Wheeler to the moose

I disagree with that statement in it’s entirety. While wheeler should not be playing 20 mins a night anymore, he would be great in a 3rd line role. Stop hating on a guy who gave basically his whole career to this city and team. He’s still one of our top players and a leader.

In seriousness, this team looks amazing right now. 8-1-3 since a slow start, and that’s with Scheifele going cold until that OT winner. Staal doesn’t want to play in Canada but I don’t even want him honestly. Nash and Toninato are fine. This is the best jets team I’ve seen since 17/18

Obviously I don’t think he should actually go to the moose. He’s just looked so bad out there and seriously needs a smaller role. Maurice needs to understand this isn’t 2018 Wheeler anymore. I’m not denying anything he’s done for this team and city and he’s one of the best jets of all time, but he’s just so painful to watch now

Yep, 3 scoring lines will make this team even better than 17/18. Four would make this team elite (hence Staal). If Staal doesn’t want to be in Canada, no worries, we’ll get him or a guy like him at the TDL

Also, that defence is looking solid. And that’s with Dillon - pionk not performing at the level we think they can.

I agree with that, 17-18 mins a night would make him a dominant player again. But now he just looks tired all the time. It also doesn’t help that he never takes a shift off… even though it’s really weird to say that. It really hurts cause of all he has done, and that he just works so hard.

I didn't watch, how'd they play?

Absolutely got bottled up. The kings played a great game and killed anything the jets tried to do throughout the 2nd and 3rd periods using excellent 5 man defence. The only line creating chances (but still couldn’t get a shot) was the dubois line.

Scheifele looks like there’s something off with him but he did get the proverbial monkey off his back, but I still think he’s missing something. Somethings off. Maurice took svechnikov off the dubois line and replaced him with wheeler. I absolutely hate that, but as a result maurice put copp-scheifele-ehlers together so I’m okay with it (since it’s the less of 2 evils) Hopefully we see what I have when stastny comes back.

Overall though, the jets didn’t play bad in my opinion. The kings just played very good defence. Eventually the dam broke though (good thing for the jets). All in all, the kings deserved to win but it’s not like the jets played terrible. The jets were just deeper, hence they won.

Overall though, I still don’t have much negatives to take away from the game, even though they didn’t play too well.

One suggestion I would say is maybe look to get back Appleton. Then they can recreate that amazing 3rd line of Copp-Lowry-Appleton that annoyed Mcdavid and Draisaitl in the playoffs.

Yeah apples would be a great addition. He hasn’t worked out in seattle and he’s got great chemistry with Lowry and Copp. Only issue is that this pushes wheeler back into the top 6, which is not ideal. Jets will need a shutdown line to handle the big boys in the playoffs.

The problem that is Wheeler now really creates issues for essentially every line, he's not a top 6 forward anymore and putting him there either wrecks existing chemistry a line has like the KC-PLD-Svech line or he drags whoever he's with down like Ehlers and Scheifele when those three were put together though 55 is slow getting back to form and Ehlers might be playing injured so maybe that's all it was but Wheeler looks like he's struggling to keep pace with whoever he's with either way.

Would Wheeler even really be suited to 3rd line/shutdown work? I'd hope he could make that line a bit more of a threat to score but I'm not sure that's really possible considering who else is on it, honestly the best place for Wheeler now is probably the 4th line but Maurice is never going to do that.

Idk, maybe a Stastny/Lowry/Wheeler line would be okay but I'm not sure having the two oldest guys on the team with the biggest stonehands on the team is the right move to make.. Lol, will be interesting to see what Maurice does once Stastny returns if everyone else remains healthy.

How'd the 4th line look? They had some good shifts in the SJ game, Vesalainen is smart and makes some nice plays just unfortunate that the nice plays he's making aren't making it into the back of the net, that spin backhand pass he made to Toninato against the Sharks was sweet, too bad Toninato couldn't convert on that.

I really don't mind Toninato, he's a pretty solid 4th liner and is smart enough to make plays and not just throw the puck away, goes to the net and seems defensively aware, Nash has been better lately but gotta wonder if that line wouldn't be doing better if it had someone else centering it.

I think one more veteran can help this young core

You could 4th line Wheerler with Staal and make an old man 4th line with Harkins

I'm not sure if this is over simplifying anything, but WPGs PK...3rd worst in the entire NHL...that's very bad. Especially if you're going to have to go up against EDM. I think WPG has a very good team, but Stastny has zero business being on the PK. Some teams add physicality like a Reaves...WPG doesn't need to worry about that. I would worry about what WPG is bad at right now. Make sure you address it 100% before hoping things get better. WPG is a true dark horse to win it all this year IMO.

I agree with al you said. Vesalainen once again looked good but he not doing enough to earn a bump up tbh. We all know maurice is waiting for the day vesalainen pumps one in to bump him up but he needs to get some more confidence. He’ll get there, it’s just taking some time

Toninato is alright. Perfect 4th line player tbh. Replacing nash would do wonders. Not because nash is playing terrible, but he’s much more limited than a potential upgrade and as a result that line is limited.

While I agree, it’s not for the sake of “adding a veteran to a young team”. It’s more because this team probably wants 4C upgrade and a vet is the best place to go for that.

While this team is relatively young, their leadership is either in their prime, or past it. And the young guys are tested and tried. They have plenty of experience. This team is different that 17/18 in that they have way more experience heading into the playoffs this year

I agree the PK still needs work, but it has gotten miles better since day 1. Most of their terrible PK numbers are still being weighed down by the terrible start. They still need work on the PK, but they look like a “middle of the pack” team rn on the PK. Which is a huge improvement. I agree though, they need to replace stastny on the PK with someone else (though keep in mind that the stastny spot likely goes to schiefele now).

I would honestly like to see a stastny-Lowry-wheeler line as a shutdown line. Maybe they can do something special. Wheeler likes to create by grinding out the opposition and same with Lowry. Stastny is just a smart vet. I’d like to see what they can do.

There are plenty of PK specialists you can get for cheap. The Hawks Carpenter is $1M cap hit and their leading PKer. DET's Sam Gagner leads their PK and has a cap hit of $850k. They're not scoring a ton of points, but send a 5th rounder and whatever it takes for the cap to work out. Beaulieu? Just thinking out loud.

Well, nash is a PK specialist. The problem isn’t the penalty killers. They are fine individually. The jets as a whole are still figuring out the PK since they lost most of theirs over the summer. It’s more a matter of reteaching. The jets’ best PKers are Copp and Lowry, and watching them on the PK is a delight to watch. We just need the other guys to catch up. The jets just need time in that case. It’s the same deal with the turnovers, the jets make a lot of turnovers cause of the new defence, but they will get better. Just a matter of waiting. This team is not ready for playoffs in terms of structure in any way. It still needs work. There’s no debating it. But the tools are there

Oh, I'm not trying to slight any WPG players. I'm just saying a 5th round pick to help ensure something vs hope for something would be wise IMO.

I see Sheahan was on waivers, I thought the Jets should've signed him instead of Nash, he'd be worth claiming to play at 4C.

Idk how much you watch of the Jets but their PK is bad because of the strategy/system it is and not so much who is on it, what the coaches want them to do just doesn't work, you could take the statistically best PK'rs in the league and put them on the Jets PK and I'm sure their PK stats would decline, forwards and dmen.

Also I do think the Jets could stand to add some physicality, really not sure they can withstand the playoff style game the way they're presently built.

About the PK, that’s exactly what I’m trying to say. It’s a work in progress. While I would hesitate to call it a system that doesn’t work because it has in the past, it’s very much a work in progress. The personnel are not the issue. Hence adding a PK specialist is not “the way”. They will get better with reps. The PK has come a long way since the beginning of the season, there’s no denying that.

I think so too, but I like the makeup of the current team. I think they could add some physicality on that 4th line though. Hence I brought in Staal (who is a beast in the playoffs in my opinion). I also like Hartman but the wild are probably making the playoffs