(Fore)checking in with the Jets

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/11/2016 (3359 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It usually takes about 20 games at the start of an NHL season to get a handle on where a team stands, and this is particularly true of this year’s Winnipeg Jets. Heading into Thursday night’s game against the Washington Capitals, they sit at 4-6, with eight points on the year. They’ve given us reason for optimism at times, while also tempering our enthusiasm on other occasions when they remind us of their youth.

Let’s catch up with some bright lights and disappointments so far this season.

— I’ve been über-impressed with defenceman Josh Morrissey’s play for a number of reasons. His seemingly effortless skating and being a sharp puck mover is a given, but his gap control and adeptness at playing the body is back in his game again. He’s getting better every day at denying the opposition easy entry into the defensive zone and doesn’t take himself out of the play to make a hit. His swiftness afoot allows him to easily retrieve pucks that are dumped in, alleviating the stress on partner Dustin Byfuglien, who can use any break he can get as the Jets battle injuries and Jacob Trouba’s absence.

— Joel Armia is showing some wicked hands, strength on the puck and patience after winning most battles for it. We’ve been waiting to see this on a consistent basis since he was acquired from Buffalo, but he seems to fall out of favour with the coaching staff at times, so let’s hope they let him play through the rough patches of bad puck luck and different linemates every player goes through at some point. While head coach Paul Maurice liked his line’s success (joining Adam Lowry and Shawn Mathias), with Mathias now hurt, it would be nice to see someone with good hands around the net draw in, as Armia’s created a lot of chances that went unfinished.

— Lowry is under the microscope of a number of Jets fans since he’s been a feature on the Jets struggling power play as the guy standing in front of the goalie and causing havoc with their sight lines. While he’s not my first choice to be that guy (I prefer a guy with a quicker stick and feet), there have been occasions where the Jets were pounding pucks at the net and getting good chances. Bury a few of those and maybe fans are singing a different tune.

However there are also times when they need the net-front guy to fade out of there and help on the outside as the other four players can’t get the penalty killers to move out of position and find a clear lane to the net. This is where the quicker hands and feet come in handy. Today I’m not getting into why Patrik Laine hasn’t been on the struggling first power play unit lately, although I’ve chuckled at Maurice’s explanations. He has such an eloquent way of telling you to go pound salt.

— The decision to ride it out in goal with Connor Hellebuyck and Michael Hutchinson has brought us both good and bad, but it’s the only way to go. They’re also in good shape with Eric Comrie knocking at the door.

— While I’ve often defended Alexander Burmistrov over the years, I have to believe his time as a Jets player is coming to a close. I’ll step back and let you chew at his carcass while remembering he was an advanced stats darling in his first run with the Jets, and pleasing to my eye as well. Despite that, I agreed with then coach Claude Noel when he sat him in the press box for a few games when he wouldn’t do as he was told under the dump-and-chase system at the time. Burmistrov headed to the KHL that summer, and when he re-emerged in a Jets uniform last year he showed flashes of brilliance, but his lack of offensive zone forethought kept him from moving forward. Too often we look at one play and take away too much from it, but Burmistrov’s ill-advised dangle when the Jets needed a change led to a goal against when losing to Buffalo on Sunday. If teammates are so tired they may be skating stiff-legged and everyone is yelling “get it deep,” he just can’t make a fancy move. His teammates trusted him — he let them down.

That play does fit in with the rest of it for me; he doesn’t seem to “get it” in so many ways once he crosses the red line and hits the offensive side of the ice. It’s all on his talent, and that’s not enough to generate success in the NHL anymore.

— Finally, we all knew Laine was the real deal — it was only a matter of when the puck would start going in the net. But I find great enjoyment in watching the subtle parts of his game — the quick stick that plucks a puck off an opponent and taps it to a perfect spot when in a battle through to his awareness when playing on the defensive side. Handling a puck in his feet as easily as he uses his great reach gives me goosebumps. This will prove invaluable as he goes through goal-scoring “slumps” and keeps playing regularly, as he won’t hurt the club.

The Jets coaches have their work cut out for them in a compressed schedule, but all teams are going through it, so they’ve got 10 games to show us they know how to use the talent afforded them this year (especially on the power play) before I have to step in and start coaching from the couch.

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