Shocking and disappointing news coming out of the Winnipeg Jets offseason as top prospect and 2022 first round pick, Rutger McGroarty, has announced he will return to the University of Michigan for the 2024-2025 season.
Nik and Brady are here breaking it down and putting together what’s next for both parties. What does a trade look like? Is Nik Ehlers gone too? The boys also hit you with some quick thoughts on the coaching hires and then Nik has an impassioned review of Paul Maurice’s Stanley Cup run that you can’t miss!
Come join the conversation at Top Lyne Media.
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5 Comments
What an absolute disaster. There is an above average chance this team misses the playoffs if a few things don’t go exactly to plan. This could be Calgary 2.0
How long before noted hockey guy Mark Chipman takes some blame. That podcast episode could be a banger. Probably best saved until the rebuild in 2 years.
Just started listening, the defaulting to playing vets who we know have serious faults over young players who might have serious faults is assanine.
Now at the development and roster construction, how you laid it out it seems like they have a specific kind of roster they want to build and try and make that work rather than seeing their collection of players and thinking “how do we maximize what we have”.
I think the biggest difference in what you think needs to be done with the Jets is how you view this team: – 1) looks at last year and thinks that was a great year we are close we need to go for it. 2) Looks at the Jets playoff performance and how the teams that made deep runs have looked, the roster problems and say we are not even close. Jets I believe incorrectly view themselves as a contender and you have to compete for a role because we are a good team. This organization is delusional they have way overestimated how good this team is based on regular season performance. I am tired of hearing about this is a good team based on the regular season this team won last year because they are deeper than most teams in the league not because they have elite talent. Fans and media memebers point to measuring stick games against The Panthers, Rangers, Avalanche, Stars, etc. Newsflash these teams are elite playoff contenders with elite talent they do not care about playing the Winnipeg Jets on a random friday night in November or January they are playing the regular season to get to the playoffs and try to win a cup it means nothing.
The Rutger McGroarty situation stems from a team that always bases it decisions on the short term and winning now. It is basically managerial malpractice you have to a vison and bechmarks for a team 3, 5, 10 years down the line and not to view McGroarty as an essential piece in this team future is just incompetence. Would it have been that difficult to make a concession to a key player in your future plans and say we are guaranteeing you 20 games in the NHL to start next year and we will re-evaluate after those 20 games. As an organzitaion you have to adapt or die, and after the Cutter Gauthier situation last year teams were on notice that this was an option players are now going to use. This generation of players is not going to tolerate being maniputlated and strung along by teams. The Jets are a decade behind and still suffer from the idea that they hold all the cards. Wake up players have all the power and it's not like they haven't dealt with situations like Trouba and PLD, the result they had to capitulate. The Jets always operate from the most conservative and safe route – the problem with this is that it is like the line from the move Rounders – "You can’t lose what you don’t put in the middle. But you can’t win much either." At some point you have to be agressive and truly go for it and playing young players is a risk but one you have to take to advance the team. Long story short the Jets short-sighted, rigid management style has cost this team arguably its most important and valuable player.
It appeaers Rick Bowness had one more present for the Jet's fans and organization setting an nuclear bomb and blowing up the current and future roster because of his stubborn deployment and roster management decisions. If you detach yourself and look at this from Rutger McGroarty's view why would want to play for this organization based on how all the prospects on this team have been treated and the lack of vision that is rampant at this point.
Sorry for the long winded rant but this is frustrating and should never have got to this point.
The development issues also include putting Chisholm and Kovacevic on waivers with little to no attempt to play them in the NHL, both are full time NHLers, instead they keep their 8 yr project Logan Stanley who has never shown even close to the talent Jets management thinks he has. As for Bones being the culture champion, maybe the first year, but his handling of the entire line up in the second half of the year was peewee league stuff at best, and I believe they asked him to retire, as they now need to rebuild the culture again. 2 steps forward then a whole bunch backwards