL games, the Jets were 22-25-4 for 48 points — four points behind the Vancouver Canucks, who held the final wild-card spot.

The stumbling St. Louis Blues own the first wild-card spot and were five points ahead of the Jets despite severe goaltending problems.

The Calgary Flames had lost six of seven and four games in a row heading into Thursday and were three points ahead of the Jets.

The Los Angeles Kings were two points ahead of the Jets and are scraping by without No. 1 goalie Jonathan Quick. The Dallas Stars had the same number of points as the Jets and are a mess in their own zone.

You can look at each team separately and see how the Jets could catch them if they got on any sort of a roll. That’s all they can control now, but it’s a tall order for a team that can’t win three games in a row.

The Jets goalies are now reset, and their skaters will be soon. The all-star break is the season of renewal, and at least a little hope, as faint as that may be.

Chosen ninth overall by the NHL’s St. Louis Blues and first overall by the WHA’s Houston Aeros in 1977, Scott Campbell has now been drafted by the Winnipeg Free Press to play a new style of game.

Twitter: @NHL_Campbell