Winnipeg Jets Discussion - 2023/2024 Season

[Jockitch]

Congrats to Bones in leading our beloved bunch these past 2 years and creating many positive memories

Count me in on Arniel as becoming our next HC
He has vast experience and knows the many traits of the players and what's needed to win in the NHL. 
Arniel stepped in for Bones a couple times and our team didn't faulter.   

[blue_gold_84]

Bowness, Cheveldayoff meet with the media: https://illegalcurve.com/winnipeg-jets-media-availability-with-gm-kevin-cheveldayoff-and-rick-bowness-discussing-his-retirement/

Good on Bones for deciding what's best for him. All the best in your retirement, Coach!

[theaardvark]

We still have a great roster on paper. We will need significant but not major tweeking in the off-season. Definitely not a rebuild - that will happen when this core either flops in the regular season or hit FA or both.

We need to squeeze more out of this roster in the postseason, and so it is critical we hire a proven, committed coach who can pick up where Bones left off with the defensive game, but make better roster decisions. I'd like Arniel but I'm open minded.

Not sure what you meant by the Lowry comment? Like Dave Lowry...again? 

We are about to lose a lot of heart of the lineup guys.  Top 3 players are signed longterm, but almost everyone else coming up in the next 2 years. 

Not sure how a coaching change will affect that, or the guys that just signed.  Chevy's decision on bench boss will start the dominoes, either building or toppling.

Dave Lowry had a short shot at the big chair. and has some more miles under his belt as an assistant.  Not sure he's ready, or ever will be, but he's a players coach, which is not a bad thing...

[blue_gold_84]

LOL

[theaardvark]

Is everyone happy with Scott Arniel getting the job?  I guess he did OK during Bones time off, but is he the 365day a year bench boss?

[dd]

Bowness was hard on himself in his press conference, more or less saying the Jets losing to Colorado was on him. I think he did an unreal job this year, better than I ever thought he would, and sure we lost to Colorado, but there's going to be a lot of teams losing to them, they are a VERY good team.

Good on him though for knowing when is when. He's had a great career, started and ended in Winnipeg. Happy trails...

[blue_gold_84]

Niederreiter to play in the WHC for the Swiss: https://illegalcurve.com/winnipeg-jets-nino-niederreiter-to-play-for-team-switzerland-at-world-championship-2/

[theaardvark]

Yes, losing to Colorado is something many teams will do.  Its not that we lost to Colorado.

Its HOW we lost to Colorado.

Defence wins playoffs, that's the old saw, right?  Should make the Jets favourites to win it all.

The Jets were the best Defensive team in the league,  Vezina goalie. 

Win one game 7-6 in the playoffs.

Give up 5 or more every game.

What happened?

[blue_gold_84]

The Avs have won a championship very recently and know what it takes to win come playoff time. Players like MacKinnon and Makar are world class for a reason; both have the respective hardware to show for it. And then there are other key pieces like Rantanen, Nichushkin, Manson, Wood, Lehkonen, etc. who all came up big at key moments. Nichushkin was unstoppable virtually all series and the Jets never found a way to contain him, or if they did, it came at the cost of another opponent being ignored. They also made adjustments after losing game 1 and never looked back. They always seemed to have an answer for what the Jets did - and that's a hallmark of a contender, IMO.

And then there's their coaching staff. Bednar comes across as a very cerebral coach and uses everything he can to help his team gain an advantage. A lot of old school types like to poo-poo analytics and advanced stats, but those have proven to be effective tools when it comes to competing and succeeding at the highest level in hockey. And the players seemed to have bought in going into the opening round vs. the Jets.
This article sums it up well: https://www.denverpost.com/2024/05/05/colorado-avalanche-analytics-success/

If there's something to be taken away from this unexpected and disappointing exit, it's right above: use analytics to better analyze an opponent and expose the flaws/weaknesses in their game, and take advantage of those whenever possible. Do whatever it takes to win.
I think it goes without saying that the next coaching staff of this team should adopt similar practices to what Bednar and co. have over the course of their time in Denver. It's clearly been effective and helped their players' collective growth, too. It wouldn't feel much better to see the Avs go all the way once again, but it would certainly be something to look at and try to emulate as much as possible.

An early first round exit hurts - as it should considering what this team accomplished during the season. But it should also shine a spotlight on what didn't work despite that incredible success and how to fix it. There's ample talent on the roster for this team to be better than what it showed this post-season. The next step doesn't seem that elusive.

And for the veterans of this team, and even for younger guys who haven't seen much post-season play, there are good lessons to be taken from this most recent defeat. This should be looked at as an opportunity to get better, not only as individual players, but as a team. I think the leaders of this roster will step up but the right coaching staff in place would go a long way as well. And maybe we see some new leaders emerge in the near future.

From a roster standpoint first and foremost, IMO, the Jets need to beef up the blue line. Another stout defender would help not only the defense corps as a whole but would probably help special teams, too. The powerplay can be sorted out but the penalty kill needs to be much, much better. Special teams were a major factor in the first round and the Avs had the upper hand in that regard.
A defenseman like Sanheim comes to mind for someone the Jets should target. Re-signing Monahan would be huge for a few reasons: he's a proven 2C, he's versatile, he can make plays, and he's strong on faceoffs. He'd probably fit in even better with a full TC, too. I don't think much has to be done personnel-wise outside of a few tweaks.

It's only been a week and it's a tough pill to swallow, for the team and for the fans alike. I do think the former can be better for it come the next playoff berth. And the latter can perhaps reap the benefits a year from now.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

[J5V]

What strikes me is that the playoffs are such a different animal from the regular season. What it takes to win in the playoffs, where you play the same team a minimum of four times in a row, is completely different from what it takes to win in the regular season where you generally play a different team every night. The Avs had a huge advantage on us in that regard and it showed. It took them half a game to find playoff mode. We never found it.

I can't help but wonder how much of a difference a new coach will make. I'd really like to see a playoff-experienced coach come in here with a proven assistant that can manage special teams. Give that coach a season to figure out what he has to work with and then make some tough decisions if need be.

I believe Bones when he said that this team was way ahead of the one from last year, even though the end result was the same. I wish him all the best and thank him for the work he did here.