Jets grounded yearly review

[yave1964]

PRESEASON OUTLOOK Lots of folks saw them as a)likely division winners, b) on the short list for conference champs and c) on the shorter list for potential cup champions.

 

 FINAL RECORD 47-30-5 99 points second in Central. Lost in 7 games to the Blues in the first round.

 

HIGH POINT OF THE YEAR On February 2nd the Jets absolutely DEMOLISHED the Ducks 9-3 for their 3rd win in a row and 8 in their past 9 games running their West leading record to 36-18-3. They looked like world beaters and nobody would have been surprised if they win it all.

 

LOW POINT OF THE YEAR For the rest of the regular season the Jets went 11-12-2 stumbling and bumbling along, the mantra was injuries to Buff and Morrissey had slowed their role and they would be okay come postseason.

 Problem is, once it is turned off it is damn hard to turn on come April. They lost a Hell of a fun six game series to the Blues with 5 of the 6 games decided by one goal.

 

WHAT WENT RIGHT Blake Wheeler had 91 points including a ridiculous 71 assists, Mark Schiefele had 84 points, Kyle Conner contributed 34 goals. That trio when playing rogether was among the best lines in the game.Laine had 30 goals although he was to be nice was horribly streaky, all or nothing for long stretches. Trouba had the breakout offensive year that they have waited for. Tanev was among the games most underrated forwards providing secondary scoring and sound two way play. Same with Copp and Lowry.Roslovic got less than 10 minutes a night for the year but he showed tremendous upside. Myers had a solid campaign. Although not as good as the year before Hellboy was no slouch in net. Ehlers after a glacially slow start got hot and scored 21 goals. Little aged well in the 3C role. Broissot came out of nowhere to provide a solid steady backup goalie.

 

WHAT WENT WRONG Buff missed exactly half the year and looks to be slowing. Morrissey was another underrated player, solid steady mature beyond his years no coincidence the nosedive occurred when he went down. Kevin Hayes while not a bust was not worth the hype of a first and Lemieux for a rental. Laine makes this list as well, he was simply Houdini with his disappearing act for long stretches of the year. Ehlers and Trouba completely disappeared against the Blues in the playoffs.

 

FREE AGENTS Lots of meat on the bones here, Myers was steady and critical to their success, he is an UFA as are both Hayes and Tanev, the Jets may struggle signing even one of them. Trouba is a RFA who wants big money and may be traded. Brossoit is a RFA as well. And next year both Roslovic and Morrissey will want paid. The odds are against them returning the team intact, they may have one more year together but that is about it.

 

OFFSEASON QUESTIONS Who to keep? Tanev had a nice solid breakout year but his 15 goals is probably about as good as it will get, Hayes was good at times, bad at times and will demand more than they might be willing to pay. Coach Paul Maurice who seems to get by on that one SC a million years ago with the Hurricanes will feel the heat if they are off to a slow start. Can they retain Trouba?

 

 Still among the elite in a wide open West but the window is in many ways closing.

 

 

Edited May 29, 2019 by yave1964

[Podein25]

@yave1964

 

Good write up - thanks for doing it. 

 

I'm no Jets insider, but my gut says Trouba is gone - it's inevitable. It always was. Could see him packaged with a "bad" contract (Perreault maybe). Brossiot has just been re-signed.  Hayes is gone. No way they can keep him. He's not worth $5.5M anyway.

[ruxpin]

I was really disappointed by the Jets this year, actually.  I really like the group they have.   I didn't think Hellboy was as good as last year, and of course @yave1964 covered Laine well.

 

I don't know that the window is closing on the Jets, though they should hurry up.  I think it's closing for certain players (Buff).  But they're still ridiculously young for the most part.  Wheeler and Little would, I guess, be of the most concern to start slowing down.   So, I think 3 more years until they have to retool those two positions. 

 

Hopefully Laine just had a weird year, but the kid needs to be more consistent.     

 

Nice write up, as always, @yave1964

[yave1964]

@Podein25

 

Trouba seems to me to be Winnipegs worst case scenario, a guy who simply doesn't seem to embrace the culture and who has been looking for an exit since his arrival. As a RFA the Jets hold all the cards still for the moment but he has never made anything easy on them, the kid can flat out play though. My dream would be Trouba returning to Michigan and playing for the Wings but he would cost a pretty penny and the only way that I would do it is if he signed long term. Million dollar talent, pain in the rear to management.

 

 @ruxpin

 Yeah Hellboy was good, not great this past year, not sure what happened or why. I kept waiting on him to flip the switch and he never really did. Goalies are like that.

  When I said the Jets window is closing I meant from a cap space issue as much as anything. Little, Buff and Wheeler are all aging and have multiple years remaining on their deals Wheeler is aging gracefully but he is at the age where he could fall off a cliff any time. Hellboy and Schiefele are signed long term to sweetheart deals but the rest of the kids need paid very soon, it will not be long before this catches up to them. Connor, Laine, Copp, Trouba,  all are RFA this offseason and next year will see Morrissey and Roslovic needing paid. People are going to start getting moved out at 80 cents on the dollar, it is the curse of being a very good team in a cap era. In years past it would not have been a problem but the cap changes so much. As a fan of the offseason Winnipeg and Tampa are the two teams I will be watching the closest to see how they try to keep the rosters together going forward.

[Hatrik98]

Disappointing the Jets couldn't put together a good second half of the season. Laine's frustration of his play showed more and more as the season came to a end. Hellboy wasn't the wall he was in the previous year. Going forward I would hope to see the Jets ink Connor for sure. I would love to see Meyers and Tanev back. Tanev is still a sparkplug the Jets need. I can care less for Trouba. I was hoping the Jets could of got something a little more for Hayes but I guess something is better than nothing. Going to be a interesting off season.

Edited June 5, 2019 by Hatrik98

[CreaseAndAssist]

Jets are a tough team to understand.  This SHOULD'VE been their year.  They had the right mix of vets and young talent but it didn't happen.  They didn't take the next step.  Laine seemed to be kind of lost and people are wondering if he's a glorified one-trick pony.  But they at least have time to figure it out.  The Jets need to start revamping some of its roster as the last few former Thrashers parts are getting older.  I thought they underperformed big time this year.  I can't imagine Paul Maurice would survive a slow start this next season.  

[Keep Your Stick on the Ice]

As a team, the Jets have and continue to confuse the hell out of me. At least they got a good goalie...if only they had a vision and a direction.

Edited July 23, 2020 by Keep Your Stick on the Ice