I've said it before (as have many others) and I'll continue to say it; when you can't beat a lesser team, especially those below you in the standings, you can't consider yourself a playoff team. It's the National Hockey League, any team can beat any other team on any given night, so no victories are forgone conclusions.
Once again the second period monster reared it's ugly head at the Jets last night and as has become a custom to the Winnipeg Jets this season, the little team from River City decided to stop playing for the rest of the game. After a nice effort from captain Blake Wheeler to open the scoring, the Jets once again forgot why they were there and fell to the lowly Vancouver Canucks 4-1.
I'm starting to get the impression that Patrik Laine is only able to score within the confines of the MTS Centre. With only four goals on the road as of this writing, it seems that Laine hasn't found his scoring niche outside of Winnipeg. Mark Scheifele's stick seems to have cooled off as well. Now the Jets should have beaten the Canucks hands down last night even without any offensive contributions from the Jets top scorers, but if these two don't get back on their game (Scheifele moreover than Laine at this time) the Jets will be in some serious trouble.
It's to the point now (even though it's only the end of December) that Jets fans consoling themselves after an embarrassing loss or "should have won" loss by saying "it's only one game," where that's just not enough. Yes, they're a young and, overall, an inexperienced team. But they have enough talent and a decent, experienced enough coach that they should have more w's in the win column.
This type of play cannot sustain itself. Eventually, the teams under the Jets will start winning and surpass them. They may not get into the playoffs themselves, but they'll be higher than the Jets in the standings. I know. That will give them a better chance at a draft pick. But do they need a top-tier prospect right now anyways? The Jets prospect pool is one of, if not the best systems in the entire NHL. Other than some stellar goalie that the Jets may draft in the later rounds a la Martin Brodeur, the Jets would seemingly be better off trading player-for-player or player-for-prospects. One such theory put forth was by someone writing under the name Alex H. He has penned a list of what he thinks are 15 potential trades that could be made before the trade deadline. If you`re not interested in all 15 and just want to see who he thinks Kevin Cheveldayoff should ship out for a trade, just scroll down to number one (and try to ignore the wrestling article on the same page)
The Canucks are up again tomorrow night from the same Rogers Arena venue. Seriously, if the Jets don`t come out swinging and keep it up until the final buzzer, this may be the mold of their play for the rest of the season. Being under .500 at the Christmas break is not exactly conducive to earning a playoff spot.
