Winnipeg Jets win over Pittsburgh Penguins, sit second place in the NHL | WST Sunday Live

Winnipeg Jets win over Pittsburgh Penguins, sit second place in the NHL | WST Sunday Live

[Music] around. Good morning everyone and welcome in to another edition of WST Sunday Live. My name is Connor Rabchack. In a moment going to be joined by my co-host Liss Hood and I’m not going to lie folks, this this hurts. This this sucks. This um it’s a good thing that we have a very good hockey team to talk about and we’ll spend a lot of time today talking about that very good hockey team. Um but man, two outs away. extra innings, game seven, uh, two outs away from winning the World Series. And, uh, the Jays come literally as close as you can to winning the World Series and don’t. Uh, that is that that one stings. I guess you kind of feel for, you know, Seattle Mariners fans now and how that ALCS ended last week. We’ll definitely talk about the Jays right off the top and not really, you know, analyze what happened in the game. We’ll more just talk about how how depressed we are. Uh, but then again, like I said, we have a very good hockey team to talk about. The Jets are second place in the NHL. They beat the Penguins 5-2. That’s going to dominate the show. We’ll get into that. We got our Chuds Powersports Power Poll coming up. Trending up down, burning questions, all of our segments. Thank you everyone for joining us today on WST Sunday live. Hope you got uh a good extra hour of sleep last night with the daylight savings. Uh I sure needed it after the way that game ended. Let’s bring in my co-host back at the hat wall, Liz Hood. Liz, how are you doing this morning? Um, marginally better than you because I probably wasn’t like I was like a 97% invested. So like I think I’m probably doing like 3% better than you. But um, yeah, that sucks. But the thing about doing our own show is that like we make the rules. So we often just talk about the team that we have to talk about and then when the Bombers are doing really well, we’ll talk about the Bombers. And when the Jays are doing really well, we’ll talk about the Jays. Um, but yesterday sucked for those reasons. So, yeah, it sucks. That That was tough. That was tough. Yesterday sucked for a lot of reasons. The Jets weren’t one of them. The Bombers were and the Jays were. Uh, it was a very very tough day. The Bombers losing in the East semi-final 42 to 33 to Montreal. And then the Jays of course. Um, yeah. Like I was texting my mom last night as well saying like I’ve had a lot of experience of late in the last five to six years with my big with my teams losing the big game with the ners in two Super Bowls, the Bombers three straight gay cups and now uh the Blue Jays game seven of the World Series. I was I don’t know about you and who you were watching the game with last night list, but I was watching the game with like a group of probably 15 to 20 and when they turned the double play, I don’t think anyone said a word for about 10 to 15 minutes. It was just silence. I can’t remember what play it was. There was a play. It wasn’t that one. It was like It was probably the Homer. It was probably the the time or no no uh the go-ahead one um because I knew what the batting order was coming up and I wasn’t sure how I felt about it and like and I I was at a restaurant and I like knocked my head against the wall so hard and I just like laid on my seat like a freaking I don’t even know like a corpse for about five minutes until the next pitch came and I was like yeah this uh it was tough. It was tough. It it definitely was. I’m going to leave the, you know, the analyzing, if you will, of how the Jays lost to uh to the Royals and Mariners fans that run our flagship show and Husten Remo. I’ll leave that to them. Um, but man, yeah, we just just had to address it right off the top. That absolutely sucked. The fact that Miguel Rojos hit a homer on a 3-2 count, top of the ninth, Jays were two outs away from winning their first World Series in 32 years, but they’re going to have to uh they’re going to have to get climb the mountain again and get all the way back. Curious though, Connor. I like you said, we’re not here to analyze. Um, just for everyone, I know we have a lot of like casual Jay’s watchers like myself kind of watching the show and everything like that. What’s the Bobette vibes here? Is this Nikolai Eers or like what is like in terms of of him running it back with the group? I unfort like I I do think he comes back, but now that you bring up, you know, like Nikolai Eers, it does scare me a bit. get like I I do think getting this close and losing with a team that you’ve been with your whole career helps the Jays in this scenario in terms of staying. I don’t think they’re going to have any issue paying him what he wants. Uh because Rogers and the Jays just went and probably printed money for the past three weeks with this playoff run. Um like they’re going to be just fine to pay him. Um so I I do think he stays. I did get kind of Nikolai Eer’s vibes in terms of like great player going into UFA year um or free agent year and not really sure about his future says he wants to come back but do we really believe that kind of thing but every what’s he going to say no I’m leaving to be in this like unified time especially a team like this that is so reliant on their chemistry and like their unity and everything like he’s never going to say that obviously so like I I didn’t put much stock into that but also I don’t know the guy don’t know the player But I did see some funny things on Twitter about the like it’s game seven in Toronto. Two star players who have played their whole career together. One is locked up and is the face of the franchise. The other Oh no. Oh no. Um Yeah. Yeah. Unbelievable. And yeah, Toronto sports fans. I mean this is a moment where we are one where I am a Toronto sports fan with the Blue Jays and it it it sucks. Um, but yeah, Bob Bashette, I hope he comes back. I hope that that three-run bomb in game seven isn’t the last, you know, moment that he has as a Jay. I hope he stays for the next 14 years alongside Vladimir Guru Jr. That would be very fun. But like I said off the top, it’s time to flush that. Like I said, had a lot of experience with my teams losing the big game. Let’s just move on. Let’s move on to the wagon that is the Winnipeg Jets. and list. They welcomed the first place Pittsburgh Penguins to town yesterday. The 82-2 Pittsburgh Penguins who I was shocked that they were first place in the NHL. Coming into yesterday’s game, they did have a few injuries. You know, Ricard Raquel was out. Justin Brazo, who’s been playing great for them, didn’t play in that game either. But the Jets go in and win 52 at Canada Life Center. A very impressive performance. Um really start to finish. There were moments where the Penguins kind of crawled back into that game, but what’s kind of your initial takeaway list from the Jets 52 win over the Penguins yesterday to improve to 9 and three on the season and their third straight win? Yeah, I think at the beginning of the season when we knew that Samberg and Perfetti and Lowry were going to be missing some time and we were looking ahead, there was a lot to to kind of circle in terms of the strength of schedule for the Jets and how easy it should be. And listen, they did play the first team in the NHL yesterday. I’m not trying to dunk on the Penguins. that is a team that’s that’s absolutely been riding the the coattails of a new coach and and really playing well and and lots of PDO, but you know, let’s uh give them some some grace because they were supposed to be last in the league, so a jump to first is is quite impressive and I give them their flowers for that. But I think that having backto-back games here against the Chicago Blackhawks and the Pittsburgh Penguins, we saw in my opinion one of the best iterations of the Winnipeg Jets that we’ve seen so far this season. Like they were fast and Scott O’Neal talked about that as well. And you know, you talked about their transition game and shout out to Marat from The Athletic for asking about that and Scott Arnell’s postgame media yesterday because their transition was was fabulous yesterday. They were so fast on packs. They were snapping up everything and and making it really difficult for, you know, the Penguins to break out of their zone. There’s one play in the first period that I remember so vividly of of Jonathan Taves just kind of stripping Chris Latang of the puck, making him look absolutely goofy and saucing a puck to to Vladimov in the middle of the ice. And he had so much time and such a sharp angle, like such a beautiful slot to shoot from that he almost didn’t even know what to do with himself. and and like that was kind of indicative of how I think a lot of the game went where it was just like the Jets were all over them and and they were so quick to to kind of jump on the counterattack and it was one of the better performances through 60 minutes that I’ve seen from them kind of this year so far. Absolutely. I I 100% agree and I actually I knew we were going to bring that up so I went and clipped that Scott Neil uh answer to Maraesh. Um yeah, you know me. You know me. Yes, that that was going to come up because we were talking about it during the game. I I remember saying to you in the in the second or third period, you know, gez, it feels like the Jets have a lot of room in the neutral zone in this game, like more than they’ve had really all season long. And that’s the Winnipeg Jets. I mean, they don’t have Nikolai Eers, who was the best at that and creating space in the neutral zone and getting into the zone with speed, but without him, that was their best game uh this season. Uh absolutely in terms of the transition game. Couldn’t agree more. Here’s what Scott Neil had to say when Maradesh from the Athletic asked him about that after the game. Offense and D. Yeah. Um yeah, we were that’s what I liked about it. We look fast. Um and you know that I had mentioned about you know that the team the other night Chicago trying to clog up neutral zone. Pittsburgh’s trying to do that with both coaches new coaching staff trying to really kind of slow the game down when they don’t have the puck. I thought we played extremely fast. Got we got out of our zone fast. We got uh the neutral zone transition. We moved it quick. We didn’t hold on to pucks. We didn’t dust it off. We didn’t take it back. And that that looks more like us uh from last year. And it’s been coming back into our game and it’s been a lot better in the last three or four. And we’re hard to hard to defend when we come at people with speed like that. their scotter Neil on the transition game saying, you know, that looks more like us. That’s more their style of play. It’s been coming back slowly but surely so far this season. Um, and yes, when you look at the Pittsburgh Penguins on paper, are they a first place team? Are they the Vegas Gold Knights? Are they the Colorado Avalanche? No. But the Winnipeg Jets can only play the team in front of them. And the W or the Pittsburgh Penguins were in first place going into that game. Uh, and I thought it was a very impressive game and the transition uh, aspect of it played a huge role for sure. Uh, listen, other thing that happened yesterday was we saw Brad Lambert, the Lambo, get his first career NHL goal, nailed the after two, just like smiling ear to ear. Um, it was really nice to see Brad Lambert score his first NHL goal and then hear from him after the game. Um, where someone played a prank on him, couldn’t find his clothes, couldn’t find his phone. um just seemed like that the team was having a good time with Brad Lambert scoring his first career NHL goal. Yeah, absolutely. I think it’s it’s one of those things. I don’t know if you were the same. I was a defenseman growing up and I remember I would get so mad like secretly when I would leave games if I thought I played really well and I scored a goal because I knew cuz again having a dad like my dad and I would debrief games and be like, “Okay, what did we do well? What did we not do well?” and everything. And I never wanted to be like gh like I only played well because I scored a goal. Like I thought I played well. the goal just like happened to happen. But it’s like goals do come when you’re playing a little bit better. But all that’s to say that was Brad Lebert’s best game as a jet by far for sure. Like not even close. And and I don’t want to just circle the goal. There were so many moments where just absolute electric carry. A couple of really nice passes from below the goal line which is like not a huge hallmark of his game but it was really nice to see that tool kind of come out of the toolbox and I was like okay like I really like this. But we talked about this as well, Connor, when we were kind of, you know, making our observations. I like that line. I like that line a lot. I like Cole Keepy, and I really like what Parker Ford has been able to do in the games that he’s been able to get in. And like that is a tenacious line. That is a fun, fast line. And that is a line that has a little bit more of like uh a unity identity sort of sense than than the average fourth line does where often times it’s like your rag tag guys that either just need to get into the lineup or aren’t quite good enough to make it to the top nine or kind of whoever just kind of falls down whereas in the in the top nine you’re able to strategically place guys with one another and everything and whoever’s left just gets thrown on the fourth line. That is kind of what happened here just in terms of personnel and Gustav was missing a game and everything like that. But as it so happens, I really like the complimentary styling of those three players together. So I really like their game. I thought Brad Lambert had the most pop that I’ve seen in his game as Winnipeg Jet. So I was really happy to see him obviously get on the board pretty early in that one, but then continue to kind of keep his foot on the gas with that fourth line over the course of the game. For sure. That fourth line has a ton of speed between the three of them, Keepy Ford and Lambert. And uh I thought they did a really good job, like you said, you know, it’s cliche, getting pucks deep, but they need to get to those pucks and and get fast and and get in on the forche and force turnovers. And that’s what they did. And the goal was a really nice one where it came to the neutral zone. Uh Parker Ford kind of swooped uh in front of Cole Keepky, took the puck from him, wrapped it around the front of the net, and Brad Lambert fought for body positioning in the front in the front of the net and banged home his first career NHL goal. So, uh congratulations to Brad Lambert. Uh and congratulations to the Winnipeg Jets for another win, their third straight uh 9 and3 on the season. Another thing that happened yesterday list was the top line just continued kind of right where they’ve left off these last couple of games here. Um Kyle Connor with two goals. Gabriel Ardi scores 15 seconds in. Gabriel Valardi has five goals and three assists in his last five games. This guy’s redot um after a bit of a slump to start the season. Liz, what are you seeing from the top line right now? I know it’s kind of become I don’t know redundant to talk about the top line almost every single week and like wow they’re they’re still generating offense guys but like it feels like they’re even getting better while the team is getting better. It seems like they’re generating more. They’re more dangerous. Gabriel Valardi is now redot and burying his chances. And while the Jets continue to figure out their bottom nine and Lowry and Perfetti are coming back soon, it seems like that top line is very willing and able to carry the offense until those guys come back and they’re doing a fantastic job at generating and scoring. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, uh, you know, taking away Cal Connor’s two goals from yesterday because one was an empty neter and one was a short-handed penalty shot because, you know, those happen all the time. Um the first three goals that the Jets scored were five on five goals, which is always uh very encouraging to see as well when we know that this team can capitalize on the power play. And um it’s nice to see them kind of in that five on five circumstance um being able to to dominate in the way that we know they can. But I think the thing that I want to circle about yesterday was that often times when we talk about how much we like that top line, we talk about how, you know, say you win the face offer or you successfully retrieve the the dump in or whatever you have, they’re able to kind of protect the puck and make creative plays with it. whether the, you know, the defending team is kind of pushing out against them or whether they’re you’re being quick on the attack, they’re able to kind of hold on to the puck, make the decisions they want to make, and get off the shot that they want to get off very easily when they’re kind of cycling the puck in the the offensive zone, which is really impressive because it’s it’s not easy when you’re kind of having a full five on five within the offensive zone to necessarily have the space that you need to create at the capacity that three creative players like that want to create at. But yesterday, we talked about this at the beginning of the show, but like the transition game was a little bit more impressive than we’ve seen this year. I thought I saw a bit of a different side of that line with how quick they were off the rush and different things like that, which is really nice to see because like we said, we know what they’re able to do in terms of the the stuff that is their their patent, what they are elite at, what they are known for, what they have paid the big bucks for, but being able to kind of recognize in a certain game that maybe this Pittsburgh Penguins decor was a little bit flatfooted in this game. Scott Neil made the joke in his postgame presser that whoever wins the game is whoever wakes up first, right? Like with these matineese, you are able to to kind of jump on players fast if you have a hot start and they don’t. It’s nice to see them kind of being able to to create such pressure off of the the rush and a little bit more in transition. And there were a couple of really nice, you know, Kyle Connor neutral zone plays and stuff like that where it’s like it kind of just diversifies the type of offense that not only you can create, but that other teams have to become accustomed to expecting you to create and that makes it a lot more difficult to to play against that line. If you’re a team that’s doing their their video on, you know, Connor Shifley Ardi, you’re like, “Okay, what are we going to do to win those board battles? What are we going to do to ensure that they can’t get those crossing passes?” All that sort of stuff. But now if you have to add this whole other layer of like, oh my gosh, but they also have this added threat of being able to break out of their own zone and not always getting hemmed in necessarily and being able to to create some insane stuff in the neutral zone, breaking in and doing all those creative things that they can do off the rush and not just while they’re in sustained zone play like that’s really difficult. So I I liked seeing that in that game because it felt like the type of game where that was needed and it’s nice to see. Obviously we know they can do it but it was the game to play like that and they did. So I really really like that. Yeah, absolutely. And they’re you you talk about that lighter schedule, if you will, to start the season without all of these players. The top line was always going to have this opportunity to kind of feast on some of the lower end teams in the NHL. Again, I don’t know how to talk about the Pittsburgh Penguins because look at their team on paper. They’re not good. Like they they’re they’re the top team in the NHL riding a bit of a PDO streak. You know, Jarry and Sheils are playing unreal in net, which is, you know, goalies. Goalies are voodoo. But hey, the Jets took care of the number one team in the NHL, and that is something that they did accomplish yesterday at Canada Life Center. I see waiters asking in chat if Shiffley is still leading the league in points. He is, and he stands alone. He’s not tied for first. He is first with 20. Uh, and then there’s a lot of players, you know, tied for second, tied for fourth, tied for eighth. Kyle Connor’s in there at 17, tied for eighth in the NHL in points. But listen, I I bring up Mark Schiffley’s points because I I I want to ask you a question. I’m kind of putting you on the spot here, but if you remove the 2017 18 run from Mark Shaley’s legacy, say it just never existed. Kind of like last night’s game seven between the Jays and Dodgers. It just never happened, right? We’ve all We’ve all Yeah. What what what could I be talking about? Um, say you remove that. Are we watching the best offensive hockey of Mark Shiffley’s career? See, K, that’s a great question. All around, I think there’s a more of a debate, but offensively, well, cuz we know that cuz co’s a bit of a time, a tough time, whatever. But like we know that 2019 was the year that we all started going, what is going on with Shelley and Wheeler? Like that was a really, really strange time, right? And all these things. I think you might be right because it’s been a long time now. 12 consecutive games of just like really really impressive show. Obviously didn’t score or get any points in that Seattle game or or whatever. Like it’s not like every single game he’s going out there getting three points, but like very very impressive um you know performances from his line and his power play unit um kind of through 12 games here and everything. But the biggest thing for me is you know you circle that 2017 2018 run like he’s shooting the puck. He’s shooting the puck. And I know it sounds so lazy and it sounds like such like armchair GM analysis, but like if you watch a lot of Jets hockey, you know it’s true. You want Mark Shley to shoot the puck more. That 2017, this is just up in the press yelling shoot like the rest of the at Mark Shley. No, they kicked me out. But I um No, it’s like that that 2017 18, what was it? 14 goals that he had in the playoff there. Like a lot of them were on the power play. A lot of them were in that slot there. Like they were super fun, super cool. But like he came in, you know, and was the topline center right away when he kind of joined this team and everything like that. But he kind of became a trigger man when he was playing with Blake Wheeler because of how good of a distributor Blake Wheeler is and and you know, I don’t want to knock the player for that. But when Kyle Connor kind of became in kind of came into his own and everything and he obviously like such a lethal shooter, you know, I think Mark Shley deferred a ton to to being the playmaker for him. And listen, when you have a $96 million goal scorer, yeah, you probably should do that if you’re on a line with him. But it is nice to see him rip that out of his toolkit a little bit more because he has such an underrated release. And there are times and places where everybody needs to be able to shoot the puck. And and so there were some moments yesterday where even Gabe Valardi had some like longer range shots that he doesn’t always take and everything like that. I’m like, “Yes, let’s shoot the pug. Let’s shoot the pug.” Because like this is a line that isn’t going to win the Corsy battle a ton because they pick their shots, right? as they should. But it is nice to kind of see, again, like I said, it’s kind of going back to the whole concept of like ozone pressure cycling versus rush. It’s like you have to to manage that differently. It’s very similar with, you know, managing a team that’s going to cycle the puck and take one shot versus a team that’s going to take four, maybe some lower percentage ones, but you really do have to adjust to that differently. So every now and then whether it’s a different shift or or just it happens to to make sense to take that random goal line shot because why not sort of thing like I I really like to see him kind of pull that out of his toolkit a little bit more. I’ve really been enjoying it and then he has so many so many of those goals. I don’t remember 20 points. How many of them are goals? Yeah, nine goals. I believe we both did nine so it’s probably not added up. I trust us. I trust us. Um but they’re pretty much all like just disgusting shots. like they’re so fun and like I’m having a blast watching him play. Yeah, me too. There he is. Nine tied for third in the league in goals. Um, unbelievable. Unbelievable. And I want to bring up this comment from Wesley here who said, “Everyone on that line is a big threat. Could not agree more.” And they’re all doing what all of them can do. And and I that sounds weird, but like Gabriel Ardi scoring on a, you know, allin-one motion wrist shot from the slot in the game against Chicago. That’s Mark Shley. Like that’s what Shiffley does from the pop position. That’s not Gabe Valard’s game. He’s a netfront guy, right? Um twoon-one last night, Gabriel Valardi got absolutely robbed because Mark Shiffley I think is one of the best players in the league at freezing both the goalie and the defender on a two-on-one and then sliding it over for basically a tap in. Valardi got like just robbed blind because the the goalie Sheils dove over and and got his glove on it. But everyone on that line and you have games where Kyle Connor’s not scoring, but he’s the passer. You know, he’s the guy that’s setting Mark Schiffley up. And it’s all three of them have have this is what makes them so dynamic offensively as a line is all three of them can do all of those things. They can all be the forchecking guy. They can all be the F3 and kind of track back. They can all be the zone entry guy. They can all be the shooter. They can all be the passer. They can all be the netfront guy. It’s it’s very very fun to watch this this line. And uh I think when the Jets get Perfetti and Lowry back, they’re going to get even better matchups because right now they’re playing a lot. They’re getting a lot of the offensive zone shifts. But with Lowry back, he’ll get, you know, maybe some of that top responsibility. Maybe they’ll trust the Taves line a little bit more with Perfetti on it. And that frees up the Shifley line maybe a little bit more to feast. They had a ton of Crosby Malin yesterday, right? Yes. Yeah. So that that frees them up maybe to feast a little bit more. It it’s not going to change that much. It’s your top line. They’re going to have to play against the other team’s best players, but it maybe frees them up for a couple more shifts a game to play against the other team’s third pairing when you’re at home and and set up that matchup um and do what they do, which is possess the puck in the offensive zone. Uh ambush the other team with shots. At least that’s what they’re doing this year, or it seems like they are with with more shooters um or or more shots coming from those guys. But yeah, unbelievable start to the season for Mark Shley. And listen, I was saying this to you yesterday um on on Mark Shiffley and team Canada. I shouldn’t be viewing him in the same category as Josh Morrisy. Like I think that’s irresponsible. Josh Morsy to me is like irresponsible. He But the way Shaley’s playing, I almost am. Josh Morrisy to me is like he’s not in the McDavid tier of like surefire lock, you know, one of the first six players named to the team lock, but he’s in that next tier of like, all right, Devont Taves is definitely going. Josh Morsy’s definitely going. Sam Reinhardt, you know, there’s there’s these other players that aren’t the McDavid and McKinnons and Crosby’s of the world that are definitely going. Josh Morsey to me is in that tier. And Mark Shiffley, the race for him to make team Canada is definitely on, but right now leading the league in points, tied for third in goals, like he’s inching towards being in the Josh Morrisy, like ahead of the bubble conversation, which again, he’s very much in the bubble conversation. But when when people bring up like Celabbrini or Baddard or Shaley, I don’t even think that’s a conversation, you know? Like I think I think they would take Shaley over those guys unless they’re really going, you know, youth movement and and playing for the future in some way. I don’t know. I just think I think Shley’s really making he made a strong case last year and I do think that the five games before they named the team where he was clearly playing hurt, not taking faceoffs, didn’t have really any points. Uh, I think a lot of people remember that stretch. I think that really hurt his chances because Team Canada maybe got cold feet and went, “Whoa, well, if this guy’s hurt and can’t even take faceoffs, we can’t take him.” If he stays healthy this year and stays on this pace, I don’t see a scenario in which he doesn’t make Team Canada. He’s He’s playing so well. Yeah. I I don’t think you can put him into the same lock category as as Josh Morrisy for the sole reason of the positions they play. Defense kind of sucks for Team Canada. This is not if if this was team USA right now like I’d be like Josh Morsy I don’t know if he’s going to make the team bro you know kind of thing where it’s like I because of how insane their decor is but so Josh has that kind of going for him and on the contrary there’s so much center depth within the the team Canada prospect pool kind of here so I understand why you can’t really put them in the same category but like you said like I think we’re kind of galaxy braing it and trying to almost like overcorrect like like okay we’re we’re so Winnipegentric like obviously we think you should make it, but like what is everybody else saying? Like you said, he’s leading the league in points and goals. Like that’s a guy who if he if his team is not suspended from international play should be in this tournament. Like I I don’t think it gets I understand why there there’s still hesitation, but I think most of the mockups I’ve seen and everything at this point like he’s making the team. He’s making the team. I I think so too. I think so too. If I had to predict right now uh a few months in advance, if you will, uh I do think he makes the team and I think he’s going to remain on this tear and the Jets are going to be a very good team because of it. Um and yeah, that that has really come along these last three games and we heard from Scott Neil earlier on the transition game talking about how that is coming along. I think the top line has been kind of the catalyst for that. They’ve gotten better through the neutral zone. they are getting into the offensive zone more often and that’s when you can start kind of you know Marottesh from the Athletic always writes about these handoff shifts for the Winnipeg Jets where they’ll hem a team in for 30 to 30 seconds to a minute and then change on the fly maintain possession against a tired group and that’s kind of when the avalanche starts of offense when the top line is moving through the neutral zone with pace with efficiency getting into the zone starting those offensive possessions That’s when those handoff shifts start. And then you can bring on Jonathan Taves who had a really nice pass on Vladimikov’s goal last night. Uh you can, you know, bring out Morgan Baron who seems to be, you know, the hardest working Jet every single game and generating chances. Um it’s it’s very very fun to watch when that line is on. Um but listen, I do want to bring up Jay Miller asked for the the goal visualizer and you know, we love bringing up the goal visualizer here on Sunday live and on the WST postgame reactions. will be back Tuesday late one against LA. Um hopefully the Jets can reward people for staying up late with a win. But let’s go to that Jonathan Taves play before we move on here. Uh Vladimov already has six goals by the way. He had 11 all of last season. Demons, what a freak. Unreal. But this play by Jonathan Taves is a very strong one. I think is is very easy to say. Uh he’s tracking back. The Penguins have the puck at the start of this clip. They force it out front and then Jonathan Taves kind of wins the race there ahead of 38. Beats some other players up the ice, opens up to the middle of the ice and fires a pass right on the tape of Vladimov where it’s not a tap in but it’s definitely you know a redirection if you will that it isn’t you know just a back door put your stick down. It it needed some redirecting, but a really nice play from Jonathan Taves List, who seems to be getting more comfortable by the game. And the analytics weren’t there, I’d say, the first five or six games. And I think that’s what maybe gave people pause on Jonathan Taves was he looked great. He was winning a lot of facelifts, but the analytics weren’t coming along. The analytics seem to be slowly but surely coming along with Jonathan Taves who had a strong game analytically at five on five last night and had this pretty sweet primary assist of Lamezov. Yeah, I um I’m intrigued by this pairing to be honest with you. And we talked about this a little bit um you and I about the whole idea of what to do with Vlad Nomestikov and not in a bad way. Like I think you know he and Alexia follow. I just I really like them as complimentary players and and you know we talk about every hockey team is different and depending on what kind of pieces you have and how you want to construct your lineup. A thing that uh some teams do and do really well with is kind of having forward pairings instead of forward lines and sort of plugging in guys who can sort of just have a motor and hang with them. And I foresee Vladimov and Alex I follow kind of having that in their toolkits personally where it’s like okay if you need to distribute the wealth a little bit more and you have to start doing forward pairings say you have Mark Shley and Kyle Connor and then you plug in Alex I follow as their guy and then say you have you know Gabe Valardi and Jonathan Tapes then you could plug in Vladov as their guy or whatever you want to do and to spread out the wealth a little bit more if you have to whatever but after the game yesterday I I turned and looked at Conor immediately when Scott said this because um I can’t remember what the exact question was or why it was brought up but someone basically asked something to the effect of what about Vlad Nomesticov and you know again like you said six goals like what’s going on like this is awesome it’s great um and his move to the wing and Scottal basically said that this is preparing for the return of Adam Lowry because it sounds like Vladimasov is going to be moving to the wing and I am dialed about that. I like that move. I think that we might actually be able to see a little bit more from this player. This is a guy who got a lot of our turning down picks last year. This is a guy that we were kind of wanting to see a little bit more from because of the you know 10year-old question of what to do with the second line center position in the Winnipeg Jets. And you know it’s not his fault that that narrative has gone on longer than almost his NHL career has but it simply has. like it’s just such an ongoing thing and then he wasn’t necessarily always being perfect in that role and and you know giving us stuff to talk about right and stuff like that. So I think that the idea of moving him to the wing I think opens up a ton of opportunity for us to see the best of what he has to offer. That play is a really good example of of you know that that that is transition play in a nutshell, right? You know that quick, you know, the takeaway, the counterattack. Jonathan Daves makes a really nice play to kind of break that up on the boards and carry it through. But like that’s a really really fast line for Vladimov to have to kind of take and run and get there. And you know, you keep calling it a tap in. That is a really, really, really nice deflection that he needs to get that puck like that. I’m not trying to take away from it. Yeah. Yeah. It’s a nice play. Nice play. I actually Okay, guys. Nobody, nobody take away my credibility here, but I missed that goal. Um, I wasn’t back sitting down because it happened so early in that second period. I wasn’t back yet. And so I asked Connor about it before I went to go watch it and I was like, is it the kind of goal that like I could have scored sort of thing because he was talking about how nice of a play that uh Jonathan Taves made where it’s like sometimes it’s like you can’t not score on that because of how well and there was one I think the power play goal that Jonathan Taves is one of his primary assists earlier in the game that Vladimasov scored. It was like one of those like yeah like anyone could score that goal because of how nice Jonathan Tav’s setup was for it. But um that is not the case. I could not have scored. Well, maybe I could have. But all that’s to say he he absolutely flies through the neutral zone to get there and be a viable option for Jonathan Tapes to make that pass on on that play. And like I think that we might unlock a little bit more of of the better parts of Latin Masikov’s game with a more permanent move to the wing. And so I’m interested to see what the combinations are going to look like. I’ve been really liking Nino Nether Rider season so far. He’s a guy that I think I was also a little bit hard on last year and and I really liked him. So I think that the whole idea of Nomesicov and Nita Rider and I follow kind of spreading out a little bit in that middle six I think actually gives them a lot of opportunity to to really have some fun there and have some juice. Yeah, absolutely. And on today’s Chud’s Powers Sports Power Poll, we are ranking our top five centers on the Winnipeg Jets. And that includes Vladimov, who’s now on the wing. But with Adam Lowry’s return seemingly imminent, uh Scott kind of teased at it going into the weekend that they were going to practice. They’ll practice tomorrow, I’m expecting Adam Lowry to skate tomorrow and then play on Tuesday. That’s kind of how the Jets made it sound over the weekend that, you know, he gets in a couple practices and then plays. How much he plays uh to be seen, I wouldn’t be shocked if they kind of, you know, load manage him back into the mix. But definitely expecting Adam Lowry back in the lineup very soon for the Winnipeg Jets. And that’s big news. And because of that, we decided to rank our top five our top five Winnipeg Jet centers on today’s power poll. Now, first let me let you know that our Chud’s Powersports Power Poles are brought to you by Chud’s Powersports, uh, out at the corner of Highway 8 and 231 in Gimley. They have it all when it comes to power equipment and tools, ATVs, UTVs, boats. I’ve got the website up behind me here. Um, just so much. Uh, like I said last week, I’ve been camping my whole life. I haven’t seen half of these things that Chuds has on their website. There’s a ton here. golf carts, tractors, dirt bikes, street bikes, Argos, and Sasquatches. Um, and they also have a massive parts department as well if you’re just looking for some parts to kind of tune up what you already have. Um, and I highly recommend if you’re looking for any kind of powersports, go to Chuds, go to their website, chudpowersports.com. I’ve got it up behind me here. They’ve got some great deals on as well right now as we’re heading into the winter seasons. I know no one wants to talk about it, but the snow is coming soon. It’s November. Christmas music is now officially okay to play. It’s November. Um and and winter’s coming soon. So for all your parts, all of your powersports needs, visit chudpowersports.com. You can also check them out in store at the corner of Highway 8 and 231. Thank you once again to Chuds for sponsoring this episode, WC Sunday Live and our Chuds Powersports Power Polls. Now list, let’s get to today’s power poll, which is like I just said, ranking the top five Winnipeg Jet centers on the team right now. Um, and this includes Adam Lowry, who’s coming back. This includes Vladimov, who’s currently on the wing. But here it is. Vladimov number five. Morgan Baron has leapfrogged Vlad on our list at number four. Jonathan Taves is at number three. Adam Lowry’s at number two. And Mark Shiffley, of course, league leader in points, tied for third in goals. He’s the number one center on the Winnipeg Jets. We know that. But Lis, what what do you think of this power poll? And you know, you talk about Vlad moving to the wing. I think it’s a it’s also a a credit to Morgan Baron and how well he’s played this season that it’s Vlad moving to the wing and not Morgan Baron who’s played wing uh a lot more than center in his NHL career. Yeah. I I don’t know if it’s entirely just uh you know promotion for Morgan Baron this that whatever. I think there also is an element of they want to play Vlad Nomesov more than just the fourth line player. So I think that there is an element of that too where it’s like, you know, if this guy gets healthy, that guy gets healthy, whatever. You want to find a way to keep some guys in your your middle six, right? So I think that it’s not just, you know, oh, he’s a guy who gets moved up in the lineup while guys are hurt and then he’s the first to go. I think there there’s an element of them liking the type of play that he brings to to a middle six matchup. But Morgan Baron has been kind of fabulous, let’s be real, for the first little bit of the season. And like we were kind of making jokes yesterday, his um his goal scoring heater has cooled off a little bit. But he just brings such a fun style of play to the bottom six of a lineup that I personally really really like because it’s not just, oh, this guy’s a wash top six player, which means he has to play bottom six. And I’m not trying to name names, but this is something that like we see a ton in the National Hockey League, right? and and so I I think that like he’s the type of guy that can go out there and wreak some havoc on on either tougher competition if you’re trying to just kind of neutralize it or actually kind of feast a little bit on on weaker competition because that’s sometimes the the difference between a third and a fourth line, right? is is the third line is going out there and you’re hoping that they can just, you know, manage and keep things 000 against the the best opponents, but then their fourth line sometimes will go out there against the other team’s fourth line. And if you can kind of fight fire with fire and your fire’s got a little bit of gasoline, which we know that Morgan Baron does, that makes for a ton of fun. So, I like this this list and I think that there is potential over the course of the season depending on how Adam Lowry returns from his injury, depending on how Jonathan Taves continues to to kind of pick up his play that maybe those two could flip. And there’s also a potential that, you know, Morgan Baron could, you know, slide down a little bit. We’re not saying that this is necessarily the uh the be all end all list, but as of right now, like this is kind of how I feel like the Winnipeg Jets probably view this this group in terms of of center depth. And you know, you only play four centers a game. So there goes Vladimasov to the wing, able to keep him up in the lineup a little bit more and also have kind of a backup face up option option on on the line that he’s playing on, which is always nice as well. Yes, absolutely. And Morgan Baron has been has been awesome. And you said that the the scoring has tailed off and it absolutely has. Um at least for his early season heater, if you will, but he’s still generating a ton. He’s still, like I said, basically the hardest working jet every single game. You know, that guy just flies around out there. Um, and it’s it’s it’s honestly fun to watch and and a great element to have in your bottom six if you’re the Winnipeg Jets as a player who just never quits on the play, will always, you know, grind out in the corners and and yesterday that shot hits the post. Morgan Baron is right there to tap the puck in. I don’t know how he missed it, but that scoring heater would have returned if he just whacked that puck in from the crease. But they’re they’re definitely generating. They’re definitely, you know, great on the penalty kill as well. Morgan Baron, uh, that speed, he he’s great at using his stick on the penalty kill as well. Um, he’s been very, very good for the Winnipeg Jets, at least by my eyes, to start this season. Kenny’s water bottle says, “Connor, Adam Lowry is a Jets second best center this season, and he hasn’t even played a game yet. How bad is everyone else? How do we know Lowry won’t be rusty?” The number three guy on the list took two years off. Adam Lowry took six months off. And the last time, you know, Adam Lowry, I I feel like people sometimes forget game seven against the St. Louis Blues. We talk about Cole Perfetti, we talk about, you know, the Manitoba miracle 1.6 seconds. Adam Lowry scored the overtime winner in that game list. And here, by the way, he was the Jets number one center that night because Mark Shley didn’t play. So maybe Larry could be number one because he won the team at deciding, you know, game seven. But here, Adam Larry played 30 minutes at five on five. at five on five that night. Here’s what his stats were. With with him on the ice, the Jets outshot the Blues 43 to9. He scored the goal in overtime. The expected goals 75% scoring chances were 15 to 5 and Hidinger chances 8 to1 in a deciding winner take all game seven on home ice when he’s the number one center. Adam L is really good. That’s my go man. Adam is really good. I need to give a plug to something I’m doing on Twitter right now where I um went through and I created watchability rankings for Winnipeg Jets players um which if you’re unfamiliar with the concept um I got the idea from a podcast that I listen to PDOC cast Demetri Philipovich good buddy of the show um and they kind of go through teams and they’re like how fun are they to watch and all these different things and so I decided to rank all the Winnipeg Jets within like these eight specific categories I came up with and like how fun it makes them to watch and one of the categories is called dog. And basically it’s like how capable is this player of just like putting a team on his back for like two periods and just playing the most elite hockey you’ve ever seen in your entire life and you go what’s going on right now? And Adam Lowry is number two in that category. I did give Josh Morsy number one in that category. Spoiler alert, you haven’t got in that one yet, but um because Josh Morsy also can do that. But like above Mark Shley, above I don’t everybody else like when Adam Lowry has a dog game, it’s like out of this world fun. So I appreciate you giving him some respect for that cuz Yeah, like that game that was insane. Like no Mark Shaley, no Josh Moresy, right? He also left or Yeah, Josh Morrisy left that game within a minute. Yeah, Mark Shley didn’t play at all but Josh Morrisy left that game, right? Yeah. And like the whole game. And that was again one of those things where it’s like Hayden Flurry like I I I’ve been critical of that player too. But it’s like I had to rate him like kind of highly in that dog category. It was like he went ballistic, bro. Like he was so good. Also, Lowry did it on a on a hip that two days after the playoffs ended needed surgery. Like you don’t think he was dealing with that during game seven? Um I don’t know. Adam Larry’s really He’s all the animals. He’s a goat. He’s a dog. That’s uh He’s he’s a stud at five on five and and on the penalty kill and all of those things and I can’t wait to watch him back in the Jets lineup. Um their centers have really stepped up though like I think it is a credit to Taves and Baron that there are people in chat that want Lowry maybe even lower. Those guys have looked good. Um and I know people talking are talking about Parker Ford in chat who is the current fourthline center. We have him at the not seen number six I think on the list for the power pull. just missed out from Vladimov. But that’s our Chud’s powersports power poll. Thank you once again to Chuds for sponsoring our power polls and this episode of Winnipeg Sports Talk Sunday live. Now let’s before we move on to our trending updown segments and our burning questions, I do just want to have maybe a bigger picture discussion about the Jets with Lowry coming back, Samberg and Perfetti coming soon in the next couple of weeks. Um, I tweeted this out this morning because I think if you go back to our final episode of Sunday Live before the Jets started their season when we knew Perfetti and Samberg and Lowry would be out until at least November, I probably on that show said, you know, if they’re 500 by the time those players come back, that’s a win. You know, I I I think as a Jets fan, you should take that because those three players mean so much to this team. And I I’m pretty sure I also said, you know, we’re either going to be talking about how desperately the Jets need those players back or how awesome of an addition it’ll be to what’s already a very good team. I think it’s becoming the latter in terms of, you know, adding them to a good team. I tweeted out kind of this list of where the Winnipeg Jets sit in the NHL. And if you want kind of a a cleanser for what happened yesterday with the Bombers and the Blue Jays, here’s your hockey team. They’re second in points with 18. They’re tied for first in points percentage. 750. Tied for first in wins with nine. Tied for first in regulation wins with eight. First in goal differential plus 15. Fourth in goals 44 45. Third in goals against 30. First in team save percentage 922. First in penalty kill percentage 91.1%. Eighth in power play percentage which honestly is misleading because they’re 27.8% which is right around where they were last year. That’s without Cole Perfetti. They’re undefeated on the road 4-0. They’re missing Samberg, Lowry, and Perfetti, who are three of their seven highest impact skaters, and they have the league leader in points in Mark Shaley. Um, pretty fun start to the year list. I I like I honestly didn’t think the Jets had this club in their bag early in the season. Um, and yes, they’re shooting at a high percentage. They’re getting great saves. They have the MVP in net. Of course, they’re of course they’re getting the saves. You know, of course, their PDO is high. Um and and talented shooters like Connor and Shaley and Valardi are are seemingly only getting better. Um where are you kind of at with the Winnipeg Jets as it feels like we’re getting through this first block of the season without these high impact skaters in the middle six and and the the top four and Dylan Samberg. Where are you at with this team maybe at late November as opposed to right now? Has your has your thoughts on them with those three players back changed at all? Yeah. I mean, I think I’m going to change your question. I’m going to answer a different question, which is So, you’re going to do like what every NHL coach does. Go for Yeah. Yeah. I’ve sat in a lot of media at this point, so I know how if I don’t like this question. Areneal’s actually good at answering the question. I should say that. We should We should We should. Yes. But go ahead. Um but um I think crazy take perhaps the Jets might be in almost the perfect position right now. And hear me out, they have a lot to work on. They are not perfect. You look at the underlings, you know, you talk about the the PDO, the shooting heater, all these different things that are going on. Like this is a team that has work to do, but they’re winning enough games that they’re banking these points and all these different things where it’s like they are kind of overachieving compared to where we thought they might be able to be in terms of, you know, the actual standings of of the division. So, they’re getting these wins, which are just at the end of the day, they’re so important. Like, you do need these points, but they’re not doing so with enough conviction that the team is going to sit and just coast. So, I think that they’re in a great spot where it’s like, it would be one thing if it’s like, okay, here are all the things that we’re learning about this team and we’re growing and we’re getting better and all this sort of stuff, but it’s like, but they’re 0 and2 or whatever. And that that makes it really difficult to kind of catch up. Like I’ve seen some crazy stats lately about, you know, we talk about American Thanksgiving as a really good benchmark, but like teams when they’re leading the division at, you know, beginning of November or something like crazy, like not even that far into the season, like they make the playoffs x% of the time, whatever. Like these wins matter. Like these are reflective of of who these teams are to a certain degree. So, I think the fact that they’re at a stage right now where they are able to bank wins and bank points while missing such key parts of their team, but also kind of having a clear-cut path of of where they need to improve and how they need to to get better is really good cuz I think this team is probably not sitting being like, “Yes, we are the best team in the National Hockey League. We are awesome.” They’re probably like, “They’re not. We’ve heard it from the players, you know, that’s exactly it.” And I think that’s my favorite part of this nine and three start is the fact that at seven and three you have scaril coming up there after a win against Minnesota and going that wasn’t good enough you know like that that wasn’t good that was Conor Halabuk thank you Conor Halabuk you know like you have Jonathan Taves being asked about it and saying yeah I love when our coach when we win a game and he comes into the locker room and goes look we we got the win great but we need to be a heck of a lot better and the Jets are getting better. You look at the Chicago and Pittsburgh games, teams they’re probably supposed to beat at home. Those games went how you’d want them to go for the Winnipeg Jets, but even at 7 and three, they were sitting there going, “There’s a lot of work we need to do. Yes, we’re going to get players back, but you heard it in the transition answer that we played earlier on with Arneal saying that looks more like us. They’re looking more and more like the Winnipeg Jets of last season, and they haven’t even gotten these players back yet.” And I’m just I I love when a team wins a game that they shouldn’t have and everyone knows it and they don’t pretend like they’re the best team ever, you know? Like I I I I really do think that that’s a sign of the culture that the Winnipeg Jets have built over the last number of years, like if they win a game and it’s Connor Hellbuck making 36 saves on the road against a desperate Wild team that’s really struggling to start the year, they’re not saying, “Yeah, we’re awesome. We we we won that game and we’re we’re the best.” Um they they know that they need to be a lot better. and the past two games have been a step towards that. You know, they’ve they’ve gotten I’ I’ve seen progress in the in the past couple of games and they haven’t even gotten these players back yet. So, that’s Yeah, I mean, I think this time of the year, what you want to do is kind of like you said, kind of figure out what clubs you do have in your bag and kind of get that sorted out, but not at the expense of losing points that you should be getting. And so, that’s why I think I like where we’re at right now is where it’s like, okay, like you can see this is a part of a game where they’re struggling. This is a part of game where they actually looked really good and this pairing of forwards actually looks awful together and all these different things that you need to be able to trial out over the course of the regular season, but you have to manage being able to win hockey games as well cuz like not everyone, I’m sorry, is the October Edmonton Oilers or the Florida Panthers where you can, you know, just coast and be like, “Yeah, we’re cool with never having home ice advantage all the way through the Stanley Cup playoffs.” Like, no. Like, not not everyone can do that, unfortunately. And not everyone wants to do that. And and so I think it is really nice to see kind of all these different pieces coming together and I think it was part of what made them good last year as well, right? Where you know it was similar the 15 in1 start or whatever all these different things president’s trophy winning team but the team was never like yeah yeah we’re we’re content we’re but I I understand the professional hockey teams don’t really get complacent. Um but I think it’s really on full display with this this Jets group and and look it should be this is not a perfect hockey team. every single game I watch, I’m like, “Oo, okay, like let’s got to circle this a little bit more and all that sort of stuff, right?” So, I I I think everyone acknowledges that there’s a long way to go for them, but all things considered, losing one of their most dynamic players this offseason, having all these high impact guys, you know, hurt and all this sort of stuff. I’m not making excuses. I’m just explaining circumstances. And I am just kind of, as a general blanket statement, pleased with where they’re at kind of at the the beginning of November here. I think you have to be, you know, you lose Eelers in the offseason. Sam McGlar, Perfetti out. Nine and three I did not think was possible. First in points percentage in the league I did not think was possible. First in the West by points percentage. Again, Colorado’s ahead of them, but as people have pointed out in chat, they’ve lost five games in overtime, which also is crazy in its own right that a team with McKinnon, Nas, and Macar is losing in overtime. I don’t even know how that’s possible. you know, those are three of the most dynamic players in the sport when it comes to speed and playing off the rush. With extra space, you think they’d be dynamite, but they’ve lost five games in OT and shootout. Um, I just didn’t I didn’t think that they they that this was possible. PDIO heater or not. Uh, I just didn’t think that they had the horses, but they’re here. Like, and here’s the PDO heater, like I get it, like whatever. It’s a whole thing, but like the Jets are taking really good shots. Conor Hellbuk is the MVP. Like, it’s these are still things that are happening. Like I understand that it’s it’s likely to get worse before it gets better, which is always the thing you have to look at with any stat ever, advanced or not advanced, whatever. It’s like if you operate under the guise that this is never going to be exactly the same, what is more likely that this gets better or worse? Where they’re at with the PDO right now, it’s more likely to get worse than it is to get better. So, you kind of have to circle that, but it is still happening. So, there there definitely is um like a little bit of of balance there with all that for sure. Right. Their PDO is is bound to get worse. They’re bound to regress. They also have the MVP in net and they don’t need to apologize for anyone for that. But their underlying metrics, which is part of our concern list, are 100% going to get better. They’re adding back one of the best five-on-ive shutdown centers in the league in Adam Lowry. They’re getting back an a minute munching elite second pairing defenseman in Dylan Samberg. You know, like this is this is going to get better in terms of the underlying five on five metrics. And that’s why it’s it’s kind of just been about surviving these first couple of weeks, but they’re doing more than that. Like I said, they’re first in a lot of categories, top five in a lot of categories. Um, and yes, the five on five stuff, especially early in the season, was concerning. They were relying on Hellbuck a lot, but they’re going to have to rely on him less and less, I think, as they get these players back and and ultimately become a better hockey team with three of their, again, three of their seven highest impact skaters. Uh I don’t think that other teams across the league would be nine and three. Uh Connor Halabuk, you know, like he’s the MVP. Yeah. Here’s my thing though is and I feel like my expectations might have been a little bit higher than yours just because I’m like I understand that that is the circumstance of where these guys are at right now, but they do need to be better than what maybe we want to give them grace to be. And so again, 9 and three more imped them to be better than 500. I think that that that would have been unacceptable to me to be honest with you. Like I think that um I I just knowing what the team’s expectations are for themselves, what you know their kind of reputation has become and what they have to to do now that they you know won the President’s Trophy last year, all this different stuff. And also injuries happen. You lose high impact guys all the time. So how do you adjust and how do you manage? Like I think their floor had to be higher than a 500 team. So I’m, you know, altogether content with with kind of the the status of where we’re at. Fair enough. Yeah. My expectations coming into the season in the first month were definitely lower than yours. Um, I will say Matt brings up a great point here. You know, regardless of lineup structure should should still be solid. This is a Shawn Reynolds isism uh that the Winnipeg Jets superpowers is their structure whether it was Rick Boness or Scott O’Neal. Um, and and couldn’t agree more. You know, this structure can just plug in a guy at second line center who’s never play or hasn’t played in two years. Uh, all these new players. Nyquist who’s currently injured, Pearson the back end can lose Samberg and they still find ways to win. Yes, Connor Hellbuck’s awesome and we say it almost every single game, but um still impressive nonetheless that they’re 9 and three. Uh yes, and and Brent brings up a good point here too and who they were playing 500 would have been bad as well. Looking at the schedule, the teams below them in the standings that they should have beat Pittsburgh above them in the standings, but like I said, I don’t know how to talk about the Pittsburgh Penguins, especially this year list. Let’s move on to one of our two segments here on WST Sunday Live. Trending up, down. This is the part of the show where we pick one Winnipeg Jet who is trending up or down over the past week of play. Um, and we can’t pick players who we chose last week. List, do you remember who we chose last week while I quickly bring it up? You do bring or you do remember. Okay. Okay. So, last week I don’t remember who picked what, but it doesn’t matter. We’re a team here. Trending up our picks were Morrisy and Taves. Yeah. And then trending down our picks were Keepy, which I spelled wrong on our spreadsheet, and Gustav Nyquist. Okay. All right. So, this is Yes, we’re we’re going to pick one Winnipeg Jet trending up or down from the past week of play. Let us know your picks in the comments down below. And while you’re down there, make sure you hit the like button as well. Usually, we do that you can’t pick a player that you already picked last week for trending up down. We’ll try and abide by that rule. If not possible, we can we can, you know, maybe break self officiate. Yeah, self officiate. Absolutely. But um in the chat, you don’t have to follow that rule. Let me just make that totally clear. Pick a player that’s trending up or down. Don’t worry about who we picked last week or who you picked last week. Just trending up down. Um and let us know your picks down below. But list, three straight wins, pretty easy trending up. Who do you got? I think I’m going to give and this is maybe again bit of overcorrection from from last year and everything. I’m going to give my training up to Vladimov. Obviously I was kind of giving him glowing reviews for this entire episode so far and he and Mason Appleton and Logan Stanley I feel like last year were just kind of like the throwaway like they got trending down a lot. So I’m really happy to be able to to give him this award which feels super warranted. I’m I’ll give him some love for that. I think that maybe not as easy of a tap in as who I feel like is going to be your pick, but um Vladimov gets my trending up. Yes, that’s a great pick. Six goals so far this season. Like I said earlier, he had 11 all season last year. Uh Vladimov off to a great start and I shared the intrigue with you with him on the wing uh over these next couple of weeks here with Adam Lowry returning. I’m going Valardi. Everyone in chat is just spamming Gabe Valardi. Uh the early season slump seems like a long time ago when it comes to Gabe Valardi. Five goals and three assists in his last five games. He is red-hot. Had two goals the other night. One goal yesterday afternoon, came 15 seconds into the game. And one thing I think that Gabe Valardi is doing maybe better this season is part of that transition game or better as of late this season. He’s not the guy on that line that’s usually the entry machine. But what he’s really good at is, you know, popping the puck into space for Connor and Shaley to go on a two-on-one or for Shaley who’s streaking through the middle to take that puck and for him to enter the zone. And and Valardi, we know he’s amazing at knocking pucks down. Teams are trying to go Dto D. They’re trying to make passes up the middle of the ice when they’re forchecking. And Valardi’s there, his stick is all over it. He’s forchecking. He’s digging in the corners. He’s the netfront guy. And he’s playing into his strengths and also adding a little bit more. You look back at the Chicago game, he’s in the middle of the slot with a a wrist shot that beats Spencer Knight to the blocker side. That looks like Mark Shifley. It doesn’t that doesn’t look like Gabe Lardy. He doesn’t usually score from that far out. His goal chart at the end of the year is usually just a bunch of dots in the crease. But if he can add that a little bit, man, he’s he’s going to have a huge year. Year one of a six-year extension list at $7.5 million AAV. Gabardi over a point a game right now. 13 points in 12 games. didn’t even bring it up, but we got our first combined points graphic of the year from at NHL Jets. I was wild. I was like, we’re so back points. Our our favorite stat for sure. You know what I always dug on? I’m like, there’s no such thing as a bad stat. Like, I’ll fight people on plus minus. I’ll fight people on all these things. I’m like, everything is good. Everything is valuable. We just need to talk about combined points. I might not have a a mightation for that. It just it just it just might not have the juice as a stat. It might not. I will say the uh the graphic that NHL Jets posted with the top line being locked up to 2031 plus. I was like, “Oh boy, they’re setting themselves up for like a unfortunate hockey events like dunked on tweet here.” I think it’s a fortunate hockey event if you’re the Winnipeg Jets that that line is locked up till 2031 and beyond. Uh Connor for eight years, Shley for six more, I believe, and then Valardi for six more. So, yeah, you’re going to see a lot of Connor, Shy, Valardi. We’re going to talk about them a lot on this show over the coming years. Um and Matt here saying Shley, second star of the month. Who knows how many life transitions we’ll go through Connor while still talking about them. like Connor Shely Wheeler like saw me graduate high school. They saw like Yeah, they watched you back through the TV. Um, no. Matt here saying a lot together. Shley, second star of the month. We didn’t even bring this up. I mean, we talked about Shaley. He was first in points, third in goals. Uh, first star or second star of the month, excuse me, for the month of October. Great start to the season for Mark Shley. Uh, upstanding. Who was the first star of the month? It was Jack Eel, if I’m not mistaken. Vegas. God, he’s so good. Yeah, he’s he’s really good. Um uh Stanley got a pick here. Valardi. Um Bardau says Vlatty. Vlatty names. Kenny’s water bottles is trending down. How how I rank or how I decide the Chad’s powersports power pools. Very fair. Um hey, I picked this week’s Wow. So it’s you list. Wow. Unbelievable, dude. Up flurry. Down flurry. Interesting. Okay, let’s get to trending down people. The the picks are flooding in. list. Who do you have for trending down this week? I think I have a little bit of a a easy pick. Um, but I was looking at our list since the season actually started. We haven’t picked him once yet. So, I don’t feel bad choosing Luke Shen as my trending down pick. Didn’t play yesterday. Was disclosed that part of it was part of um because of the shot he blocked or whatever it was in last game because he ended up leaving the game. But look, he’s looked a little slow this week. And then, you know, I think that that’s not something I’m anticipating to change as, you know, they go down to California and play against some of these really fascinating teams. Um, and he’s a guy who I think it’s it’s tough to watch someone who, you know, knows they can be better. I feel like it’s just his body and and life. Like, you know, I think that we’ve seen the best hockey of of Luke Shen’s career. And can he still be an NHL player? I’m sure he probably can. I just think that this this wasn’t his best week. Um so, he didn’t play yesterday. And part of that, I think, is getting Colin Miller into lineup. Part of it is also um you know, maybe if he that shot he blocks four years ago, he plays in that game. I don’t know. But um he’s gonna get my turn down pick of the week. I think it’s a good pick. Uh they again not sure how much that hand injury kind of limited him in terms of playing yesterday, but Scott O’Neal did say that it had it played a factor. Uh if you missed it in the Chicago game, Luke Shen was standing in front of the net. Shot came from the point and it hit him in the hand and he was immediately shaking it. He left the game for about 5 minutes, came back for the third period. So, he played the rest of that game, practiced the next day, but did not play on Saturday against Pittsburgh. Um, and I agree with you. I mean, going on the road here, there are some fast teams as well that the Winnipeg Jets are going to be playing. Um, we’re we’re going to bring up the schedule in just a second, but you get LA on Tuesday. They’ve got some skill at the top of their line. Then you get like San Jose and Anaheim, who are two teams that again, San Jose and Anaheim, two teams the Jets probably should beat, but they’ve got a ton of that speed, that youthfulness off the rush that Luke Shen, uh, will struggle with at times so far this season and has struggled with this season. So, uh, I think that’s a great pick. I’m going to take the Winnipeg Blue Bombers for the final time. I’m going off the board for Winnipeg Jets players because they have won three straight games and I do like the way they’re playing right now. And another player, you know, I was thinking Tanner Pearson, but I haven’t even really thought that he’s trending down, but that’s really the only pick for me. Like I go through the entire lineup. I don’t really see another player that’s really trending down. You know, Comry’s playing good. Fourth line’s been good. Fourth line’s been good. Uh’s been good. They gave PK gave up a goal. I’m going to stick with the Bombers. You know, that’s not a thing that they were doing before. I’m going to stick with the Bombers. Their championship appearance streak of five years came to an end yesterday. They’re trending. They’re naturally trending down. Older core Zack Caller is coming back for another year. A lot of free agents, which is just, you know, every year in the CFL, everyone’s on a one-year deal, so there’s always free agents. But yeah, they’re trending down. East semi-final loss to the Montreal Alowettes. We’ll see where they go from here. I’m taking the Winnipeg Blue Bombers trending down. who really like their loss yesterday was not even close to the crushing defeat of the of the Blue Jays which again off the top if you want our our depression session off the top it was it was fun well it wasn’t it was I can’t like you know that Kevin Hart meme of like the woman like holding him and he’s like this on her and and she’s like no yelling at people that’s how I feel about Ernie Clement and it’s so funny like everyone else is like also in this Ernie Clement tier but I’m like anyone says anything bad about that freaking 21 singles. Oh my gosh. And he was so close. I can’t I keep saying the bottom of an hour and I’m like stop. Was it the bottom of the ninth or the tent where he hit that one to the warning track and they collided? Oh, that would have been amazing. Ernie Clement walk-off. Oh my god. Would have been would have been cinema, but they’ll have to they’ll have to do it again next year. Yeah. Unreal. Unreal. Now we just made ourselves sad. That great job trending up down. We’re trending down. Our moods are trending down. Boom. There’s there’s my pick. No, I’m taking the bombers. Um, anyways, let’s move on list to our next segment, which will lift our spirits because we have the best chat room ever. They’ve been on fire today and they can continue that fire with one burning question. Oh, that was a good one. Hey, we we can all do our job every once in a while, but one burning question. This is the part this is the part of the show where we open it up to the chat room. You guys drop your questions down below and we’ll try and rapid fire through as many of these as we can before we wrap today’s show. So, drop your questions in the chat below. Um, and we will get to, like I said, as many as we can before we wrap. We really appreciate all of you joining us right here WST Sunday live. It’s going to be an exciting month with the Jets getting these players back. Um, looking to maintain their spot at top the league, at top the Central, the West. Um and and we can’t to can’t wait to break it all down right here on WSC Sunday live and on the postgame reactions for you all. Um some late games this week. So maybe if you don’t want to stay up and just listen to our postgame reaction the next morning. Um totally understandable. There are some late ones starting on Tuesday 9:30 p.m. Central. Man, that’s that that’s going to sting staying up for that one. But we will have WC postgame reactions for every game except for Saturday games, which I believe on this road trip there’s only one Saturday game. So, we’ll have five of the six covered for you on this road trip and then the Saturday game. Obviously, we’re right here WSD Sunday live. But, let’s get to one burning question. Bryson asks, “Who’s going on the road trip? Does Chipperov get sent down for Lowry? Do we call up a defenseman since since Shen is hurt?” It’s a great question. Great question. List, what do you think? I think Chipperov’s the guy that gets sent down first out of Lambert Ford. Chipperov, do you agree? Yeah, I think Ford stays. Um, I think that it’s a great question cuz like you said, it’s a long road trip. The management of Moose are playing today and tomorrow and then they’re also going on a super long road trip. They leave this week and then they’re not back until closer to the end of the month. Like they’re they’re gone for a really long time. So, I think that doing a little bit of a personnel shift after this Moose Home Stand finishes up um is is likely. Um, I think yeah, Chipperov is is a good pick. I think that one player gets sent down, I think they probably take the rest of them. Um, and so I think that that’s probably valid. Um, I think in terms of just like managing the guys, whatever, like sending Brad down the day after his best game as a Jet, like that would suck. And I think that I I but I I like them both and it could go either way. I’m not sure. Um, and then defenseman since Shen is hurt, I’m going to say no because I don’t think that he is. Okay. Wow. Okay. Good, good take. Good take. Good take. I I also don’t think, you know, like it it he practiced the day before. It It was enough to maybe impact the decision to keep him out of the game, but I don’t think he’s, you know, if tomorrow was a playoff game, but it’s like a coin toss with like a slight breeze kind of thing. Like it’s not like it’s like a crazy like between him and Colin Miller. It’s like whatever. Coin toss with a slight breeze. Wow. That was a stupid comment. I don’t know what that even means, but sure. You know what I mean? where it’s like it kind of is 5050 either way, but it’s like eh, might as well. Like it it sort of pushes it in in a slight direction, but I don’t think that um he’s planning on missing time. Like I don’t even know if he’s in a day-to-day category. So um if he was though, they probably would have to call up someone and I don’t even know who that would be. So yeah. Well, I think they’re going to get the opportunity to call up Dylan Samberg, if you will. Uh oh, yeah. In in the next couple of weeks as well. Like I I don’t think uh Shen is hurt enough to call someone up. And I also think no. Like Samberg and Perfetti are both skating in non-cont with the Jets right now. And they both look like they could play. And I’m sure they’re being very cautious with these players. And Dylan Samberg’s wrist is is a is a big part of that. You know, the handling of the puck, the the shooting, the passing. He’s doing all of those things in practice. And it’s his left hand. That’s your dominant hand. Um, so they they want to be Yeah, it’ll be interesting to see what happens because obviously like his his left-handedness is an interesting part of that whole thing, but yes. Yes. And then Perfetti, like it’s his ankle. He’s skating fine. He looks great. It’s it’s probably more just like contact and stuff. So again, those those two players are looking Never become a player who is endearing to Alyssa Hood because you will shatter your ankle in the preseason. Oh no. Villy, right? Villy. Billy. That was crazy. That was That was crazy. That was Looking back on that, what a time he was. And then Rick Bonis straight up saying he was going to make the team, too. Um, the Jay’s already hurting. The Jay’s already hurting. Oh my goodness. Hurtful episode today, folks. Uh, you’re gutting it out with us. Uh, Wesley asks, “With the return of Larry, Perfetti, and Samberg, maybe as soon as at the end of this road trip. Who knows? Should and will the Jets send down all the kids and bring up someone like Gus, more of a vet? And if no, who stays? It’s a great question, too. I I I’m going to say yes to the sending down of the kids. I think that um yeah, Chipper Cav and Lambert, they’re they’ll they’ll go down for sure. Um I don’t think it is a bad thing if Parker Ford stays up. I think I’ve been impressed with how the Jets have managed through 12 games, cycling through all three of those players. um you can’t do that for a full season just because you know every guy’s on pace to play like 20 games and that’s not what you want for guys who you consider to be important parts of your future that all that’s to say if you have just one of those guys and and cycle them in with with a Cole Keepy or Tanner Pearson or someone who at the end of the day like don’t get me wrong there’s one of those two players that I would prefer to see in the lineup over the other but they are kind of negligible just as fourthline players should be. Um, I think that Parker Ford I I I would expect to see him stay up. I don’t know that they call out Gus. I think that they let him play for a little while. Um, okay. And uh I’m not I’m not sure. Um, but they definitely I think will be sending down Brad Lambert and and Nikita Chipperov as like the first wave of of guys getting sent out would be my take. I agree. I agree. Um, next question. There’s a few people asking it here, so I I’ll bring up Victor’s comment, but there’s a few questions. What are your predictions? Wins, losses on this trip list. Here’s the schedule. LA, Tuesday, 9:30 p.m. CST. Man, that’s late. Uh, Friday, November 7th, San Jose Sharks, 9:00 p.m. Sunday, November 9th. Even on a Sunday, they’re playing at 9:00 p.m. That that really hurts. Uh, Tuesday the 11th, 9:00 p.m. against Vancouver. Thursday the 13th, Seattle 900 PM. And then Saturday the 15th, Calgary, who they’ve beaten twice already this season, uh, in Calgary, 900 PM. And then they get two days off and return home. Columbus, Carolina, but that’s not a part of the question. What do you think the wins, losses on this trip looks like? I’m going to go 4 and2. I think I I was I was flirting with 500. I was flirting with 500. No, not 600. Um, just because I think that like look, I I like a lot of these teams. Um, I I think that especially the first four, I think there’s a lot of really interesting parts of those teams, but I like this this follow-up question here of what’s acceptable. I think 500 I would accept it. It always depends on what the 500 is, right? If if they get pumped in three games and then they have like three overtime wins when they, you know, barely sneak into the game and it’s like a Mark Shley late comeback, like I’m not going to be happy with them and that performance. Um, but I think f like I I think in a short sample of of this many games, like I’m I’m okay with 500. Um, obviously 6 and0 is uh 6 and0 not bad to be I’d be okay with that. But um for four for and two I think is the what I’m circling in terms of a nice intersection on the feasible and acceptable um and what you should maybe strive for cuz I think that you know Anaheim has the capability of beating any team in this in in the league and same thing with San Jose with obviously like not in a seven game series but like on a oneoff like you never know with these these goofy teams. So, um, four and two, four and two, four and two. Okay, I’ll go like these are five non-playoff teams at least from from last year, right? With San Jose, Anaheim, Vancouver, Seattle, Calgary. LA is like LA struggled out of the gate debating five and one and it’s also no backtobacks which is also really back to back west coast road trip as well. Yeah. And you get like the adjustment of you play a game super late on Tuesday night. Maybe they lose that one because it’s 9:30 in their internal clocks, but then they get two days off on the West Coast to maybe adjust to the time zones a little bit more. I know the chat’s probably going to blow up because we’re talking about time zones. But um yeah, I’ll I’ll also I’ll say 41 and one. How about that? Instead of it instead of four four one and one. I think you know they’ll lose an overtime game in there somewhere. You’re expecting a Mlin Celibbrini 3 minutes in his own zone breakout go score. Yeah, I can see it too. Exactly. What do you think the Comry schedule is like on the road here list? Matt’s asking how many games will come play one or two. I think he plays two of these six games. Um LA is hella buck. San Jose I’d say is hella buck. Anaheim is comry I’d think. Uh, Vancouver, Seattle, Anaheim, Calgary, I think, as well. Yeah, we’ll see. We’ll see. Um, the Jets also have a chance if they wanted to. What a wacky like, talk about how condensed the schedule is this year. They have three twoame break. There four two-day breaks over this next stretch. Oh, December is going to be a blood bath, isn’t it? Well, then here, let me just quickly What is it? March. Sorry, this is like I’m I’m Yeah, this is March. So, look at this. Look at March. Oh my god. We’re We’re going to be They have one two-day break there, the 8th and 9th of March. But holy moly. International Women’s Day. There you go. Nice. 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 10th, 12th, 14th. Like, it’s every other day. A lot of them at home, too. Like, this is a six game home. Oh, dude. Oh my god. It was a eight game home stand. Excuse me. Not six. It’s insane. They’re going to be We’re going to be at Candle Life Center a ton. And I will say this, to have the eightgame home stand in March instead of January is a big win cuz last year we had it in January and it wasn’t fun. That was grueling for no reason, dude. It was like no reason. It was pitch black at 400 p.m. and 30 minus 30 every day. That’s why it was grueling. That’s why it was grueling. Um, but yeah, March is going to be crazy. Waiters is like it’s a baseball schedule. Absolutely. It’s it’s it’s wild. They play a ton in the month of uh of March there. So, we’ll we’ll be busy with the postgame reactions with the Sunday lives and all of those things. Um lots of Saturdays though, so that’ll be okay. Exactly. Exactly. Um yeah, let’s thank you everyone. I I see a question here from Kenny’s Water. Not even going to acknowledge it with the Rough Riders. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. Just not not even going to entertain that scenario. Not going to happen. We said that. Exactly. Exactly. Thank you everyone for asking. Tons of questions in the chat. One burning question. We really appreciate it. Um, and thank you for joining us this morning on WST Sunday Live. Like I said, make sure you hit the like button down below. Lets YouTube know we’re putting out some great content as of late. Hit the subscribe, the notification bell, um, and all of those great things. Helps support the channel and we really, really appreciate it. list before we wrap today’s show. Uh, any final thoughts on any nonWinnipeg Jets team or do we want to just leave the Jays and Bombers alone? Talk about the Jets. Focus on the Jets. It’s it’s Jets season now. We’re in November. They’re getting these players back. They’re they’re they’re a wagon. Um, it’s going to be it’s going to be a fun November. Talk about nonJets teams. Man, it’s Moose play today, guys. If you have nothing to do today, head on down to Cat Life Center. It’s their first home game in a while. They won their last two games. They are fourth in their division. The Manto Moose are back, baby. Let’s go. They play today. They play tomorrow. And they hit the road. Go Moose. Go. Love the Moose. Go Moose. Go. Yes. Yeah. The Moose play today at 2:00 and then tomorrow night at 7. So, two Moose games before they hit the road for two weeks. So, it’s going to be it’s going to be uh a lot of, you know, hockeyless days here in Winnipeg. Uh the next two weeks, like the Jets are gone, the Moose are gone. Uh, but then like I said, in March it’s going to be nuts. So, get ready. Start preparing now for March. That’s that’s what I’m saying. Um, but yeah, thank you everyone for joining us this morning. Uh, really really appreciate it. Uh, the Winnipeg Jets will now hit the road for a sixgame road trip um on the West Coast. So, very late games. Make sure the coffee is on and make sure you get your pregame naps in. Uh, and I’m expecting I think the Jets are expecting, as long as tomorrow’s practice goes well, Adam Lowry to potentially return Tuesday, maybe Friday, uh, early in this trip. So, very, very excited for that. Um, and I know Mike McIntyre has been on this program and he predicted that the day Lowry comes back, they’re going to announce an extension. We’ll see. We’ll see. Maybe tomorrow is the day. Yes. Because tomorrow’s is is a practice. Maybe he’ll skate in line rushes and that’ll be, you know, the day they’ll announce an extension. I don’t know. Would be would be pretty cool if Adam Lowry came back and he’s at pending UFA. We talk a lot about Kyle Connor um who got locked up for eight years. But Adam Larry also a pending UFA. We’ll see if they announce an extension at the same time he comes back. Uh we will see. But we’ll have you covered on the flagship show Husten Remo all week long, Monday through Friday at 1:00 right here on the Winnipeg Sports Talk channel. Schniti and I will also have the Bombers report if you want more Bombers coverage Monday morning at 9:00 a.m. Yeah, we’re going to talk about the game itself and the offseason ahead. A very critical offseason for the Bombers. Lots of questions um surrounding this team. So, we’ll be covering that it all. And then the postgame reactions. Uh waiters earlier said that Remis loves the the late games. He absolutely does. I’m sure it’s going to be me and him on the late games this week. Um starting Tuesday, LA 9:30. Um, enjoy the game everyone. Thanks for joining us on WST Sunday Live from Lis Hood. I’m Connor Rabchack. Enjoy the games this week. Get your pregame naps in and we’ll be back next Sunday with another edition of WST Sunday Live. Have a great Sunday everyone. Enjoy the football today if that’s your thing, the NFL. And we’ll be back next Sunday talking about the Winnipeg Jets. See you. [Music]

Connor Hrabchak and Lyss Houde host another edition of WST Sunday Live! They discuss the Winnipeg Jets’ 5-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins, the road trip ahead, Adam Lowry’s nearing return, and much more

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Follow Lyss Houde on Twitter: https://x.com/lysshoude

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