Not much left to say about Winnipeg or the Jets after that self-indulgent Saturday thread, other than they beat Detroit the other night 4-2, and also to watch what they do on defense. I made note of the fact that Claude Noel may be a hopelessly AHL coach in an NHL world, and sure enough,
an Oilers blog has pointed out that both Noel and Dallas Eakins of the Oilers are running variants on a "swarm." It's basically what it sounds like: you triple or quadruple up on the puck-carrier along the boards to take away passing options and force a turnover. The flaw, though, seems to be that it's best suited for mismatch-laden minor-league play, where many players you face are likely to be dumb and/or slow. The talent gap isn't there in the NHL, and so players are fast enough and/or smart enough to get out of a swarm, so suddenly having all your defenders loading up on one spot looks rather foolish. Fittingly, Noel (once of the Moose) and Eakins (once of the Marlies) are coaching two of the worst teams in the West.
Jets: 6-8-2, 4-9-3 adjusted, 12.266 points expected (sort of underachieving)
Hawks: 9-2-4, 7-4-4 adjusted, 18.584 points expected (inconsequential difference)
Jets: 2.313 scored (23rd), 2.875 allowed (23rd), -0.563 differential (22nd)
Hawks: 3.333 scored (3rd), 2.667 allowed (13th), 0.667 differential (9th)
Hawks penalty kill, still bad
_________________
Molly Lambert wrote:
The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.
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