Game 19 : Jets @ Blues

[The Unknown Poster]

I didn't watch much but online chatter is top line was good but second line wasn't. Did Ladd bring it down? Is Ehlers just not polished enough?

[Goalie]

Ehlers and Scheif were good. Ladd looked slow. Ehlers and Scheif had their chances.

[BomberBall]

Ehlers and Scheif were good. Ladd looked slow. Ehlers and Scheif had their chances.

Agreed.  Ladd looked and has looked terrible this season.  Any chance he's playing with another injury?  Because he looks lazy and slow.

 

I know which contract I would want to get done, out of the two.... And it's not even close.

[FrostyWinnipeg]

Little/Wheeler had good game too.

[Goalie]

Copp did too.

[Ducky]

Copp played well and has played well most games this year....he deserves more ice time than he is seeing.

I've siad all along, Ladd is easier to replace than Buff.

[FrostyWinnipeg]

Copp played well and has played well most games this year....he deserves more ice time than he is seeing.

I've siad all along, Ladd is easier to replace than Buff.

Offensive defensemen are not easy to replace.

[Goalie]

That's what he's saying and i agree, Ladd is way easier to replace than Buff. 

 

However you have to look at it a little differently, are the Jets with Ladd,Buff,Toby etc, are they ever gonna be more than just a playoff bubble team? Will they ever realistically end up winning the stanley cup? If you are looking at it realistically, the answer is probably no. 

 

TUP said it before I think and I agreed, If the Jets win the cup, it will be Scheif or someone handing the cup off to Trouba or Ehlers... 

 

It won't be Ladd handing it off to Buff or whoever... It just won't happen. What the Jets should have done and it's easy to say this now but they should have went full rebuild when the team first got here, Trade guys like Buff,Toby,Ladd etc for futures or young players with potential..  Perhaps they are thinking of doing that now? One good season last year does not make anyone forget about the 3 or 4 maybe 5 if you count the Atlanta year(s) where this team with this core just wasn't good enough. Will they ever be good enough? It's a tough situation, is being average in the Central division good enough? It's not, you need to be way better than average... Jets are a game below .500 right now, the teams in front of them.. not even close to being even close to .500.

 

Eventually, you have to move on from your older core and build the team around the younger guys like Scheif,Ehlers,Lowry, Trouba,Myers maybe... That's the future.. you can keep guys like Little and Wheeler around as i think they will age nicely, they also are on good contracts... But perhaps it is time for a semi rebuild of sorts. 

[The Unknown Poster]

I didnt have an issue with their "re-tool".  I looked it like this.  They had two 'cores', the Atlanta core of Ladd, Buff, Wheeler, Little with a young group including Kane, Bogo, Burmi and soon to be joined by Sheif, Trouba, Lowry etc.  So to me, they had the opportunity to compete in the short term (sort of now-ish) and with the waves of youth coming up, compete for years and years.

 

In hindsight, they could have traded everyone for picks and prospects and been the Oilers and probably got a few higher picks and a few more prospects.  But looking at the core group of talent that came with the Jets, while shallow on depth, there was talent to build around.   There still is.

 

Wheeler and Little are top line players, no question.  Wheeler could be called a 2nd tier elite player. 

 

Im not sure they should trade the works right now.  But the tough decision with Ladd and Buff is timing.  If the team was winning and they were big parts of it, you can justify the expense.  But the team is struggling and they arent being difference makers, how do you justify signing guys their age for 6+ years at top dollar deals?  Because it leads to the potential of having some of your stud youth, whether that be Scheif, Trouba, Connor whomever, eventually put you in a budget crunch and it could be very difficult to trade a 35 year Buff making $7 Million/year.

 

All things being equal, I'd love to keep Ladd and Buff.  But neither guys should get a 6+ year deal.  And both pose different problems.  I would actually sign Ladd longer than Buff because I think he will be useful longer.  But Buff's position and talent means he deserves more money, but lesser term.  Ladd deserves (or its wiser as a team) to get longer term but less money.

 

Ideally, neither guy goes beyond 4 years.

 

If the Jets know they cant keep both, I'd trade Ladd (which is a switch for me).  But it really comes down to what can you get for either.  Offers for Ladd might be good but offers for Buff might be amazing and perhaps you take the "amazing" offer and re-sign Ladd and hope you can re-tool the D.

 

The other issue is perception.  Buff is perceived as a very special talent.  We traded Kane (and regardless of reality, he is considered an elite level young player).  We dont want the perception to be that we trade our elite talents because they either dont want to be here or we dont want to pay them.

 

I think some Jets players made remarks akin to that saying thing like "when you fight and sacrifice for the team you want to know they appreciate it".  At the same time, is Ladd's agent trying to play the Jets with those circumstances?  Like, well the Jets cant afford to lose Ladd so they will over-pay.  He IS the captain but he doesnt deserve more money than Blake Wheeler.

[Brandon]

If they can get anything like the return on the Kane bogo deal then its a no brainer..

[Ducky]

It could be argued that Wheeler is severely underpaid though.

[HardCoreBlue]

Little/Wheeler had good game too.

 

Player of the game - Bryan Little.

Probably the player of the last 4 games

When thew Jets first came back to our fine city, I wasn't a huge fan of Little. I'm a huge fan now, one could almost say underrated, or at least not talked about enough.