Ready to snap in the Big Apple

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 05/11/2011 (5084 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

HOBOKEN, N.J. — Funny what happens when you spend a few days in and around the city so nice, they named it twice.

Now, it’s not like the folks in New York, New York, aren’t friendly. It’s just there is an underlying sense much of the populace is wound so tight they could snap at any moment.

It’s why frustrated drivers lean on their horns here more than their brakes and why a hand gesture isn’t always a simple wave hello, but occasionally something, umm, a tad more personal.

Perhaps swallowed up by the spirit of the locale, we’ve found a little more edge to our game here, too. Where we might have once said ‘Can I help you?’, we are now spitting out — in a Tony Soprano-type accent — ‘What are ya freaking starin’ at, pal?’ And when a server crinkled his nose at a tip left by a compadre Thursday night, we had to desperately fight the urge to not kick back the stool and bark, ‘Don’t mess with a thirsty Canadian, bozo, or you’ll be sleepin’ with the fishes, ya feel me?’

All of this — in a roundabout way — brings us to the theme of today’s rant. Call it our New York-style take on the Winnipeg Jets, now 3-1 on their current road trip heading into weekend dates against the New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers.

Nobody asked me, but…

— The best Jet defenceman right now, especially with Toby Enstrom shelved with a busted collarbone, is Zach Bogosian. I’m not suggesting it, I’m stating it. The rough edges to his game that we heard about a year ago — he was a grotesque minus-27 in 71 games with the Thrashers — are being smoothed out quickly. He’s got a cannon shot, has cut down dramatically on his turnovers and is morphing into exactly the kind of dominating D-man so many thought he’d become when he was drafted third overall in 2008, just behind Steven Stamkos and Drew Doughty.

Nobody asked me, but…

— We appreciate that they’re working hard, generating chances and blah, blah, blah, but how much longer can the Jets keep winning without any kind of goal-production from two thirds of what was once their top line? Bryan Little and Blake Wheeler have yet to score this season… and if they’re both not 20-goal guys by mid-April then this squad’s chances of playoff hockey are iffy at best.

Nobody asked me, but…

— So many wondered out loud about head coach Claude Noel’s decision to call out Evander Kane after a so-so performance early in the season, but how does that not-so-gentle poke look now? Kane has eight points in his last six games and three goals in his last two and is developing into exactly what the Jets need him to become: a dominant winger with an edge and a deft touch around the net.

Nobody asked me, but…

— Count me among those who figured Nik Antropov was a career underachieving and indifferent NHLer simply out to cash his paycheque. And, yes, that’s me eating two full plates of crow after watching him through 11 games. Look, even though he’s 6-foot-6 he’ll never be labelled a power forward. But watch him enough and there are layers to his game that can go unnoticed. He can play centre and wing and has brought the best out of Alex Burmistrov and whoever else has patrolled the other wing on their line so far this season. And what he did in the third period against the Islanders Thursday night — suck it up after taking a shot in the paw and essentially play the final 20 minutes with one good hand — was the picture of grit.

Nobody asked me, but…

— I’m with my colleague Gary Lawless, who wrote about this last week: Mark Stuart can have a spot on my starting six D-men any day. Saw him hobbling about at the Prudential Center in Newark on Friday. Little wonder: he blocks shots, clears the front of the net, is always there to face the media, win or lose, and does the little things that endear him to teammates and coaches.

Nobody asked me, but…

— It’s about the roaming Dustin Byfuglien does — not a fan at all. Yes, we get that he had 20 goals and 53 points last year playing this style. But — and excuse the football analogy here from our previous gig — to me it’s like watching Michael Bishop play quarterback. When he’s right, he’s a difference maker and a game changer. But when he’s not, it’s turnover city and he’s a liability.

Nobody asked me, but…

— We know it’s early, but if you were to rank the best free-agent additions in the NHL this year, Kyle Wellwood would have to be somewhere near the top of the list. It’s not just about his five goals and four assists, it’s how he doesn’t look out of place playing with anybody. It’s about the smart decisions — not always flashy ones — he makes with the puck. And it’s about how he goes about his business quietly and efficiently. Not bad for a signing in September that brought a collective shrug from the rest of the NHL neighbourhood.

Nobody asked me, but…

— Did Ondrej Pavelec down some sort of magic potion after being yanked, then reinserted, in that defensive nightmare that was last week’s 9-8 win in Philly? Since then he’s given up very few rebounds and is playing with the kind of confidence that screams out elite goaltender. And that’s exactly what the Jets need him to be this year to have a sniff at the post-season.

And with that I’m out, peeps. Hey, you got a problem with that?

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @WFPEdTait