Jets need more from struggling DeMelo

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/02/2021 (1669 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Let’s take a quick trip back in time, nearly a year ago to the day, when Winnipeg Jets coach Paul Maurice added a little foreplay to his usual wordplay in describing the debut of new defenceman Dylan DeMelo, who quickly found a home on the top pair with Josh Morrissey.

“His stick so many times knocked things down, his passes were on the tape. That was a pure kinda of, I don’t know if you could call it ‘coach’s porn,’ but when you’re watching hockey video, you know that’s pretty darn good,” Maurice gushed.

Now let’s flash back to Tuesday night in Calgary, where DeMelo’s most recent outing certainly didn’t get his coach’s pulse racing and heart pounding, at least not in a positive way. How else to explain the fact he skated a season-low 13:06 — a far cry from Morrissey’s 26:51 — in a third-pairing role with rookie Logan Stanley?

Playing in the spot most assumed was his, beside Morrissey, was journeyman Nathan Beaulieu, who logged a season high 22:31 of ice time and took a costly third period penalty that led to Calgary’s game-winning power play goal with less than two minutes to play.

It’s safe to say this isn’t how anyone drew things up. But the 27-year-old DeMelo, who signed a four-year, US$12-million contract extension with the Jets last fall, is struggling to meet the rather lofty expectations that accompanied his arrival following a deadline deal with Ottawa last February in exchange for a third-round draft pick.

And that might be the most surprising development of all for a 7-4-1 Jets club early in this unique new NHL season. Sure, the blue-line was expected to be the source of ongoing concern, but DeMelo seemed like a safe bet to pick up where he left off and form a dependable duo with Morrissey.

Instead, Maurice has only put the pair together briefly, didn’t like what he saw, and pushed DeMelo down the lineup. He’s gone so far as to move the left-shooting Morrissey to the right side to play with Beaulieu, which speaks volumes about his level of trust right now. The second-pairing of Neal Pionk and Derek Forbort has been Winnipeg’s best, by a considerable margin.

So what’s going on here?

It’s no secret DeMelo’s year got off to a rather turbulent start, with hockey taking a bit of a back seat to more pressing personal matters. Rather than play the season-opener on Jan. 14 against Calgary, daddy duty called. His wife was in labour with their first-born.

Days later, as the Jets hit the road for a three-game trip through eastern Canada, DeMelo stayed behind. With no other family in Winnipeg and code red restrictions forbidding any outside household visitors, DeMelo understandably didn’t want to leave his overwhelmed spouse all alone with the bouncing baby boy,

That meant missing the first four games of the year, in which the Jets went 3-1-0. When he finally made his delayed debut on Jan. 23, it didn’t exactly go smoothly despite the fact the Jets rallied for a victory over the sad-sack Senators that night. The seven games since haven’t been much better, filled with inconsistent play.

When DeMelo is at is best, as we saw when he first arrived in Winnipeg, he makes everything look seamless. Crisp passes to get the puck out of his zone and moving in the right direction. Quick, smart reads. Great defensive zone gaps and a strong stick to force turnovers. Basically, all of the things he’s been having a difficult time doing consistently so far this year.

I imagine the video Maurice is watching of DeMelo these days has a lot more frightening scenes than he’d like.

DeMelo isn’t one to make excuses, but let me try one on his behalf. He looks like a guy who probably hasn’t had a good night’s sleep in a long time, which most parents can relate to. Tuesday was the first road game he’s played this year after seven straight home games to start his year.

I remember after our first child was born, back in 2001, dragging myself into work some mornings after only a few interrupted hours of shut-eye. Don’t tell my bosses, but there were plenty of days that I would curl up in a ball on the floor of my solo office down at the Law Courts building and have a noon-hour nap. My wife, bless her heart, had it much harder than me. Not only did she undergo the rigours of labour, but she was on full-time mom duty at home. At least I got to escape for work.

The point is, I had trouble keeping my energy levels high even though the most rigorous physical thing I’d have to do in a typical day was walk from courtroom to courtroom, then sit down at my computer and type. Now imagine being a professional athlete, trying to shut down some of the best offensive weapons in the game coming at you in nightly waves in the all-Canadian division, under those circumstances. Not a whole lot of fun, I’m guessing.

Throw in the fact there was only an abbreviated training camp, no exhibition games to work out the rust, and he’s currently partnered with a guy who’d never played an NHL game until a few weeks ago, and it’s no surprise DeMelo is struggling.

I still believe the Jets have a good one in DeMelo, and that this season’s tough start is a blip, rather than a troubling downward trend. And I think it’s time Maurice gave him another look with Morrissey.

Perhaps another visit from his old Ottawa team, tonight and Saturday afternoon at Bell MTS Place, will get things pointed in the right direction. Or maybe next week’s four-game road trip through Edmonton and Vancouver will help. If nothing else, he’s likely going to get the best sleep he’s had in about a month, after playing nine of his first 10 games at home.

Whatever the case, the sooner DeMelo returns to form, the better for a Jets team that could sure use some more “coach’s porn” to spice things up on the blue-line.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg