WINNIPEG — Scott Arniel may have uncovered the best way to maximize Nikolaj Ehlers.
It’s no secret that Ehlers has been bogged down by a second line that’s stayed intact all year despite being a black hole offensively. But when Vladislav Namestnikov was ruled out of Saturday’s game against the Colorado Avalanche, Arniel had no choice but to give Ehlers a different centre. The Winnipeg Jets coach shuffled the deck entirely, pairing Ehlers with Adam Lowry and Alex Iafallo. On the surface, those two hard-nosed, defensive-oriented forwards may not seem like the two most optimal linemates for the Danish speedster.
But Ehlers wound up having arguably his best all-around game of the season — registering two goals (the game-winner and the empty netter to seal the game), three shots and three hits en route to Winnipeg’s 3-0 win over Colorado.
“It's intriguing now. It's got me thinking,” Arniel said with a smile. “I liked a lot of what I saw."
It started right from his first shift, where Ehlers split the Avs defence and ripped a wrist shot bar down over Mackenzie Blackwood’s right shoulder to give the Jets an early 1-0 lead.
The quick strike was just the start for Ehlers. All game long, he weaved through traffic seamlessly, used his world-class speed to create space for his linemates and appeared poised in the neutral zone – an area where he’s often prone to making head-scratching mistakes. He didn’t have as many – or any, frankly — defensive zone mishaps. It seemed like he wasn’t trying to do too much. His game was simplified. And playing with Lowry was a big reason for that.
“He wins a lot of battles and I think he wants to use my speed as much as possible,” Ehlers said.
But what exactly did Lowry do to maximize Ehlers’ speed?
“He wins a battle and I get open and he throws it into either an area or right on my tape and I’m in open space to be able to use that speed. And then he gets into areas where he thinks I can get into,” Ehlers explained.
It's something Namestnikov hasn’t been able to do. It’s no slight on Namestnikov, a perfectly serviceable utility forward in his own right. It’s just that he’s miscast as a second-line centre.
“[Lowry] does a great job in our end coming from underneath on the breakouts, supporting pucks,” Arniel said. “And when that happens it allows the wingers to blow out, that allows them to get early speed. If it's a contested puck and you're slow and the centreman isn't there for support, you've got to stop, too. [Lowry] was so good at underneath support for our defence, that it allows that winger, especially if he's on the weak side, to just take off and go.”
It should also be noted that, when playing with Lowry, Ehlers was tasked with going toe-to-toe with Nathan MacKinnon (and at times, Mikko Rantanen was skating on his wing as well). It presented a unique opportunity for Ehlers.
“There's two things for me. One, he's on the ice a little bit more in key situations,” Arniel said. “D-zone draws where maybe I would throw [Lowry’s] line out there or it might be a situation where he's starting in our end of the rink, but not a lot of time he's doing that. The other side is the responsibility. He knew he was going against the MacKinnon line and he took a lot of pride in that, in making sure he did his part to keep those guys off the scoresheet.”
Now, let’s get one thing straight. In a perfect world, Lowry’s not an ideal second-line centre. You want him as your shutdown third-line centre – a role he’s exceptional at. But the way he got Ehlers up and running can’t be ignored.
Ehlers is too important of a player to have rotting away on an ineffective second line. Since breaking into the league, Ehlers ranks 26th in even-strength goals (166) and on a per minute basis, he’s one of the NHL’s most efficient point producers during five-on-five play.
For all Ehlers’ flaws — namely his unpredictability — we’re talking about a player who’s recorded 35 points through his first 36 games and is on pace for a career-high 75 points despite missing nine games this year.
Ehlers has been second-fiddle here for most of his career. Not only has he seldom been given ample opportunity alongside Mark Scheifele on the top line, but before this season, he wasn’t a staple on the team’s first power-play unit (and now, he’s one of the main reasons Winnipeg has the NHL’s best power play).
If the Jets are serious about making a legitimate run at the Stanley Cup, they can’t just rely on Scheifele’s line for offence. Ideally, Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff goes out and finds an upgrade on Namestnikov to give that line a facelift.
But for the time being — why not keep him with Lowry?
It’s hard to argue with what he did Saturday night.
Stoller Says
• Arniel said Vladislav Namestnikov would be re-evaluated tomorrow. It doesn’t seem like he’ll be out long-term.
• Dylan Samberg hasn’t looked rusty at all since being activated off IR. The 25-year-old logged a team-high 24:47 on Saturday — 2:25 of that was on the penalty kill — and he made an impact in every area of the ice.
“Yeah, we didn't really want him to play that much,” Arniel admitted. “But again, I wasn't sure how, after last night being 22 minutes, it was going to go. But man, he just built on last night's game. They saw an awful lot of MacKinnon.”
• Samberg’s defensive ability will always be the bread-and-butter of his game, but it’s pretty crazy to see how he’s evolved as a puck-mover. He’s not flashy, but he’s effective, especially on zone exits.
• Mark Scheifele scored his 25th goal of the year in his 44th game. Last year, it took him 74 games to reach that mark.
Scheifele, who prides himself as a pass-first player, is producing 4.45 five-on-five individual high-danger shot attempts per 60 minutes — that places him in the 89th percentile among NHL forwards that have played at least 200 minutes. Over the previous three years, Scheifele recorded 3.56 per 60 minutes.
• Speaking of smashing last year's totals, how about Connor Hellebuyck tying his career-high in shutouts (six) tonight. And we’re in January.
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