Can Jets survive without Connor Hellebuyck?

Can Jets survive without Connor Hellebuyck?

Here’s our director of scouting, Craig Button, to talk about it. The Winnipeg Jets have hit the skids. Just one win in their last six games without Connor Halabuk between the pipes. And Craig Halabuk could be out for another month. What’s your level of concern with this group that they’ll be able to to overcome Halleuck’s absence? Jay, we we had so much fun talking about the Winnipeg Jets the past season. Even earlier this year, always had a smile on my face. Not so much now. There’s no smiling when it comes to the Winnipeg Jets. And you can talk about Connor Halabuk and yes, he’s the MVP of the National Hockey League. We know he’s a great goalender, but the Winnipeg Jets have two massive issues. One is the way they play and one was with player personnel and their second line. I’m going to get into the first part. They go into the into Buffalo and you know how you have to play defense. And so what happens right off the bat? Dylan Dlo jumps up at the offensive zone blue line. penalty right off the bat. Now you got to go kill a penalty. Now Logan Stanley steps out of the lane, gives open the middle. It’s one- nothing just like that. Well, now here’s Logan Stanley again caught. And here they go again back on a rush. Stanley outside the dots. And just like that, it’s two nothing. All because of really poor reads. Then again, another rush chance. And now Luke Shen’s out against Tae Thompson and Josh Norris. That’s a mismatch. three nothing because of self-inflicted wounds. It was 3-1, Jay. And now the Jets are getting a little bit of momentum. Terrible line change leads to the fourth goal, 4-1. And it was curtains lights out. And so for the Winnipeg Jets, the first part of their challenge is doesn’t matter if Connor Halib’s in the net or not. The problem is the way they’re playing. And they’re playing terrible defense. They’re making terrible decisions. It improved a little bit. It was awful on this night in Buffalo. And that’s a big issue. Second issue for the for the Winnipeg Jets is that this is something that can be fixed and if it doesn’t get fixed, it doesn’t matter who plays in the net, it’s going to continue to cost them. Craig, the other issue for me is that this team, and you alluded to the fact that we were having so much talking about this team at the beginning of the season because for the first dozen games of the year, they were leading the league in goals four. Well, since then, they’re now near the bottom of the league in goals four. And I can’t quite figure it out because that has nothing to do with Conor Hobach. So why are the Jets having so much trouble finding the back of the net, Craig? I I I’m gonna put the majority of the issue on the second line. And the top line’s been great. You know, you look at Kyle Connor, Mark Shelley, Gabe Lardy, they’ve been great. They’ve carried the scoring for them. The third line with Lowry, no problem there. They’re asked to do stuff, but the second line is a massive problem. It it it’s got too much uh light in in their game. You got Cole Perfetti, the messnikov. They’re light. They’re not hard. They’re not heavy. They’re not fast. Jonathan Ta trying to play the second line role right now. Sorry. Not good enough, not capable of doing it. So now you got the second line that can’t push the opponent back, can’t establish offensive zone time. They’re vulnerable when they’re on the ice. They’re not scoring. And so that’s a big issue. That’s a huge issue. And that’s a player personnel issue. If you’re going to continue on with a second line like that, you’re going to continue to have the same problems. So, Scott Arneal has to impress upon the team how to play better defensively because they know how to do that. They just haven’t done it well enough over the last stretch of time. And Kevin Shovel Day off, he’s going to have to look at a second line because the second line right now, no way. That is not going to get you success. Too much of a burden on the top line. And when you have too much of a burden on the top line, easy for opponents to check you. zero in on you because nothing is going to scare you after that. So, those are the big issues that I see with the Winnipeg Jets at this point in time. Can they get those issues fixed in time for their next matchup against the only Canadian team in a playoff position? That’ll be the Montreal Canadians. That’s who the Jets face on Wednesday night. Craig will be back a little later in the show to talk Canadian Olympic goalenders. One of my favorite subjects. That’s later on this edition of Sports Center.

The Jets have just one win in their last six games without Connor Hellebuyck between the pipes. What’s your level of concern with the Jets? Why are the Jets struggling to score recently? TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button joins SC with Jay Onrait to discuss.