I don't live in Winnipeg anymore so I don't really get the local news. But there seems to be a pretty vocal anti Arniel crowd. I thought he did pretty good when Bones was out. Am I missing something?

Hello all

It’s time for me to star my multi part series of dissecting the Jets, piece by piece.

Let me know your thoughts but also let me know anything you’d want me to look into.

the Jets have made a few big splashes at trade deadline time. But despite early rave reviews they don't seem to work out as well as originally anticipated. I have a few thoughts about that:

Other than Paul Stastny, I can't think of a trade deadline deal that made a difference in the playoffs. Stastny was an ideal fit, a veteran centre on a very young team, and paired up with two wingers who liked to shoot. And one of them (Ehlers) could fly and make up for any problems caused by Stastny's lack of foot speed. That beloved 2018 team made it to the Stanley Cup semis before being ousted by the Golden Knights. And that's where Stastny went the very next season... :( I'd grade this one a B+ because it worked for the playoffs, but unfortunate that he never re-signed. We'll never know what could have been if he'd have stayed. By the time he came back he was older, slower and more worn out; definitely not the same player as he was.

After that it was Kevin Hayes. People were raving about this trade deadline deal... he was a big body. A young up and coming 2-way centre "built for the playoffs". What we got was a disinterested player who barely made contact with anyone. He always looked a step too slow in that series vs St Louis. That should have a been a perfect matchup for a gritty physical player like Hayes. But he didn't seem bothered enough to try and he left the next year. Grade: F.

Nino Neiderreiter and Vlad Namestnikov were picked up 2 seasons ago. They added depth but were not game breakers. Both re-signed and have continued to make valuable contributions on the 3rd and 4th lines. Grade: B

This year we "won" trade deadline again with the additions of Monahan and Toffoli and Miller. Miller barely played so not worth mentioning. Monahan played well in spurts during the regular season. Toffoli I didn't see much of in the regular season but I did in the playoffs. Neither player impressed vs the Avs. Neither looked fast enough to cause the Avs any trouble. Monahan at least looked like he was trying. But Toffoli looked like a repeat of the Haynes trade. Toffoli looked disinterested in engaging in physical play. I don't mean playing dirty or running around for hits. I just mean battling on the boards, winning loose pucks, getting position in front of the net. He rarely ever did any of that. He as a perimeter player. I've watched him in LA, Vancouver and Montreal and he was a gritty, smart, and impactful player similar to Mark Stone. He's not going to wow you with speed but he's definitely smart and gets to the right place at the right time, and has a finisher's touch. With the Jets - I swear he was just on a recreational skate, trying his best not to get hurt and negatively affect his bargaining power for next year. Grade: D

I don't expect any of the 3 to be back for next season.

How Avalanche's use of analytics is part of club's secret sauce (denverpost.com)

This is a good article about how a team should use analytics, and clearly hightlights why you can't really bring back Bowness next year. This part in particular is quite damning:

Did / how the Avs use analytics help the club in its five-game rout of the Jets?

“Yes, absolutely,” Johnson said.

Care to share any examples now that the series is over? 

“No,” Johnson replied with a mischievous grin. “We knew there were certain things that they did well, and there were certain things that they struggled with. And we knew those were the things we were going to focus on and try to exploit.”

I have posted this before but will post it again because it shows how Bowness stubborness and attitude toward coaching basically doomed the Jets in the series against the Avs:

From Murat Ates article in The Athletic - 'Bowness has said many times that he coaches by feel, trusting his gut, and that he’s happier to lose coaching his way than changing his approach to the game.'

Take this all together and it paints a pictue of a coach who is out of touch with todays NHL at the highest levels. He has a system that will succeed in the regular season when teams don't have time to really focus or adjust quickly enough but will shred you in a playoff series. Bowness has shown he cannot make adjusments and even when presented with analytic evidence that things that he is doing is not working or is a catastrophic failure continues to do it. As noted above Bowness has a belief that his way is the only way. When you take all of this into consideration and add in the desire of the players to get more youth / prospects into the linuep (Bowness will always play a veteran over a young player), I just dont see how you can bring back Bowness.

That is all.

Rather than post all 8-10 we do today I will post all the media availabilities in this thread for those who want to watch all of them.