Kenny and Renny Post Game Show | Jets vs. Hurricanes Game 23

Kenny and Renny Post Game Show | Jets vs. Hurricanes Game 23

[Music] [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Hello everybody. I’m Sean Reynolds from Sportsnet about to be joined by Ken Weeb from the Winnipeg Free Press. Together we are Kenny and Renie and this is the Kenny and Renie postgame show after uh a game which I think is going to elicit a lot of flame and comfort hot takes. Uh this one here from Roy Mack who says, “We are officially snake bitten.” Um, snake bitten requires you to be a team that is in a game and is just not getting opport you know, sorry, there opportunities aren’t going in. And I don’t know, I I I know there that broadcast painted a picture of of a fairly even game. I didn’t see that. Uh, and hop in my uh Toyota, jump in for the Jim Patterson Toyota on region opening drive and I’ll tell you all about it. But uh not a rosy outlook. It’s hard for me and there are some things and we’ll get to them. I’m not going to get into them in the opening drive though. Uh I’m not going to get into the positives of this game. Uh because what I saw here is a team that for I don’t know. I don’t even know how to count how many times. Maybe I should be keeping track in a chart and go back and rewatch the game since the beginning of the year. Uh and try and find the games where the Winnipeg Jets don’t look like the slower team because this tonight I thought was obvious. Um, the fact that this was a 1-1 game, and I said this after the last Washington Capitals game, um, I didn’t think that score was indicative of that game. 4-3 victory, I thought was generous for the Winnipeg Jets. Uh, they were they I thought were fortuitous to be as close as they were in that game. Um, they were fortuitous to be tied up in this game 1-1 uh before things kind of went in the opposite direction. I’ve said it over and over again over the last couple of years. There’s this feeling of inevitability to the Winnipeg Jets in the way that they’re just things are going to turn out for the Jets because they just do the right things over and over and over again and tilt the scales and all those things. This game to me had a feeling of inevitability uh going in the direction that it did. And that’s what I saw in the third period was the damn breaking on a team that was dominating the other team and the score ends up being a true indication of what that game is. I didn’t think it was a true indication of what the game was heading into the third period. Um, Winnipeg Jets on this night, we’ll get into all the different things about the backup scoring which is just absolutely gone and not really outside of Elias Solomon. Uh, little teaser when we get into talking about the good things. Um, that’s that’s one of them. Elias Solomon and his play in his second NHL game. Um, outside of that opportunity and I know there’s a couple other things. Mark Shley with like just a sickening sickening pass uh coming out from behind the net. A small area play that was just outlandish. Mark Shley has been playing great hockey as well. Um but this is just a game in which the Carolina Hurricanes grab the puck. They don’t let the Jets play with the puck. Um and are there some things that I thought the Jets did well defending? Yes, I do think um as I’ve been talking about and as I’ve been saying with them throughout the year, the way that they defend in shutting down um the opposition and the shooting lanes heading to the net, I think the Jets still do a really good job of that. I think what keeps them in that game as long as they were kept in that game is the poise that they built up over last year. The poise that they showed while getting basically backed up against like this was Muhammad Ali standing in the corner and taking punch after punch after punch after punch after punch. Um, and then it didn’t end the way that it ended for Muhammad Ali. This was a rope a dope except it was both rope and dope for the Winnipeg Jets because on this night I just thought that they got caved in from the beginning of the game to the end. Yes, there were some opportunities the Winnipeg Jets had the majority of them including the goal that they score comes off of really bad like you want to talk about breakdowns like bad breakdowns or bad mistakes made by the Carolina Hurricanes. The Kyle Connor um breakaway is another one that is kind of inexcusable. So, they get a couple of great opportunities in this game, but they’re not built off the Jets grinding and pushing and wearing down an opponent and then finally opening something up, which is exactly what we saw from the Carolina Hurricanes in this game. A team that pushed and pushed and pushed and prodded and felt for weaknesses and kept pushing and then finally found those weaknesses, opened them up, and exploited them in moments of the game. The Jets best opportunities in this game came off the Carolina Hurricanes, stepping on a rake and then giving them the puck and allowing them uh to produce scoring chances and ultimately the one goal that they did here. But this to me at this stage of where the Winnipeg Jets are at, this is their fourth straight loss. This is their eighth loss in their last 11 games. If you are looking for signs of a team turning things around, I don’t know how you can look at this game and think that those signs are there. Yeah, you can’t to me go and say, well, okay, but they did this thing kind of good. And you can build on that. It is far too late in this slide right now to be taking moral victories from tiny little things that you do, right? Uh the effort level was not high enough there. Um, you know, if if you’re a team that’s the second fastest team on the ice, you can’t be out competed. And I thought they were out competed on this night as well. Um, so I walk away from this game and more and more you kind of hear, you know, I thought Dylan Dlo said it best a couple games back, the Winnipeg Jets are right where they deserve to be uh, in their record and that’s shown through since in their play. there’s they they they haven’t deserved any of the games they’ve had recently. Um I think that you know being one well I touched on at the beginning being 1-1 in this game as late as they were in this game um was not something they deserved. Uh the outcome in the end is what they deserve. The four-game losing streak right now is what the Winnipeg Jets deserve. This is a team that needs to at some point find a way to put its best foot forward. It is not doing that. Uh, and I would say this, the only major positive I can take a look at in this game is that the next game the Winnipeg Jets play will be against one of the worst teams in the league who’s actually going to have a worse back-to- back schedule because they’re in Chicago playing right now. So, we’ll get to Nashville later than the Winnipeg Jets because they have farther to travel. And yes, they get uh uh they they are in their home building, the Nashville Predators. But this is the best case scenario for the Winnipeg Jets that their next game lines up against a team that has struggled mightily this entire season and is going to be tired coming in a little bit later than the Jets. I’m not saying that that gives the Jets a massive exam, sorry, advantage. I’m saying that the disadvantage that is typically created by the Winnipeg Jets playing backtoback is erased in this game. So, call everything even and say the Winnipeg Jets get to play one of the most downtrodden teams in the league tomorrow in an attempt to try and stop a slide that I don’t think they’ve done nearly enough to get themselves out of. That’s my take on the whole thing. Time to bring in the man with the best music in the business. But I will do that, of course, after uh wrapping up the Jim Patterson Toyota on Regent opening drive. And hey, this November, it’s time to Toyota. Jim Patterson Toyota on Regent finance the 2025 Tacoma truck from 5.69% with up to a 1% loyalty rate reduction and a $1,750 accessory credit. But hurry, offer ends December 1st, which is right around the corner, folks. If you want to take advantage, get down the there before then and visit Jim Pass and Toyota Regent for a test drive today. Okay, enough out of me. Time to bring in the man with the best music in the business, folks. Here comes Kenny. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] So Ken, I don’t know if my opening if my tone matched as fiery as Scott O’Neal’s would have been game. Uh so uh it’s one of these ones where probably as as rough as that approach on the Toyota opening drive uh Jim Patterson Toyota on region opening drive seem to be uh it may have been actually a rosier outlook uh than uh what’s happening and uh in my opinion the Winnipeg Jets need the Riot Act uh read to them um after a game like that after where they’re at after the lack of sense of urgency that I’m seeing from a team that is just sinking lower and lower and lower. Hey, I know the Winnipeg Jets, sorry, the Edmonton Oilers have pulled themselves out of a tail spin, a deep tail spin the last couple of years. Uh, I don’t know that that’s the kind of thing the Winnipeg Jets should be emulating. Um, but I don’t know about you, Ken, I’m not seeing signs of a team that’s right about to pull itself out of the doldrums here. What did you take away from that game? Yeah. No. Uh yeah, I I think that right now the Jets are in a serious funk and you know kind of would be grasping a little bit at straws to to you know think in a game where they were out attempted 74 to 40 uh that it was some massive show of progress. Now, as you mentioned, there there are parts of their game that they would like a little better, but you know, much like we talked about in the last show, the this whole thought or idea of uncharacteristic errors. There are two characteristic errors again today. The characteristics being that the Jets, not only are they not suffocating and bringing out the bowl constrictor, their miscues in the defensive zone in terms of coverage lapses are so wide that you’re leaving you can’t be leaving top line players wide open in the slot. And I’m talking about Seth Jarvis who um you know is is quite enjoy is quite disappointed he won’t get to see the Jets again this year uh in the regular season. and Sean. That’s four goals for Seth Jarvis. And on three of them, he was uncovered essentially, right? The short-handed goal, there is no trailer picking him up. And on two of the slot plays today, he is roaming in a in a in a place where there’s nobody covering him. And sure, hey, Sebastian, great pass on the first one, but like I can’t be open. Like, I cannot be that wide open. And again, I give Seth Jarvis all the credit in the world. He’s playing exceptionally well. Uh, you know, Seth Jarvis knows where it’s at. He was on the intermission. I mean, he’s talking about his focus being on the Hurricanes. Absolutely. You can see it. But Sean, we’ve talked so often about Josh Morrisy when he goes up against potential Norris Trophy candidates. He gets up for those games. Uh, I know he wasn’t asked about it, and I’m sure he’d keep it to himself if it were the case, but Seth Jarvis knows the score. He knows that one of the guys trying to take his Canadian Olympic team job is Mark Schiffley. And while Mark Shiffley had a strong game in a lot of regards for the Winnipeg Jets, he wasn’t the best player on his Well, he might have been the best player on the Jets, sorry, but he wasn’t the best player in the game. The best player in the game was Seth Jarvis. Uh, and not just because he had the hat-tick. Seth is here, he’s there, he’s everywhere. He’s omnipresent, right? So, uh, any anyways, it’s it’s an interesting place where the Jets find themselves. And again, Scottdale was very composed in the message he delivered in the post game with, you know, speaking with Mike McIntyre, uh, my colleague from the free press. Uh, but he left no, you know, he there was no gray area. He felt his team was not ready to go. uh he felt there were some veterans who did not show up for the game on time and that was seen by some of the moves that he made whether it was line changes or defense pairing changes which we’ll dig into quite a bit more because it’s something to discuss and uh it’s one thing that you know may have an impact on where the team is going from here. So, I like the fact that Scott, again, Scotter Nil doesn’t do it by name. He’s very careful with that. But, uh, you don’t have to read the between the lines too far to know that he was not happy with the play of a lot of players. And, uh, he can’t be happy because there’s too many, and this, Sean, this is something we have not said, um, very often at all in the last four seasons. There are very few nights when there have been as many passengers on the Winnipeg Jets team in a game. And today was a um you know it was a frequent p frequent flyer miles special. Uh and not in the good way for the Winnipeg Jets. Way too many guys not ready to go. Way too many guys not making an impact at all in the game. And Sean, I mean, how many times did we hear Scott O’Neal and players discussing the whole wounded animal concept? Early in the the Jets played the Calgary Flames three times, Sean, at the start of the year, we heard all about how they were this wounded animal that was going to be showing all kinds of desperation. Where is the Jets desperation, Sean? Right. That’s my that’s my big question right now with this group. It’s it’s wild to me. And again, and I’m not saying they’re not trying, but they’re not playing with the tenacity or will that is required to not leave the game to chance. Sean, you you nailed it. I mean, the Jets were fortunate to be tied 1-1 in the game. And then they even more so, they had opportunities to take the lead. Elias Solommonson clanging it off the right between where the crossbar and post meet. Kyle Connor short-handed breakaway uh where he deed the lights out of Brandon but Busy still what did Busy do? Still kicked out the leg or Kyle didn’t raise it. Whatever way you want to put it Kyle burries that. I mean I with the respect that I have for Kyle’s finishing ability. It’s in the 90 percentile. That’s 95 97 out of 100 he scores that goal. It’s a great save. No doubt. But that is a desperation save by a goalie who is in a three-man rotation and trying to get more starts. Uh to me, I just have not seen enough desperation from the Jets hockey team right now. They’re top line again, uh doing almost all of the scoring, generating the majority of the chances. And right now, there’s just too many guys that are not playing anywhere close to the level they need to be at. You can’t have nine guys going to a slump at one time. Sean, I’m sorry. This is it’s not acceptable. Um there are a lot of experienced players on this team that know what it takes and need to push push through, battle through, whatever you want to say. Um anyways, I someone mentioned Cole Keepy. I I think not having Cole Kepky in a game that is played at that speed, um I think Cole Kepky could have helped in a game that it was played at high speed like that. I mean, I we’ve talked about Gus Gustaf Nyquist, he’s struggling right now, fighting the puck. Um, you know, Tanner Pearson not getting a ton going again. And Tanner Pearson was brought in to be the 12th or 13th forward. I’m not laying any of this at his feet. Uh, but I was a bit surprised that Keepy didn’t play instead of Pearson. Now, again, coach’s decisions and all those things, they have reasons for putting those guys uh together. But right now, they’re not. For me, right now, Sean, this is simple. play your fastest lineup. And again, I’m not out here saying, “Bring up Brad Lambert. He deserves to play.” But if the players who are playing ahead of Brad Lambert and some of the other guys don’t start performing soon, you’re going to have to think about adding a little bit more speed, whether that’s in a trade or a recall or something because right now the mix is off, Sean. Uh and that’s a problem for a team that has championship aspirations and is currently uh in a bit of a you know bit of a tail spin right now below the below the not only below the playoff line 26 in the NHL in points. I mean that’s that’s a problem for a team that uh you know hasn’t had to lose Stanley Cup aspirations. Yes, that’s what I said. I mean this is the first month they’re going to be sub 500 in quite some time. Uh but man, it it’s uh it’s very strange to watch. And I know Sean, you’re a big body language guy. Uh right now there’s not a lot of confidence being shown. No. When you when you see, you know, you know the TV side, they pan the bench. I don’t see a lot of a lot of confidence from a lot of player for many players. Sean, Thomas Milich might have been the most confident player in the game today. and Milich was making his first NHL start and hot on his heels, Elias Solomon, right? Uh so again, and that that’s again Mark Shley, Kyle Connor, Gabe Bardi probably feeling more confidence than all of them, but uh you know, in terms of exuding confidence, I thought Militra did his job and again we’ll dig in more to that into that. But uh you know, like I said, you can’t have nine guys not going at the same time. And that that that’s just a problem. I mean, and Sean, this is not just nine guys. We were applauding the I mean, last year we talked all year long about the depth of the Jets forward group. Um, it just hasn’t been there in terms of secondary scoring. I think there are plenty of players in that group that can still perform and produce, but right into now, they’re not at the level they need to be at. And you know if they don’t get to that level quickly um you know Connor Hellbuck cavalry is still 3 to 5 weeks away. So a lot you can bury your team in four three to five weeks is what I’m saying. So I would have to expect that given the veteran nature of the group there’s got to be urgency as early as Saturday night. um again because the Jets can’t afford to let this losing streak stretch much longer or they’re going to be in a bigger hole. That was an epic uh trip to the buffet right there. No doubt. Um I’ll say this right off the bat. Jet not looking very good tonight. I should touch on you and I we could do better than what we’re doing. Ken Ken’s got the car behind him to dress him up. All I’ve got are these dingy uh hotel uh drapes here. So, both Ken and I need to do better than we’re doing right now. Uh, head on down to Victoria Rossi, go talk to Frankie and the boys. Uh, and that could turn things around for us. I can guarantee you that. You can do the same thing. Turn things around by heading on down to Victoria Rossi on Cordon Avenue. Walk in loudly proclaimed Kenny and Randy Sa. Ask for Frankie and the boys and they will do you up right. Um, I wanted to get right into uh Flaming. There’s a couple doozies. There’s a couple doozies in there. Um, like right here. I don’t know what game uh Vern Fectal was watching here, but it says the Jets were aggressive, more intensity to the game. The boys showed they wanted this game. I just want to read off this stat line here. You know, chances for uh or sorry, uh uh scoring chances four in the first period, 96 for the Hurricanes, 5-2 in the second, 95 in the third. high danger chances for uh six to four for the Hurricanes in the first period, one- nothing in the second, 2-1 in the third. There is not an area of this stat sheet, if you go look at the uh line graph of the game, it never once dips in the Winnipeg Jets direction. not once this entire game. Now, I’m not the biggest I’m not the biggest uh fancy stats guy, but to suggest that the Winnipeg Jets were aggressive, more intensity to their game in a game where they were more than doubled up on the shots and what was the final shot count in the game, Ken? Well, Ed’s shot attempts were 7440. The shots on goal are 3513. So, almost tripling. Almost tripling. So, so let’s just put this into perspective for a second because the Montreal Canadians during a game last year when they were a team that was struggling trying to make the playoffs put up 12 in one of the games that they were at, it was a riot act moment for for their head coach and that team. Like unacceptable. Unacceptable. And so on a night like tonight, you’re trying to break out of a slump and you show up with 13 shots and you allow that many shots against in this situation. There was no questioning. There’s there is no way no way you can look at this game and say, “Yeah, but the Winnipeg Jets should have or could have or did like this is as sure.” If you’re not awake to the idea that the Winnipeg Jets aren’t doing enough to win hockey games right now and this game doesn’t wake you up, I I don’t know what there is to say in this situation. So, for me, that is no doubt no doubt the Flame and Comfort hot takeake of the game brought to you by Flame and Comfort. Manitoba’s premier supplier of fireplaces, wood stoves, inserts, and everything hearth related. After 50 years heating up your world, Flame and Comfort has moved to 1465 St. James Street. And you will find when you get down there, just like Mrs. Randy did, it is one of the most impressive showrooms in Western Canada. You don’t need your hot takes to keep that warm feeling inside, folks. You can visit Flam and Comfort. They will take care of it for you. I also wanted to bring up another comment here from T- Will. And God, Ken, it is just grinding on me lately that I keep agreeing with T- Will. Uh, but he says Arie needs to reccalibrate his expectations like the rest of us. This isn’t last year’s team. It just isn’t. And I had this written down and circled in my notes, Ken. The idea, and I wanted to introduce the subject. Yeah, I think we’ve gone on long enough. I’ve seen we I think we’ve seen enough games that look the same. Like there’s consistency here. Everyone is at the stage. I know that it happened last time because I talked about it last show. Gary Galley came in and talked about this game. Harn Ryan saying guys who saw the Jets a lot last year and came in and they were like, “Oh, the Jets are aren’t quite off right now. This isn’t the Jets. The Jet This isn’t an example of the Jets game.” And we’ve kept talking about it because Ken, we’ve been trying to talk about a Winnipeg Jets team that said and believed it was going to get back to looking and playing like it did last year. Um, I go back to this comment. I’ll put it back up on the screen here. T will saying Arie needs to reccalibrate his expectations. It’s a great line because I wrote on the paper here and circled it many times. This is the Jets. Like what we’re seeing right now, this is the Winnipeg Jets. And I’m going to go back to the idea of what I said. This is a long time ago now. This is the beginning of November. The Winnipeg Jets are a team that is good enough to beat the lower echelon teams, not good enough to beat the upper echelon teams that are above the playoff line. Since I first made that statement, they’ve won every game they’ve played against a team below the playoff line and they’ve lost every game against a team above the playoff line. So, what do I expect, Ken? I expect tomorrow that they’re going to go out and they’re going to beat the the Nashville Predators. And then there’s going to be a bunch of people out there who will say, “Okay, here we go. Now they’re returning to their form and this and that and I don’t know what’s going to happen with the Buffalo Sabres because the Buffalo Sabres are a team that could be like world beaters on one night and then absolutely out to lunch on the next night. So you never know what’s going to happen there. But you know the way the Montreal Canadiens are absolutely wallpapered with injuries right now. I I would not be surprised, Ken, to see the Winnipeg Jets win their next three games. But what I’m going to be looking for in those next three games is was this the Winnipeg Jets just getting over the bar because the the degree of difficulty dropped the because that’s what I’m seeing right now. I’m seeing consistently night in and night out on the nights where the Winnipeg Jets need to elevate their game to hang with a team. I never see an elevation. Now we see it out of some parts of the game. Mark Shiffley, I think, and you touched on it the first line, I thought in that game against the Washington Capitals, almost single-handedly dragged the Winnipeg Jets back into that game and put them almost into a position to earn a point in overtime. So, there’s some of that happening, but there is far too little of this team that is able to go out and say, “We need it tonight. We got to get going.” And to me, that’s consistent. Like right now, I think we need to take and crumple up crumple up the blueprint of the 202425 Winnipeg Jets and throw it in the garbage because I do not think that that is achievable. I do not think the Winnipeg Jets can be that team because they’ve shown in my mind not an iota that they can do that as a whole team. Can the you know Mark Shley in that top line still be great? Yes. Can Connor Hellbick still be a top goalender in the NHL? Yes. Is Josh Morrisy still one of the best defenseman in in the NHL? He’s taken his game higher this year, if anything. But the one thing we need to look at is as a team, the Winnipeg Jets are nowhere near what they were last year in how they play, in their results, in their work ethic, in any of those things. And we have not seen near a flash of it. in the times that that there’s been talk about it to me, Ken, hey, if you’re a head coach or if you’re a player, you have to say these kind of things. You have to build, right? You don’t have the luxury of saying the things that we’re saying where we may just be pointing out I and I’m pointing it out and I said it a long time ago, Ken, I don’t think this team can be what it was last year, right? That take is aging like a fine wine because the Winnipeg Jets have only shown a flash here or a flash there. But a flash means that Mark Shaley’s line went out and got it done for a second and then things fell back to the mean now, which is pretty low compared to where it was last year. Enough with the Flash is enough with this. And I don’t even need to see a complete full 60 game. But I need to see some games where the Jets play good teams and don’t just get owned in those games. They got owned tonight. I thought they got owned against the Washington Capitals. We’ve seen them. They got owned against the uh um uh the Anaheim Ducks. Um it’s just it’s time after time when the big challenge is put in front of them. The the Winnipeg Jets are withering, Ken. Yeah, I mean there it’s a struggle for sure. Uh and again, as mentioned, I wasn’t ready to be as as quick to the to the draw as you are. No doubt. Um again, this this team and is having an identity crisis, Sean. I mean, there’s no doubt. Um they’re not a defensive juggernaut and now all of a sudden they can’t score. So, here’s the problem. The Jets used to be able to outscore their mistakes. Now they can’t even outscore the mistakes they’re making. Okay, sorry. Perfect timeliness. Uh TM Hockey says, “This feels like a K&R repeat from the 21-22 season.” Ken just nailed why it’s not because that team back then, exactly as Ken just said, could outscore its mistakes. This team is the opposite. This team cannot score to outscore its mistakes. They weren’t as loose as that 21-22 team. I still think they play with with a structure that is helpful for them, but they do not have the depth of scoring to be the 2122 team that we would rightly lamb based at times because they just weren’t putting in the effort required to be, you know, a top team in in those days. Not for T-Maki, but this is a full-on pristine roofing and siding wakeup call for the Jets inability to score and defend right now. Um, you know, other than that, things are going great. Yeah. There you go. Uh time to give North End Rick to pristine roofing. Wake up call at 2049816289. He’s the one you want down at your place for all your roofing, siding, and exterior needs. You can also call pristine roofing directly at 2042377663. Give your home the pristine roofing and siding wakeup call. Uh especially if you desperately need it like a lot, you know, some parts of the Winnipeg Jets definitely need right now. You will be happy that you did give it the pristine roofing wakeup call. Continue on, Ken. Sorry. No, it’s okay. just the and again it’s not an easy solve. It’s an easy solve in some regards, but um I mean, and I know it it kind of annoyed Scott O’Neal earlier on when he was asked about it, and I know you’ve been hitting it pretty hard, and I keep saying that, you know, I understand they’re not as fast a team, but they have the ability to play faster, but they’re not coming close to playing fast enough, right? Right. And then that’s the whole point about today with 13 shots and uh 27 shot attempts. Every time outside of the breakaways and a couple great a chances, every time the Jets thought that they had an opportunity, there was a tenacious Hurricanes player lifting their stick right behind them. So, and again, that’s what the Jets used to do to others. They’ve been getting jets by any number of teams. Minnesota Wild, Carolina Hurricanes, Washington Capitals. I mean, Anaheim Ducks, you go down the list. This is what’s happening to them. And hey, we get it. Things can change in a hurry. The Minnesota Wild are a great example. They were 35 and two before they lost to the Jets in overtime in St. Paul last month. Well, right now, the Minnesota Wild just beat one of the best team beat the best team in the NHL in a shootout today. So, um, not a lot of teams have been beat them at all, let alone only one regulation loss for the Avalanche right now. And here’s the thing, Sean, 23 games into this season. The Jets have not seen the Avalanche yet. And that is the gold standard of anybody. They they’re done with the Hurricanes, who are one of the best teams, if not the best team in the Eastern Conference. The Tampa Bay Lightning have a case to be made on that front as well, given how well they’ve been playing since their own horrendous start, Sean, when they were in last place in their division. Now they’re red-hot. And folks in the chat room, Tampa’s playing without some pretty big key players in their lineup also. So, oh yeah, they’re not using they’re in the no excuses, just solutions category that the Jets want to get back to, but are struggling to get to at this moment. Um, Ken, we’ve been hitting this pretty hard, so let’s uh pop into some things where we can we can uh maybe wax poetic a little bit more. Your thoughts on Elias Solomon’s second game in the NHL? Uh, yeah, I mean, mostly good. I mean, I see a lot of composure for a young player uh in the in the game here. I love the fact that the Jets went again, this is not a this is not a Barry Horowitz situation, but I think that Josh Morrisy’s future partner is going to be Elias Solommonson. I’ve believed that for probably three years already. Uh, I’m not sure he’s ready for that responsibility right now given the minutes that are that are required out of that position, but I think given the state of affairs, it’s worth trying a little bit longer. Uh, and that’s also twofold. I also think that Dylan Dlo can flourish with Dylan Samberg, even though it was a tough game for Dlo today. And Samberg to a degree wasn’t nearly as good as we’re used to seeing. So, I mean, basically, I mean, what I heard from Scott O’Rene when he talked about moving the pairings was that he put two guys together that weren’t having a good game. And and that’s not an optimum way to go if you are a head coach. This reminds me of a couple years ago when the Jets were in LA and and Paul Maurice broke up Jacob Trouba and Josh Morrisy for one of the only times that year. And when I asked him about it, he didn’t really give you the whole story, but you know, it was kind of a read between the lines situation. And you know, again, I like a lot of what I’m seeing from Solomon. Incredible scoring chance. His ability to stay calm under pressure is evident, but as Scott Neil also pointed out, both the Capitals and Hurricanes are incredibly fast teams. They’re going to force the most experienced players and some of the best players in the league into making mistakes. So, let’s not just pretend that Elias Solommonson is out there domination station situations here, Sean. He’s been very good in a lot of areas. But, I mean, again, the fancy stats do not paint a rosy picture for Solomon despite some of the things that we saw in the way that we liked. scoring chances four when he was on the ice, 64, 12 against, and the high dangers were seven to one when he was on the ice. And I assume the one is his own scoring chance. So again, that’s that’s not a that’s not a circumstance you can run on your top pairing uh over a 20 or 40 or 60 game stretch either. So, I want to see more. And I’ve said this before and for those who didn’t see the postgame, Neil Pian not an option for Saturday. Scott Neil already ruled him out when Mike McIntyre, my colleague, asked him about him. So, I would be in favor of seeing Solommonson start to Saturday’s game against the Predators with Morrisy, but it doesn’t mean he gets a 30-game window runway, but I want to see more of it. And I also want to see Solommonson stay in the lineup when Neil Pian is ready, whether that’s Monday uh or Wednesday. Monday against Buffalo or Wednesday when you’re there in Montreal. But I want to see him longer, right? That’s the thing. I want to see more of Solommonson. I want him to have the opportunity to acclimatize fully into the NHL because he’s been dropped into a very difficult situation and he’s been pretty good. But there’s also mistakes that are happening and that are naturally going to be happening. But I’ve seen enough of the potential that I want to see more. Um, just want to make it a quick point because I saw someone bring up Eers tonight. Just another example for me of a team last year that was able to score its way back into games late and dominate the the the the carry of play. Watch for it. I’m telling you this when the Jets are trailing in games and trying to get back in. See how often the Jets have the puck in the opposition zone but are battling for it along the boards rather than doing what they did last year where they had the puck their backs to the boards. Uh the defenders backed into the middle of the ice and we’re just moving the puck around at will like it was a power play. That does not happen nearly as often as it happened last year. Tough to get that without dealers getting you in, backing everybody off. So that’s something that’s missing from this team. You touched quickly on Samberg. Samberg, I think, is looking a little bit right now like a guy who’s locked in knows how important defensively he is to this team. And this is what happens. This is what happens when everything starts to get a little bit loose. You know, the bolts get a little bit loose all over the car and parts start to fall off. is Dylan Samberg right now looks to me like a guy who knows he is a huge important part to being the suffocating defensive blanket for the Winnipeg Jets and he strikes me as a guy now who’s trying to do that and sometimes one of those things and it’s what Jonathan Ta said um that I said in that story before sometimes the harder you push the worse it gets right and Dylan Samberg right now strikes me as a guy who’s doing a little bit too much and it’s taking him a little bit out of his defensive structure and opening things up to get to Elias Solommonson. Ken, I think you absolutely nailed one of the reasons the Winnipeg Jets for the last number of years and I get it right now. It’s not going to be a good time to bring up the this is why Jets go with veterans because right now the Jets went heavy heavy heavy on veterans and it’s one of the things that we talk about every day on this podcast after games because it’s probably one of the things that have made them so that they’re not as fast of a team as they’ve been in years past. But last year if you were wondering why they weren’t bringing in young players and why they weren’t bringing in the Billy Han and things like that, what Ken is talking about is is absolutely nails it. You take a look at the underlying numbers for Lias Solomon and they’re not great. But eye test I think he looks really good. And sometimes I think that when there’s a differentiation between the eye test and what the numbers bear out is that you’re seeing a lot of things from that player that you’re like aha that’s going to work out good. That there is something that he does at the NHL level that means this guy’s going to be a great player. So Solommonson looks great on the eye test right now, but it’s not necessarily that exactly what the Jets need right now to pull themselves out of this little bit of a tail spin. So what happens is if you were to look at the Winnipeg Jets through a different filter and everyone in Winnipeg and the Jets themselves, the players, the coaches, the organization, they’re looking at the players as like we’re trying to win a Stanley Cup this year. other teams that would be where the Jets are right now, 26th in the NHL in scoring would be approaching things differently and saying, “Okay, this isn’t our year, but we’re gonna start working towards next year.” And then you’d bring in a guy like Elias Solomon and you would live with those underlying numbers, right? Because it’s not about this year, it’s about what Elias Solomon gets to next year. And so, it’s okay to bring him in. And yeah, if it ends up costing you some games or the underlying numbers end up biting you in the butt, so what? That we’re not there yet, but we want to get there next year and we’re building to the year after. Now, you can’t look that way if you’re the Winnipeg Jets because you’ve got the oldest team in the NHL. The time is now. Um, but if you’re wondering why the decisions have been made in the past or why maybe Elias Solomon didn’t make the team out of camp this year, it’s because what Elias Solomon is going to do for the next little while is show you every reason why he’s going to be a great defenseman in the NHL for a long time and he’s going to showcase his skills and he’s going to give you all those little kind of things that are like, “Yep, that’s going to make him great. That’s going to make him great. That’s going to make him great.” And in the meantime, things are going to go in the back of the net with the player out there because that’s just the way it goes with young players. And I thought Ken was was very very smart and rightly brought up the idea that what we see looks great and you should be you should be excited. I’m telling you folks, you should be excited about Elias Solommonson right now and what he’s doing. You should also understand that part of that excitement is a player that wi, you know, uh uh uh has the positives and has the negatives that are showing up in his game. And those negatives right now aren’t necessarily helping the Winnipeg Jets who are in a tail spin right now. For sure. Sure. And just quickly, and again, I’m trying to get ahead of this because folks will be in the say something nice about Billy Han in the chat room if they’re not there already and saying that if he got this runway, then blah blah blah. It would be different. Elias Solomon is already a better defender in two games in the NHL than Han had been at however many games that he played. So that’s unfortunate for Hanala. And the thing about Solommonson is that he also gives you offensive upside. I’m not saying he has the same ability as Hanel to run a power play, but he can get up the ice because of his skating ability. And he also brings a more physical element. And again, we talked about this for years, and I’m not trying to re go over I don’t need to go over it again, but the Jets have too many guys that are of the size and style of Hanaha. They don’t have as many Elias Solomons, which is part of the reason his runway is going to be longer. And again, deserved or undeserved, you can say whatever you want. These are the facts and this is the reality. Solommonson can do things that Han can’t. And Han can do some things that Solomon will need to work on there. There’s no doubt about that. But Solommonson will be given a longer runway. And he should be given a longer runway. And if Han wants to get a shot with either the Jets or somebody else, blowtorrch the AHL. That’s your next job for Billy Han. And again, that’s up to him. Yeah. Um, you’re a thousand% right when it comes to Solomon. Uh, exciting to see what he’s doing right now. Exciting to know that there is tons of room for growth for a young man like that. And you folks at home, you can shoot for growth with Cambrian Wealth. Grow your wealth today to reach tomorrow’s big goals. Cambrian’s wealth team can assist in that venture. Invest in your future self your way. Our pals at Cambrian Wealth give straight up investing advice you can actually understand and help you make a strong financial play to get there. Book an appointment at camrian.mb.ca. Can uh can you give sweet Lou a shout out? Yes, I can. For folks who have realy needs that are required, contact our main man, Lou Furlin at Royal Laage Dynamic Realy 204791-9971 or at the office 2049895000. His email is louferland.ca. That’s loll.ca. Lou Ferland, excellent realtor, excellent human being, and excellent supporter of the community, including this podcast. Okay. Uh, we got to talk about Thomas Militch and his sir, which I thought had been brilliant. I know things kind of blow blew up and then that very last goal of the game is not one he’s going to be overly happy about, but no. When I said I didn’t believe the Winnipeg Jets through the second period were or that deserved to be in a 1-1 tie, I think the reason they got there was heavily heavily leaning on the play of Militch. I liked almost everything about Militch’s game. Yeah, I mean long clapper, no not a great goal to allow, but uh that’s window dressing play. And in a lot of ways, Sean, it is for every, you know, and I even got some of these notes during the game, you know, make Militch the backup for next year or whatever else. I mean, small sample size, but I liked a lot of what I saw. Again, two different positions completely, Sean, but two of the same qualities in the players that we just talked about with Elias Solommonson. Confident and composed in the net. That’s what I saw from Thomas Militch. I didn’t see a guy that was shell shocked. I didn’t see a guy with happy feet. I didn’t see a guy who was about to be overwhelmed by the moment. And you know, whether that’s playing in a Western Hockey League final, a Memorial Cup, semifinal, a World Junior Gold Medal game, all of these experiences have allowed Thomas Militch to be prepared for that moment, Sean. But now comes I mean, it’s incredibly hard to get there. And when you’re in a position like Thomas Militch, it’s incredibly hard to stay there, right? But the groundwork has been laid by his hard work, his mental fortitude, his confidence in his own abilities. He’s had people telling him that he can’t forever. Um, you know, I love the fact that the Jets drafted this guy in his plus two draft year as a 20-year-old. you know, rather than roll the dice and try to sign him as a free agent if he doesn’t get picked, they saw enough in him that they used a draft pick on him and he used a fifth round draft pick on him. So, to me, I see Thomas Militch as someone who today not only showed that he wasn’t going to be scared of the bright lights. He showed me, Sean, that he should get more work. And I’m not just talking about backtoback work. I’m not saying it’s a rotation from here on in with with Eric Comry. I am saying that you’re not only going to see him on backtobacks, and that’s deserved for him, but this is what we talk about all the time. That’s good. Create some competition. There’s not really a true full-on competition when there is Connor Hobbuk and anybody else as the backup. We’ve seen that. I think Eric Comry, you know, played better than some of the numbers suggested in his four starts. But he also needs to play better for the Winnipeg Jets to do more than just tread water. He knows that. You know it. I know it. Scott Neil knows it. Wade Flareity knows it. But the good news for the Jets is that they didn’t come into the game and get blown out 91. And they didn’t have to make Militch eat it because they knew they had a game the next night and didn’t want to go back-to back starts with either one of their players. So, uh, again, I’m not trying to suggest this is a low bar. I saw a lot of good things from Thomas Militch. So much to the point that I, you know, whether it’s against Montreal or Buffalo, I think you can consider going with him again in one of those games. Again, I’m not saying go out and ride him. I am saying you could play him at least one more start in the next three games and not just have to wait until the weekend when it’s a backto-back with Buffalo at home for the Jets on Friday or in Edmonton. Uh, and again, Sean, I think we said it before. I mean, before we were saying, “Oh, well, you can’t throw Militch to the Oilers.” I would be a much less concerned about playing Thomas Militch against the Oilers if I were Wade Flity or Scott O’Neal after what I saw today. Don’t you agree? Yeah, I agree. I agree. Um, just coming to this game because I’d said it uh before this. Um, hey, just to to to say Mil, I thought he looked really really good being around these two young players. Uh, I was kind of behind the scenes. they had in the uh uh in the visiting hallway for the Washington Capitals game. So, you’re you end up being right there when the players are doing their kind of pump each other up before they head out onto the ice. And the one thing that kind of stood out to me is like, you know, not that the Jets aren’t aren’t good to those players and they’re not inclusive of the Elias Solomons and the the Militas, but you can see in those guys posture in their behavior that they’re young guys who are like out there with a team that they’re not used to. and it’s bright lights and it’s intimidating and all those kind of things. So, I wondered how Milich would respond. I couldn’t imagine um you know a much more confident debut. Uh the way that he was just you know he took his opportunities and even the the penalty he ends up taking is him being proactive to try and calm things down. Like he in that moment is like I’m going to do whatever I can to, you know, slow things down and get us in a good situation here. Now he ends up taking a penalty. I’ll learn from that one. But this is a goalender who went out and looked every bit like trying to be the solution. And that’s one of the things I was thinking about with Connor Hella gone, Ken, is in this situation where they’ve lost the amount of games that they’ve lost in a row. um doesn’t happen all the time, but you have to think what happened quite often with Connor Hellbick is he just had one of those games in the middle of times like these where the Winnipeg Jets got absolutely dummy by the other team and yet they won because Connor Halib just went off and just was not going to allow the puck into the net. at right now is what you kind of need to be looking for from Comry going forward because Comry’s had he’s had games where he’s played like that. I think it’s going to be harder for him to play like that. Okay, it’s easy to be easier to be the guy who walks into an NHL game after sitting for a while and being like, “The team needs one. I’ve been sitting for a while. I’m giving it everything I have.” It’s harder to be that guy who’s just played two games and maybe lost those games and then snapped to attention in that next game and steal a game for your team. Connor Halabuk has done that time and time and time again. I used to refer to them as not Jets wins, but Connor Hellbuck wins, right? And it was quite often when the Jets weren’t playing well that I’d say, well, the Jets aren’t playing well. And the examples I’d use is like they didn’t win this game. They they snuck past that team. Blah blah blah. this win. Well, that was a Connor Halibuck win, right? Like the Jets didn’t deserve to win a game, but Connor Hobbuk would steal it. What a important and valuable tool that is to have. Militch, I thought went out and in his first game just didn’t just go out there to tread water and survive. Ken, I think he tried to have a Connor Hobuk win out there for the Winnipeg Jets tonight. Clearly, it turned in the other direction, but I think it says a lot about a goalender that they walk in with that kind of mindset, that kind of attitude, and that kind of performance in their first ever NHL game uh in response to trying to do that. Uh Ken, I uh wanted to say this. Um Oh, sorry. Where I’ve got I’ve got saved here somewhere. Give me one second, folks. Trying to find Yeah, you know, maybe I didn’t start it, but uh it was called for the headband. Um, and uh, someone had said maybe we wouldn’t be in this jam if it if we had the headband. So, let’s do it. Let’s see if the headband can get us out of a jam on this one and we turn this into a Sean’s headband version of the Kenny and Renie Show. Let’s do it. [Music] again, making Glenn and Jonah wait for work for it. Uh like the Winnipeg Jets need to start working for it. And I’m telling you right now, you head down to Myers Drugs, they’ll work for it. They’ll work for that business of yours. And uh they do a great great job of it, of course. and you know they could they deliver anywhere around the city. Uh and if you go down and pop into the store, they’ll have everything taken care of in house there as well. So if you have any pharmaceutical needs, uh any kind of health food needs or supplemental needs, you know where to go. Head on down to Meyers Drugs, make sure you tell them Kenny and Renie sent you. Ken, we just have to touch on because we didn’t a lot, but got to touch on Mark Schiffley’s play. Um and just what he’s been doing down this stretch here. I mean, I’m seeing a guy who’s trying to make sure that he takes care of his side of business here. I know that you touched on in a guy like Seth Jarvis. Yeah. You know, who a lot of people thought maybe one of the guys who gets spit out the bottom of Team Canada. I always talked about the head-to-heads and we talked about Josh Morrisy and how important it’s been. He went headto-head with Zack Winsky and outdid him. Went head-to-head with Quinn Hughes and outdid him. This is two nights that Seth Jarvis uh outdoes um Mark Schiffley. uh in a head-to-head kind of scenario. But that said, I thought Mark Shley that pass that he makes from behind the net, like the way that he lures the defenseman in to to bite to try and knock it off his stick and the way that he just moves the puck under his stick and does the button hook pass to the far post. Um that was absolutely crazy. There’s another time off the rush that he dees a guy to the inside. He right now is so elusive with the puck and on the rush. Like the one thing I’m starting to look at him right now, Ken, is when he’s got a guy between him and the net and the timing is suggesting he needs to make a move to get by the guy. He just does it. And I’m trying to think of the last time I saw a player that was in a bit of a heater like he is where it’s like, I need to make a move and get past this guy. I’m just going to do it. It’s insane where he’s at right now. And he’s not doing it in a Conor McDavid type way where you just blow past the guy with speed. He’s just so far ahead of guys and so good at baiting guys into like he’s doing the 3D chess thing, but I talked about it in the past. Really good defenseman. The Quinn Hughes, the Josh Moresys, they do the playing chess and they move everyone out around on the ice and they open things up. That that’s hard to do. But it’s almost equally hard to go one-on-one with an NHL defenseman and move them where you want them to go and then pull a move on them. Right now, Mark Shley is at another level with it. Um, one goal on this, he’s starting to look like money when he gets these breakaways. Um, there’s a lot Mark Shley is doing right right now and I thought tonight was another good example. Yeah, no doubt. And again, we didn’t really lean in on this the other day. I I think that Mark is dealing with something. I mean, the timing is very similar to last year. And again, I’m not trying to make, you know, excuses for him, but just there have been some signs that there might be some, you know, I don’t know if it’s wrist or arm or whatever else that he’s working through, but yeah, I mean, the the vision is on display. There’s been some great effort. They were one of the few lines getting some things done even on the forche which is something we don’t always say when we talk about that line can do a great things of hemming the opposition in but they were generating some of the few uh turnovers and sort of generating some things off of that. Uh I love the way the mark is skating. Um you know his vision is elite. I mean that pass to Perfetti is part of the reason why I talked about last show. I I just feel like there’s a little again and Gabe Valardi already has the Gabe Valardi I think is the better long-term fit, but right now given how Cole is struggling offensively and today is a great example. Cole had three shots on net and I think he had seven shot attempts. I just want to double check to be sure. Three shots on net, seven shot attempts, you know, a ton of high dangers. That one was one of them. I mean, it was a little bit in tight. He didn’t really have much area to try to stuff it past Brandon or Busy there. But uh anyways, I think that Shley is there’s an element of this Sean. I think Mark Schiffley also knows the score. Like I said talked about Seth Jarvis knowing the score. Mark Shiffley’s heard all about Connor Bedard and you know Mlin Cabbrini how you know some folks have him as locks on the team with one good month and and Mark’s or month and a half. Mark’s over here saying, “Hey, don’t forget about me and don’t forget about how I played last year when you left me off the team.” And I think Mark is trying to do his best to help his team, you know, I’m not going to say save it season. That’s a little bit overly dramatic, but try to help them get out of this funk, which is becoming this is a serious funk. There’s this is not just a a stumble. This is a funk. This is the Jets not looking at all like themselves for long enough periods of time for the standard they have created for themselves. Uh Mark is trying to do his best in a two-way game. Uh he wants to show his versatility. He is doing his best to try to drag other people into it. And for me, it’s been impressive to watch and uh again, I think Mark is doing a solid job to keep his name very much in the heart of the conversation. And you know, quickly for those who maybe didn’t see it, our friend Eric Francis, the franchise sportset, uh, you know, writer in Calgary was just in Tampa and John Cooper was, you know, pretty clear in saying, “Hey, it’s going to be what happens over the next five weeks before I can tell you or decide who is going to be on the team or not.” But that’s a that’s a coupe special. That’s what we in the media call a coupe special. That’s a don’t think you’ve got the team made on November 28th, right? You submit the team on January 1st. So, don’t put up your feet and go on cruise control. I want to see the players playing their behinds off until the team is made and then keep playing hard and be ready for February. Um, oh, I was going to go, oh, here I wanted to bring this up before we go to some of the awards. Um, this is Chuck Ducharm says this. Um, Ken, put on the coaching hat and what changes would you make to the lineup? This is an interesting question just because we’ve already started to see the lines being juggled here. Is there a place that Scott Arneil has not gone that you think it would make sense for the Jets to go to try and find the right balance in a lineup that looks thin? Like this is like trying to make a cake right now. It sure is starting to look like without all the ingredients and trying to stretch it the way that you stretch it. Is there a way of a place that you think that uh Scott O’Rene can go that he has yet to go? Yeah, and he’s trying tons of things. I mean, there’s just too many guys not going right now. So, again, as I don’t want to be a broken record, but again, my vote is my primary vote is not to break up the top line and I know folks like Nick uh want to split up the big two. To me, I actually would still leave Connor and Shley together. I would put Valardi with Taves and Baron. There have been some signs of chemistry with Baron and Taves. Obviously, that speed element I think is is impressive from Baron. Tenacity. Uh I think the vision of Taves can help Valardi um get into the same kind of high danger prime chances that he sometimes sees with Mark Sha and Kyle Connor. Um right now that third line is again it’s wild Sean, right? the third line looked like they went through a stretch of about four or five games where they were the ones driving the bus. Right. And since that time, that line is not going at all. That’s a great point. Which is something I did not expect. And again, this this is not pointing fingers or anything else, but and again, I think Neo needer has been around the blue paint, but that line has not generated the same amount as as they did early. And it’s been a problem because the Jets need that. Even if that line’s not scoring, they are the handoff shift. They’re the handoff line. They spend all that time cycling and generating all kinds of things, wearing the opponent down. Uh and it’s just not hasn’t been happening as frequently. And again, this is not I I’m very clear on this. There are nine jets forwards that are not pulling their weight at this time. And I don’t think for a second it’s because of effort, but the combo platter has not hit its optimal level. And until they do, the Jets are not going to be as dangerous as they need to be to be a contender. Uh, you know, they’re they’ve got to get some things sorted out to just get themselves back in the mix to be above the playoff line again based on how it’s been going. Again, on the back end, I think we’ve already discussed this. It’s not forever, but I would leave Solomon with Morrisy just at the start of the gate. Also, because I’m interested in seeing how Dlo plays with Dylan Samberg. Um and again after that when Pian is back whether you I think Pian plays his best with Samberg but again you want to have competition and you want to be in a situation where you get to choose and find out what the better option is whether it’s keeping one guy there or if it’s trying Dlo with Samberg and maybe you try Pian uh somewhere else you could try Pian with Morrisy again they’ve had some offensive shifts together but not a ton of time. So anyways I I would leave Solomon for now. Um, personally, uh, Colin Miller had a good game the other night. I thought he would had some issues again today. Um, I would put Shen back in against Nashville. We know that things didn’t end well for him in Nashville. I think Luke would be a highly motivated player on a Saturday night game where you want if you didn’t like how people didn’t show up, you put in a guy who has the ability to impact the game physically. That’s something that I would do. I would put Shen in on the third pairing. Uh again, some folks may not want Shannon Stanley on that pairing together, but I would try that also. And but again, I think I would try Perfetti um with Shley at some point. It didn’t it doesn’t have to be tomorrow, but it would be something that I would consider, you know, just to try to spread things out a little bit. But you also, like I said, getting the Lowry line going also has to be a priority, too. And I again other thing I’d like to see at some point is Lowry with Baron. Okay. Well, maybe maybe Baron’s the guy that you would put up into that position. I think you nailed it there. I think where you start with this team is trying to get that third line back to what it had been. Now, you have to ask the question, Adam Lowry is back from injury. You have to ask the question, is he at the stage that he was at last year? Nino Netheriter um we’re talking about and it was a question I asked you at the beginning of the year kind of if we should expect because of the age of this roster some regression from this lineup. Um I’m not seeing those two players reach the level that they did last year. To your point, Ken, they looked like they were coming around to it and then that’s kind of gone by the wayside the last little while. This used to be the line that said, “Hey, if you forget what the blueprint is, watch us go out and do this and then you can kind of follow suit.” I’ll say this again, and I I get the sense, you know, that some of the people didn’t buy into my theory with this. I don’t think it’s a theory. I’m telling you what I saw on the ice, but if you go and watch, and I’m telling you, go back, if you have any recorded Jets games from last season, if you go and watch how that third line operates, Mason Appleton is the first guy in, first guy in almost every time. Then Lowry comes up second and then Netherriter goes and seals off the boards and he’s the guy that first guy makes the point of contact. That’s typically Apple. Second guy gets the puckets, Lowry 30, gets it over to Nidoriter. Now, Nino Netheriter has possession and then they start that grind. They’re not getting the puck. This line is chasing the puck and it’s chasing the puck all the time. So, if I were the coach, I think one of the first things I would do is go knock on my uh general manager’s office door and say, “We need help here. The Jets need to go get a guy y who is going to be able to be that first point of contact to start getting that puck, that line, the puck.” So, maybe Morgan Baron is that guy. And I think it’s I think Morgan Baron can bring you more than that. But that position is so important for that line to do what it does. They need the tip of the spear like I was talking about that they they haven’t had the tip of the spear and that’s why their line has been blunt so far this year. It hasn’t been sharp. It hasn’t been what it was last year. So I think they’re I don’t know if there’s an answer inside the lineup. I don’t think it’s Pearson. I don’t think it’s Nyquist. You can go up and down that lineup. Maybe Keptki is a guy that you got to get into that spot and see if he can do that, but I don’t think there is anyone on this roster right now that has shown they can do that. So, I think the first move would be going to do that. The second, when we talk about breaking up that top line in the times that top line has been broken up in the past, it’s usually because they’re not producing. That’s not the case right now. And again, and I know Nick Linham and a lot of other people are asking for that line to be broken up. I understand the call. It’s one of those, well, you gotta do something calls, right? I just think you have to be very, very careful with the you got to do something calls because right now the Winnipeg Jets just came off a game in their last game that they almost won when they didn’t deserve to win because that first line almost caught them there. If the second, third, or fourth line would have chipped in, they walk away with a win in that game. tonight. That first line created almost all the opportunities for for that team tonight. They had the game tied. If you know, Cole Perfetti pops up and gets one or they get a fourth line, you know, Morgan Baron goes and scores one of those goals that he did at the beginning of the year or if Nino needer goes out and grinds his way to the front of the net and puts one in, you’re probably talking about it being a different game. So right now it’s clear the supplemental scoring is not there but the top line is keeping a team that does not deserve to be in games in games quite often right now. And if you eliminate that element, the bottom could really fall out on this team. So I guess what I’m saying is for the people who are saying just break up those guys. Mark Shley runs his own line, Kyle Connor runs his own line. I’m not saying it couldn’t work. I honestly it should work because if Kyle Connor is the player that people say that he is and if Mark Schiffley is the the the player that people say he is, they’re the kind of players who should be able to run their own lines. They should be able to take people around them and elevate them. Mark Shley should be the kind of guy who says, “Give me Cole Perfetti and I’ll get them going.” They should be able to do that. All I’m saying is if you do make that move, the re the the risk that’s involved with that, the benefit maybe, just maybe, you create multiple scoring lines and it starts getting the Jets out of this, the risk of that is if it does not work and you’ve broken and broken up something that does work, if you think things look bad right now with the Jets having lost eight of 11 games and losing four straight, if the first line’s not working, you’re talking about a team that has the possibility of getting lost in the woods. And I’m telling you this right now is the oldest team in the league. If the Winnipeg Jets get lost in the woods, that is like last year Nashville was a team that everyone thought was going to be a really good team. And they didn’t just struggle, they got lost in the woods and they’ve never found their way out. That to me is the risk that you are running by breaking those players up because if that doesn’t work and now your first, second, third, and fourth line aren’t going and your heart trophy winning goalender is out for another four weeks right now, they could he could return to a team that is unrecognizable. And and if you don’t think that that’s a reality, just understand where people thought that the Nashville Predators were at the beginning of the year last year and where they are now. That team is a bunch of locked down contracts with a lot of players in their 30s going forward. Does that sound familiar to anyone? You’re that close. Just like I said, the Winnipeg Jets defensive system is a delicate ecosystem. It goes from being absolutely dominant last year. You take a little bit of speed out of the lineup and now it’s this. That delicate ecosystem goes the other way. You tinker with it anymore. the bottom could drop out and that ends up being something that oftent times an organization just can’t find its way out of that is the risk I think you are running and accepting if you go and you make a move like that. Uh time Ken for us to get to our Johnson group got you covered play of the game. What do you got? Yeah, struggled with this one here. There’s some interest in going with the Colin Miller slide across but it kind of that’s one of those Sean that he kind of created the mess that he cleaned up. So, I’m just going to give a generic uh Thomas Militch had his team covered in this game here. So, again, it’s like a asterisk style Colin Miller diving play to break up the two-on-one. Uh, but I’m giving it to Militch is my just overall not being overwhelmed by the moment. He was one of the best players on the team that wasn’t playing on the top line. So, I’m gonna go with that. I’ll go with that. I’ll go with that. That’s the Kenny and Renie OG’s. The Johnson groups got you covered play of the game. And hey, do you run a small business in Canada? Look to Canada’s number one employee benefits plan, Chambers Plan, to give you a competitive edge. Chambers Plan is the simple, stable, smart choice for over 30,000 businesses countrywide. Visit chamberpl.ca to learn more. And before we go on to the keg save the game, I just wanted to usually I’m almost in lock step with Nick Lion when it comes to opinions here, but Nick here says they are already in the woods, man. Um, this is not in the woods. The Winnipeg Jets, like I’d said, I would not be surprised based on the teams that they’re playing, the way things are lining up, could win their next three games and that could potentially get them back over the playoff line. They’re not out of this. Lost in the Woods is an organization getting to a place where something’s broke and no one knows how to fix it and now you’ve got contracts that carry you forward for a really long time. It’s delicate. If you think this is lost in the woods, ask ask Nashville Predators fans where they are right now and where they thought they were going to be a year and two months before this. They are vastly different places. And I would guarantee you that Nashville Predators fan base would give anything to be where the Winnipeg Jets are right now with an opportunity to jump back into things. Hey, I think I’ve been pretty clear where I think the Winnipeg Jets are and where I think that the the changes that they’ve made have put them this year. It’s a tough situation. This is not the kind of situation that is soul draining. Here are the things that are being said by the GM of the Nashville Predators. Here are the things that are being said said by the star players. Understand what we can fully understand and assume how those players feel about being in Nashville and what they would do to potentially get out of there if they could. That’s not happening in Winnipeg. There’s no one in Winnipeg right now saying it is not possibly gonna work here. I need to get the heck out of here right now. Lost in the Woods. Hey, have they strayed off the path? No doubt. Do I think it’s going to be hard for them to get back on that path? I do. Harder than most people think it’s going to be. They are not lost in the woods. They are not close to being lost in the woods. And being lost in the woods is someplace you do not want to be. Uh Kenny, your uh hashtag the keg save of the game. Yeah. a couple fun ones, but I’m going Militch uh one time around on Stanovven. And again, there’s some history there. Those guys went headto-head for a long time in the Western Hockey League and in that Memorial Cup that I previously mentioned in 2023. So, I like that one. I like the one that he stopped with his head on uh on the the attempted bank shot by Shane Goss Bearer. And again, I love the Buucy say sorry. I love the ability for Buucy to make the save on Connor because of the allout effort uh as well. So, that’s an honorable mention, but Milichon Stanovven, I think, was one of the better saves of the game here. Uh, okay. Larry didn’t like something that I said in that show specifically, but uh Larry says, “That’s lame, Renie. So lame.” So, let’s give Larry his uh his uh comment on the show um because we don’t want to we don’t want to monopolize it. Um I’m going uh the other direction. That save on Kyle Connor on the breakaway was absolutely outlandish. um and uh and probably played a big role in how that game ended up. That’s my hashtag the cake save of the game. Really doesn’t matter though what Ken nor I think. Share with us your hashtag the cake save the game. You’re automatically entered to win a $50 gift certificate usable at any of the three fine keg locations there in the city of Winnipeg. Each location finer than the last. And our winner from our last show, that would be Nicole McMillan. And Nicole, you know what to do. Direct message me at snawn Reynolds. Send me your full name. Send me an email. I will have the fine folks at the keg send you a $50 gift certificate usable at any of the three fine keg locations there in the city of Winnipeg. Each location finer than the last. Ken, anything to say before we get rolling here? No, that’s uh that’s all I got here. Eers, some folks giving it the old oh well Eers wasn’t at his best today. Well, I would say if you got to go there for consolation prize, uh you know, I’m not sure what to say. Uh certainly no wasn’t dominant by any stretch, but um anyways, one other play I wanted to point out. I talked about Profetti’s chances earlier and some people thought that he just got stuffed on the the net drive. Jackson Blake just an exceptional defensive play. Profetti might have been able to stuff that pass uh Buy Sean, but that is just a outstanding defensive effort. And again, I’m reinforcing that’s the type of defensive effort the Jets had in spades last year that they’re not getting right now. So, just wanted to wrap with that. Yeah, no doubt. Okay, that’s it for us. Um, the Winnipeg Jets playing again tomorrow. Right now, the National Predators up three to2 at the beginning of the third period over the Chicago Blackhawks. They’re still going to be playing for probably about another 40 minutes on the ice here, which is hopefully helpful for the Winnipeg Jets, who are probably I don’t know, Ken, would you think that they would be getting fairly close to landing by now in Nashville? Who knows? Not a terribly long flight. No, it’d be fairly soon. So, they’ll take whatever advantage they can get uh in a time where they need all the advantages that they can get as they will face the National Predators tomorrow on Hockey Night in Canada. a game that will be carried by your friends at Sportsnet, myself. Enjoy it, buddy. Enjoy it. We’ll be at it. We’ll see you on the broadcast and then we will see you all after the game. Uh, thanks for joining us, folks. I will say this before we do go. If you appreciate the conversations happening in this space, we would implore you to appreciate the contributions by our sponsors who fight to keep the conversation going in this space. for us. That’s Jim Patterson Toyota on Regent, Victoria Rossi, Cambrian Credit Union, Pristine Roofing, Sweet Lou Furlin, Flame and Comfort, Myers Drugs, the Kenny and Renie OGs at the Jonathan Group, and of course the Keg. Thank you to them. Thank you to all of you. We will chat with you after hockey night in Canada. Talk to you later, folks.

Jets well-outshot, out-chanced and out-skated on the way to a 5-1 loss in Carolina as the losing streak continues.

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