Before this season, the Winnipeg Jets had seemed to be less than the sum of their parts. The biggest and most consistent problem was goaltending, something that plagued Paul Maurice his entire coaching career. But that’s not the case with this year’s Jets.
With Connor Hellebuyck having a breakout season, Winnipeg is finally playing as strong as its roster looks, and they’re one of the top Stanley Cup contenders in the league.
The Jets are undeniably deeper than last season, with players such as Kyle Connor and Jack Roslovic having a big impact and the huge acquisition of Paul Stastny at the deadline. But another interesting area on this team is how much the ice time allotment has changed for their defencemen.
Bringing in Dmitry Kulikov wasn’t a very celebrated move in the summer and I’ll be the first to admit that I scratched my head at the move. But it has resulted in a much more balanced top-seven defensive group than last year, with the departed Paul Postma and Mark Stuart no longer needing to be sheltered on the third pair.
Now, each of the Jets’ top-five defencemen are seeing less ice time.
Tyler Myers getting back to full health this season is a huge part of the spreading out of ice time, but the fact the Jets have a third pair they trust enables them to give their top defenders a bit more rest, which could lead to more consistent performances. [sidebar]
One thing to understand about the Jets is that last season they were a top-five team in the NHL at limiting shot quality against, both in terms of shot location and pre-shot movement. This goes to show just how serious those goaltending struggles had been, and how little of it is on Maurice.
If the Jets are playing their best defencemen less often, you might assume this control over shot quality in their own end has been eroded somewhat, but actually…
Despite scoring chances increasing league-wide this season, the Jets have cut down their high danger chances against, scoring chances on net against, and overall scoring chances allowed, while giving up a hair more shots from the perimeter, which actually works as a little save percentage booster.
The Jets have even shaved off a couple passes to the slot against; it’s really impressive work by the players and coaching staff.
One area they’re a bit worse in is allowing passes off the rush, which makes a bit of sense with a defensive group that includes Dustin Byfuglien, Tyler Myers, and Kulikov, all of whom can be attacked off the rush and caught flat-footed. But they’re still one of the better teams at denying those passes, and even if the passes do get through, the Jets allow the sixth-fewest actual shots off the rush in the NHL.
The name of the game for Winnipeg on the defensive side of the puck all season has been balance. Giving a 32-year-old Byfuglien two minutes less per night at even strength and nearly three minutes less overall allows him (and others with decreased time) to conserve a bit of energy — and the results are there.
None of this would end up mattering if Hellebuyck didn’t have a rebound season and come into his own, but the Jets have that rare combination of elite offence and elite defence – and on top of that the puck is bouncing their way.
They may be the Western Conference’s biggest contender.
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