Winnipeg Jets

[CascadeFilly]

Yeah, I just noticed the MacLean news. Why did Phoenix put him on waivers? I'll admit, I don't know a lot about him, but he's produced nicely in the AHL, and seems to have developed steadily.

[ericdaoust]

Yeah, I just noticed the MacLean news. Why did Phoenix put him on waivers? I'll admit, I don't know a lot about him, but he's produced nicely in the AHL, and seems to have developed steadily.

When a team is in such financial chaos and basically financed by the 29 opposing teams, player management can become a secondary priority. Not saying they're dogging it in Phoenix, but their management of key assets has been poor at best.

[letnry]

This is going to change now that the Jets claimed Brett Maclean off waivers.

Cormier has been sent down to the AHL today.

[CascadeFilly]

Cormier has been sent down to the AHL today.

That's kind of too bad. I thought he looked good as a third line energy/physical player with some skill. Can we assume that MacLean will get those 3rd line minutes now?

[dyzfunctioned]

Antropov on the 3rd line is interesting. And yes, I'd imagine MacLean replaces Cormier.

[AtlantaSportsFan]

I'm not happy with Wellwood being on the team. Replace him with MacLean. Cormier has upside. Wellwood has nothing.

[DonKarnage]

Getting Tavares' right hand man in the OHL who never got a fair shake in Phoeinx? Fantastic. I love that move. Cormier will get his shot, but I believe since Maclean cannot be sent to the AHL now this year. Could be wrong though.

[Carcillo]

Getting Tavares' right hand man in the OHL who never got a fair shake in Phoeinx? Fantastic. I love that move. Cormier will get his shot, but I believe since Maclean cannot be sent to the AHL now this year. Could be wrong though.

He can be send to the AHL but he would have to clear waivers first and Coyotes would get the first dips for him. And if they take him back they could then send him to AHL without waivers.

So if he can't stick with the team you'll most likely lose him while trying to send him to AHL.

[AtlantaSportsFan]

The long anticipated game is tomorrow at 5pm ET.

I expect the team to be firing on all ends. Going to be a very fun game, I'm so hype!

[AtlantaSportsFan]

It was fun, it was loud, it was exciting... but that's all it was in the end. I need to state the reasons why we lost, and why we resembled the old Thrashers team tonight. It was only one game, obviously, but I seen some of the same trends from the past.

1) Johnny Oduya is still Johnny Oduya. I don't think anyone will question that he is and was a product of the Devils system. He was by far the worst player on the ice tonight, and his play tonight resembled his play from last season- bad defensively with game changing turnovers. The ONLY difference tonight was that he was paired with Byfuglien which is a big no-no. That's a nightmare pair, and not in a good way. Oduya cannot handle Byfuglien being a rover, and that's part of the reason why Oduya was a -3.

2) I wasn't happy with the lines, and the non-stop line shuffling that went on by Noel. From the forwards, to the defense, to special teams, the lines were not to my liking. Byfuglien and Enstrom were paired together for a reason. Enstrom is the best defensive defensemen on the team and is capable of making up for Byfuglien's mistakes. The forward shuffling annoyed me. Outside of Ladd-Little-Wheeler, it seemed like Noel had a new line every other shift. If Mark Scheifele is going to be centering the fourth line, then he is useless this year and we might as well send him back to the juniors now. Kyle Wellwood is not capable of being a second liner in the NHL- and in my opinion he is a 3rd liner at best, and Brett MacLean hasn't done anything in his career to merrit time on ice, or more time on ice than a budding superstar. Which brings me to my next point... time on ice.

3) This scares me the most and I hope this never happens ever again. Evander Kane had only 10:34 time on ice. That was the second lowest to Jimmy Slater's 10:02. There is absolutely no reason why Kane shouldn't have 16-18+ minutes per night. This is inexcusable. Obviously, it's only one game, but just as obvious, that cannot ever happen again.

4) Turnovers. Way too many tonight whether forced or unforced. I shouldn't have to say no more then you can't win games when you turn the puck over.

5) I don't want to nitpick too much, but the powerplay looked very iffy. I'm not happy with the units that were put out. Oduya, Wellwood, these guys should never see powerplay time. Why did it take Noel five powerplays to realize Kane should be on it? I'm not too happy with this aspect.

I'm sure things will change, in fact I know they will. I just want to point out, in my opinion, what needs to be changed, or what I saw that seemed off. Montreal has a top three goalie in the NHL in Carey Price, and he was nothing less than outstanding. A huge game changer was what I believed to be a terrible call on Byfuglien. That made the game 3-1 and kind of put it out of reach. It's hard to fault Pavelec when he is facing breakaways and odd man rushes galore.

Best and Worst
BEST PLAYER ON THE ICE: Alex Burmistrov
WORST PLAYER ON THE ICE: Johnny Oduya

Winnipeg's next game is Thursday at Chicago. Ladd and Byfuglien return to Chicago where they won the Cup in 2010.

[TK12555]

Antropov played well, used his big body to force turnovers in the offensive zone.

Bogo was playing with more confidence than in the past. Seems like he could strive under new system.

[CascadeFilly]

Can't argue with your points, ASF. I was pretty disappointed with the ice-time, lines and defensive pairings, too. MacLean didn't show much at all. Hard to blame him, as he arrived just days ago, but it's going to be hard to justify him being there over Cormier if he doesn't show us something in the next few games. Noel's got a lot of work to do to find chemistry in the lines and pairings, and let's hope it doesn't take him too long. The good thing is that two of the lines are pretty much etched in stone. No need to mess with the 1st and 4th lines. They both looked solid.

I'm not entirely surprised with how the game went down. That was a lot of emotion to try to harness into positive energy versus nerves. Not to mention the fact that Montreal already played their first game and was hungry to make up for the loss to Toronto. I don't like that their next game is only on Thursday, but it's probably good to get a couple games on the road.

I was very pleasantly surprised with Burmistrov and Wheeler, though. Wheeler used his big body and speed very well and looked fantastic all game, and I saw a lot from Burmistrov that I wasn't seeing in the pre-season. I think he and Antropov are probably going to work quite well together. Maybe the Jets lines aren't all that far from being sorted out?

Kane absolutely deserves a whole lot more ice-time, though. Don't know what Noel was thinking there.

Even though it was a tough loss, man, it feels good to watch and talk about a Jets game again!

[DonKarnage]

My favorite part of that game was Wellwoods gut getting in the way causing him to trip on that "breakaway". Classic.

On a more serious note, Scheifele is now 7 games or less away from playing in Barrie. He is finally coming back to earth and seems to be consistently a step behind the play. Best path for him is to send him down, and bring in Cormier.

I wish I could type some of the things I said at/about Carcillo this game, but I fear the language filter would overload, and the things that leaked through from that overload would get me banned by the Mods on this site...

[AtlantaSportsFan]

GAME #2: Chicago 4, Winnipeg 3

After a shaky start from Pavelec and the defense, the Jets looked much better in the third period, but were unfortunate to not get the game tying goal. Jimmy Slater scored two goals early in the first period to give the Jets a two to nothing lead. That quickly evaporated as the 'Hawks scored four unanswered goals on what seemed to be an unsettled Ondrej Pavelec. Pavelec didn't get much help from the defense either, as they left him out to dry with turnovers. Kyle Wellwood, who fell down on a clear cut breakaway earlier in the period, redeemed himself by scoring the Jets third and final goal of the game. The Jets came out strong in the third but couldn't find the back of the net.

The Jets haven't seemed to settle in yet, or find chemistry between each other. Turning the puck over is what hurt the team the most again. Claude Noel needs to do a better job of preparing the team. He has mixed up the lines way too much in these two games. It seems as if he doesn't want to give Kane the TOI, or right linemates.

AtlantaSportsFan's Three Stars of the Game:.
1) Alex Burmistrov
2) Jim Slater
3) Ron Hainsey

PLAYER BREAKDOWN

-Evander Kane- He needs to be on a scoring line not the fourth line.

-Alex Burmistrov- Best player on the ice yet again. For a little guy, he knows how to use whatever strength he has in him.

-Mark Scheifele- Has been invisible, but not sure what is expected of the rookie when not consistently playing with any scorers. Mumbles to send him back to the juniors begin.

-Brett MacLean- In two games, I haven't seen anything that impresses me. He looks slow out there.

-Kyle Wellwood- Not sure what he's doing out there. He scored a goal to redeem himself after that gaffe, but I don't think he looks that good.

-Tanner Glass- So far what I've learned is if he isn't dropping the gloves, than he isn't useful.

-Nik Antropov- I actually think he is playing pretty good out there.

-Little, Ladd, Wheeler- The first line, and only line that seems to remain as a line. They've gotten some chances tonight, but haven't capitalized yet.

-Slater, Thorburn- The other two on the fourth line. They've always been great fourth liners and they continue to show that they are some of the best. Just goes to show how much Slater was missed on the fourth line last season when he went down with an injury.

-DEFENSE- I'm pointing them out as a group instead of individually. They need to play better as a whole.

-Pavelec- After starting off shaky, he found his game a little to late.
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Notes:
-A lineup change to expect is the return of Ben Maxwell. Maxwell will get the chance and should be in the lineup as soon as he returns from injury.
-The powerplay went 0-2, and now is 0-9 on the season.

The Jets fall to 0-2 on the season. The next game is Saturday night in Phoenix.

[dyzfunctioned]

Any insight as to why the limited playing time for E Kane? While he's been out there he's looked great, has been getting a ton of shots on goal and laying the body... Makes no sense.