The Winnipeg Jets have to get Younger

The Winnipeg Jets have to get Younger

[Music] What’s going on everybody and welcome back to another video. Today we’re going to be talking about the Winnipeg Jets and their young players. Uh, you know, that haven’t necessarily been given the biggest opportunity in the world, especially given how the Jets have been playing early on in the season. You kind of thought, uh, you know, we’d be seeing a little bit more of these players by now. At the beginning of the season, the Jets were dealing with all sorts of bigger injuries. So, we got to see, you know, a few of their younger players such as Brad Lambert, Nikita Chibberov, and Parker Ford all play in the forward group. Uh, but, you know, we saw them in small sample sizes. Uh, we often didn’t see all three of them in the lineup at the same time. Uh, we didn’t see really a whole lot of them. Their minutes were sheltered and, uh, you know, they eventually made their way back down to the Moose. you know, neither of, you know, those three really made themselves, you know, a absolutely can’t send down guy or anything like that. There wasn’t anybody that really separated themselves in my opinion. But, uh, here we are today looking at this Jets lineup and it is rough. And I and I know Scott Arneil’s, you know, trying to get anything going right now for this club that has really struggled since day one out of the gate. Uh, but you know, this team is old. This team is slow. And uh, at the end of the day, this team is not getting wins. And, uh, you know, I’m not saying that these young guys are going to come in here and, you know, the wins are going to start piling up or anything, but if you take it the take a look at this roster, I mean, this is a team that’s gotten old, slow, and bland, incredibly fast. And, you know, you have guys down there on the Moose like Brad Lambert who’s, you know, publicly disgruntled, wants to be playing in the NHL now. and uh you know that has caused him and his team to you know ask the Jets if they can try to seek out a trade or seek out an opportunity to maybe be moved and get a bigger role because you know you take a look at the last few years here in Winnipeg and they have not been drafting and developing whatsoever. You know, that was the motto from the beginning. Uh, drafting Mark Shley, drafting Jacob Trouba, Josh Morrisy, Nikolai Elers. The Jets took those guys and they developed them and they built up a really good core. And it’s a big reason why the 2017 2018 Jets were so good. That was the best Jets team of all time, uh, you know, to date in the 2.0 era. And, you know, that was all grown by themselves. That was very good team building. the last few years ever since that really have not been the same. And you know, I know the Jets got good and it was all about acquiring pieces to upgrade the core, right? The core that they built. And that’s understandable, but at some point you have to pass the torch, you know, to a new core. And uh, you know, obviously that’s going to be a while with Mark Schiffley, Kyle Connor, Gabe Valardi all signed long term, but you got to inject some new pieces here. And the Jets just haven’t been doing that the last few years. It’s been, you know, trades, free agents, whatever. But they have barely ever been putting in, you know, young players to succeed in the lineup. There just hasn’t been that trust. And that is driving a lot of players out of Winnipeg. This just isn’t how the NHL runs anymore, right? Like, you’re not marinating in the miners until you’re 25 and then, you know, whatever, you’re going to be a top six player. That just doesn’t happen anymore. uh you know, young players, especially now this year in the league, you know, they’re getting their chances earlier and they’re flourishing and this is becoming a very fast league. And the Jets, you know, kind of feel like they’ve taken a step back signing all of these guys, you know, in their mid to late30s and, uh, you know, that’s just another reason why they haven’t been very successful this year. Uh, and again, I’m not saying that the guys that they have now are going to, you know, change the world or anything like that. I don’t think they blew anybody out of the water uh in their, you know, small chances that they had at the beginning of the season, but I do think getting them in there more regularly and getting them, you know, more accustomed to the NHL, they’ll get more comfortable and they’ll play better. Um, you know, take a look at Elias Salammonson and how good he’s played in a small sample size. Yes, he’s making mistakes, but would you rather have, you know, Salammonson making the odd mistake or have Luke Shen making, you know, 20 of them, uh, you know, every half hour for the Jets, right? It’s just not good. Uh, it’s just not a good, you know, message to send to your players when they are playing pretty well for, you know, a 21-year-old defenseman. And then you go ahead and you send him back down to the Moose where, you know, he’s going to go flourish there, but he’s probably ready to grow with NHL minutes. And considering what you have in front of him right now, like come on now, right? I I don’t understand setting him down. There’s no reason why Elias should not be on this Jets team, especially if the Jets are trying to win some games. If you’re drafting these players, you at some point have to decide, okay, we need to see what we’ve got in this player. You can’t keep them in on the moose for 2, 3, 4 years and just expect them to be okay with that. These guys are professionals and, you know, you can’t waste their career like that. And a lot of players have asked out from franchises around the league because of this exact same situation. And we’re seeing it with Brad Lambert. Uh you know, we saw it with Rucker McGroy. Um you know, obviously wanting out of Winnipeg and I think it had to do with playing time, right? I don’t think uh it came down to him hating the city or anything like that. Uh but I really do think it came down to, you know, I don’t see a path forward for me on this team. I want somewhere where I can play now. And you know, in that aspect, you can’t really blame the guy because right now, I truly believe that Rucker McGroy might just be making his any chill debut now. And even then, I don’t know if he’d be a full-time regular, right? The Jets are trusting a lot of guys in their lineup right now that are well past their prime, aren’t producing anything because they’re veterans over young players that maybe, you know, could give you a spark. Braden Jagger, is he ready for the NHL? I don’t think so, but maybe take a look, right? Call him up for a few games, see what happens. Brad Lambert, put him in into an accelerator role. Put put him in a position to succeed offensively, maybe with a Mark Shley, maybe with a Cole Perfetti, and just see what happens. But playing him on the fourth line with Cole Capeki and Parker Ford probably isn’t going to be where he’s going to be playing, you know, longterm in the NHL. That’s just not the role that he’s going to be playing and uh you know, hence why he wants out. But he cleared the air. He said, “I would love to play for the Winnipeg Jets, but he just wants to be in the NHL.” And I understand that. Is he going to be the most effective player right off the bat? Probably not. But you have to at some point develop your players in the NHL. It just feels like every single signing and trade that the Jets have made in the last calendar year have kind of blown up for them. They just have not been impactful whatsoever. And you’ve got a lot of players just doing a lot of nothing this season. And uh you know, at some point you got to cut bait. Admit you’re wrong. Uh we’ll see where the Jets are at. You know, in a month, month or two here. Maybe we’ll get a better idea of what they’re looking to do, if they’re going to be buying or selling. But I just really don’t see a world where the Jets should be buying either way. Whether they’re, you know, on the fritz just outside of the playoffs or, you know, in the basement, there’s no way this team should be buying right now. This team needs to be, you know, starting right now, a bit of a retool, unless something dramatically changes. But you’re just not getting it with this roster. This roster is toast. And uh you know, I really hope they don’t start to look to trade futures to get better right now. I hope they don’t do something stupid like that. This team is kind of fried. I don’t really believe that this team is going to be, you know, anywhere near a problem come playoff time. Even if they do somehow make the playoffs, I think it’s just time to, you know, cut your losses at this point and uh, you know, maybe maybe get ready for a bit of a retool here in Winnipeg. But to sum it all up, the Jets have been very underwhelming this season, and it’s due to the last, you know, year or so of trading and signing these older veteran players that just have not ended up panning out for them. Um, you know, my argument here is to, you know, just try to implement some of the youth and get ready to, you know, hand the roster off to these guys in the near future as it is very clear that these veterans are not taking you anywhere. But what do you guys think? Let me know down below. So, do you agree with my assessment? Do you disagree? You know, are you still hoping that, you know, these Jets veterans can figure it out, or are you kind of leaning towards, okay, let’s try to figure out how to implement the youth into a position to, you know, succeed? Um, I want to hear from you guys. Leave it down below. Uh, leave a like and subscribe to the channel if you haven’t already. I’ll see you guys in the next one. Go Jets go. Bye-bye.

The Winnipeg Jets were once a team that drafted and developed their prospects extremely efficiently. Now, we’re lucky if we see more than a couple players become regulars on the team in a 5 year span.

Instead of filling holes internally, the Jets have elected to fill them with aging veterans that are well past their prime. Winnipeg needs to trust their younger players, and put them in a position to succeed if the Jets want to succeed themselves.

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