Maurice Needs to Solve Jets' Defensive Deficiencies
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Winnipeg Free Press https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/hockey/jets/maurice-needs-to-solve-jets-defensive- deficiencies-451756153.html Maurice needs to solve Jets' defensive deficiencies By: Scott Campbell The Columbus Blue Jackets didn’t leave it to chance on Tuesday, totally dismantling the Winnipeg Jets in every area of the game, winning 5-2 and ending the Jets’ three-game win streak. After being blown out in the first two games because of atrocious defensive-zone work, Jets head coach Paul Maurice restored order by having his players collapse to the middle of the ice in the defensive zone. Considering what we had watched, I didn’t blame him. Attempting to establish positioning they could hold — and keep the play to the outside as much as possible — made sense to me, even though it’s not a favourite of mine. Sometimes, drastic measures are needed. Backboned by stellar play from goalie Connor Hellebuyck, three wins followed. Let’s throw out the Columbus game and look at those wins and the system. The problem moving forward is that while certain types of chances against are lessened, it also traumatizes the Jets’ ability to transition and go on the attack, taking advantage of their quick- strike power and high-end talent. That talent still holds in these low-event games Maurice wants them to play, but to alesser extent as you’re also producing fewer chances to score. We saw that during their winning streak — the wins over the Vancouver Canucks and Carolina Hurricanes were tight games. The Jets won 4-2 against Vancouver (with an empty-netter) but were outshot 32-20. They followed that with a 2-1 win over the Hurricanes but were outshot 29- 21. Two wins with a grand total of 41 shots (and being outplayed in both games) seems like a tough recipe to equate with consistent future success. The win in Edmonton to start the streak off was better, outshooting the Oilers 43-39 and outplaying them. Still, being the better team in only one out of six games has many fans concerned. If you’ve been reading my column for a while you know I’ve had a problem with Maurice’s systems in the past. The Jets scored the seventh-most goals in the league in the 2016-17 season while riding a nifty shot percentage (fifth overall). With their group of young snipers it’s too early to tell if that’s repeatable. So while I said that collapsing to the middle was a good place to start for the reeling Jets, they need to push that to fuller zone coverage. This allows players who are battling for a puck to know approximately where their teammates are at all times (they’re each covering an assigned area of the ice). In today’s fast, high- pressured game, it’s a big advantage when you need to move the puck quickly. It’s also one of the reasons to forget man-on-man coverage ever existed — a pressured defenceman can recover a puck and not realize his partner is covering "his" designated opponent at the point, negating him as an option. Who knows where his other teammates have been led by their checks? Zone is a preference of mine from playing and coaching when my team had high-end talent and some defencemen on it that didn’t have quick feet in tight, like the Jets. There are many different tweaks that teams make using it, triggers that cause a reaction from the players. You don’t quit playing defence, but you do need to make good reads. Coaches choose a system, gambling they’re right. I’d prefer to bet on the Jets’ talented snipers getting more chances rather than depending on the odd break, hoping for the puck to land on the stick of one of the Jets’ gunners in a tight game. However, I’m watching with great interest to see how this unfolds. We’re watching a coach go against a few things that seem to be necessities to win in today’s NHL. His player deployment came under question again when he promoted Brandon Tanev from a questionable third-line role to the second line (for the rest of the game) after Mathieu Perreault got hurt in the Carolina contest. This reminded many fans of Maurice’s usage of Chris Thorburn in the past. While Tanev had a decent game overall, he had a few last year, too, where he landed his blazing speed in the right spots yet accomplished very little overall. Maurice’s post-game comment about Tanev was priceless when he said his forechecking was comparable to Perreault’s. Perreault always reads the play extremely well, gets there fast and has a great stick — he’s one of the best in the league at it. Every once in a while, Tanev gets to a good spot. It’s things like that, his glowing appraisal of Matt Hendricks and seemingly refusing to acknowledge that successful teams run three scoring lines that leave some concerned about his thought process. There’s obviously a chance his fascination with having defensive guys in the lineup is driven by the unsteady goaltending and poor defensive play over the past couple of seasons. While understanding the latter part of that, his solutions over that time period have been suspect at the very least. It almost seems like he’s playing not to lose (defence, defence, defence), rather than playing to win. The problem with defence-only type players is that they spend too much time in their own zone defending, when the best defence is controlling the puck in the other team’s end. We’ll see what Maurice has up his sleeve as some of his cherished defenders get back in the lineup. https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/hockey/jets/myers-takes-practice-off-but-hell-be-in- lineup-coach-says-451698483.html Myers will play after missing practice Jets turn to Hellebuyck in matchup with division rival By: Jason Bell When Tyler Myers misses practice, it’s easy for Jets fans to think the worst. Myers, who battled injuries all last season, didn’t practise Thursday, but Jets head coach Paul Maurice says the lanky defenceman will play tonight against the Minnesota Wild. "Yup, fine. A little stiffness from practice (Wednesday). He’ll be in (Friday)," Maurice said. Defenceman Dustin Byfuglien, who returned to the ice after missing Wednesday’s session, will also be in the lineup. Maurice said Ben Chiarot could make his first appearance of the season, in place of Tucker Poolman on the blue line. Meanwhile, centre Matt Hendricks (lower body) and rear-guard Dmitry Kulikov (upper body) both wore yellow "no-contact" jerseys during Thursday’s skate and are "very close" to returning to the lineup, Maurice said. Centre Adam Lowry (upper body) is considered day-to-day, while left-winger Mathieu Perreault (lower body) is on the injured-reserve list and is out for at least another three weeks. Connor Hellebuyck, who backstopped Winnipeg to three straight wins before Maurice gave Steve Mason the crease in Tuesday’s 5-2 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets, gets the start in net against the Wild. He’s excited about the club’s first test of the season against a Central Division rival. "Minnesota’s a really good team and they play a very hard style. I think it’s exactly what we need," said Hellebuyck, who has given up five goals in three starts and is sporting a 2.11 goals- against average and .937 save percentage. "We want to get back on track and I think we’ve been practising really well the last couple of days, so this should be a good test." After tonight’s battle, Winnipeg has a five-day break before hitting the road for back-to-back games in Pittsburgh (Oct. 26) and Columbus (Oct. 27). ● ● ● Nikolaj Ehlers didn’t need to see the video or hear a lecture from his coaches to know how poorly he performed Tuesday. The dynamic Danish-born forward, who had a superb start to the season and was named the NHL’s first star of the week Monday, struggled against the Blue Jackets. He coughed up the puck near the Columbus blue line, resulting in a Cam Atkinson breakaway goal that gave the Jackets a 1-0 second-period lead, and a half-hearted checking effort later opened the door for another goal against. Maurice dropped him from the top line with Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler to the second unit with Bryan Little and Patrik Laine midway through the contest and the trio will stick together against Minnesota. "I wasn’t good. And coach needs to try something. I’m playing with Little, who’s so strong defensively and offensively he finds that spot, he makes great plays. He just has great hockey sense. And Patty knows how to shoot the puck. It’s going to be exciting to get back together and, hopefully, we can get this thing going." Ehlers led the team with five goals, including a pair of winners, and added two assists to propel the Jets to three straight victories during his big week, which was highlighted by a natural hat trick in a 5-2 triumph over the host Edmonton Oilers on Oct. 9. https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/hockey/jets/feisty-lemieux-gets-wild-nhl-debut-in-jets- jersey-451687253.html Lemieux eager for NHL debut Rookie winger will join new Jets teammates against the Wild By: Jason Bell Brendan Lemieux has planned for this his entire life — and another 72 hours of waiting won’t spoil the moment.