How can you sense when a team or coach is desperate? Well in
the case of the Winnipeg Jets, it's when you see arguably their best defenseman
playing forward. Is he the most effective D man? No, that would be Zach
Bogosian. Is he the best option for the future? No, that would be Jacob Trouba.
So what is the problem then? Well, he can't really play forward...
Coach Claude Noel did this last year when the team went off
the rails and it was a disaster. His conditioning last year was not good enough
to play a hard 30-45 second shift. I would argue that he is in better shape
this year, but I'm not confident he will be able to keep up. And yes, I know he
won a Stanley Cup playing with Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. In case you
were wondering, they don't happen to play on the Jets...
I suppose their is a chance this could work and maybe there
is some upside to this move. As far as I'm concerned, all your doing is running
the risk of diminishing your best trade asset. If you don't want Byfuglien on
your defence, trade him. The return for a "#1" defenseman would be
huge. Of course that would suggest that GM Kevin Cheveldayoff would ever make a
transaction that isn't a waiver pickup during the season.
If the coach actually makes it through the season, look for
Byfuglien and maybe even Evander Kane to get traded at the draft. If Noel
finally gets held accountable for this mess then all bets are off. I do know
this, there are 20 teams in the NHL that
would trade for Byfuglien today...as a D man, not a forward. And lastly this,
what message is Noel sending to his team and his GM? Obviously he feels they
are not good enough.
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