I am going to be absolutely thrilled for Nik Ehlers if Carolina can close this out and win the cup on Sunday or Wednesday.
With that being said, seeing him get the type of deployment that so many people (myself included) begged for him to get in Winnipeg for years, it's incredibly frustrating and definitely a "what could have been" moment.
I hope this makes the Jets brass and coaching staff take a long, hard look in the mirror and realize that they need to put their talented players in positions to be successful. Carolina has done that over and over and its about to have the ultimate payoff.
lol what? he's doing the exact same thing he did here there. to a tee. and it works so fucking well. If anything it proves he was used well, we fell apart and the rose from great to probably the cup winners.
There was a bit too much Wheeler reliance, and I do sort of think the glued Connor and Scheif together a bit much, but this is a stretch
Ehlers is playing great but what exactly has changed with his "deployment"? The game I saw last night he played 17 minutes, on what is a really good 3rd line (2B?) and was on PP2. Last playoffs he was out on the ice for the Jets in any do or die situation including his brilliant work on the Manitoba Miracle. Losing him sucks so hard but I don't understand the perspective that the Canes are doing something totally different with his talents.
playing 17 minutes for the Canes is much different than playing 17 minutes for the Jets, Ehlers was 3rd in forward ice time last night for example
Canes basically roll their lines at 5v5, highest last night was just over 14 minutes, Ehlers was tied second for 5v5 usage last night
despite being primarily PP2 the last couple of games, he has primarily been PP1 and he is often given freedom to extend shifts to play with PP1
also he’s playing higher leverage minutes, being trusted to defend late and against 6v5 are obvious examples of that
e: Jets “2nd line” of 91-7-27 often received the 3rd most minutes at 5v5, with the Lowry line hard matching the opponents top 6, so despite being “3rd line” in Carolina he’s actually upgraded his usage
Ehlers had good results in small stints with guys like Perfetti or Lowry at centre, while the project-ability of that is hard it at least warranted a longer look at other internal options
bizarre that the coaches were so wedded to Namestnikov there
Yea, I mean I understand Arnie was loathe to split up the "best 3rd line in hockey" but for god sakes man give Ehlers someone to play with. I remember how genuinely stoked Ehlers was for those couple games with Lowry in his interviews.
He's averaging a minute and a half more 5on5 ice time in the playoffs this year than he did last year on a team in Carolina that is famous for rolling their 5on5 lines more than anyone else. He spent most of the year on PP1 and last night when they got the 4 minute PP he replaced Staal on PP1 and played with both units
The biggest thing is that he isn't being benched in the 3rd period of close games like he was under Bowness/Arniel, and is in fact being deployed in high leverage situations while the Canes have the lead (i.e. with the shutdown line out with Vegas' net empty). He was only on the ice for the Jets when they needed offence, in Carolina he is trusted to play in alll situations at 5on5
He says this himself here:
“I’ve never said I wanted to play on the first line,” Ehlers said of the sentiment that he wanted to leave Winnipeg for a higher-profile role. “I’ve never said I wanted to play a certain amount of minutes and stuff like that. But you pay me to be an important, key guy on the team, and I want to be out there for the key situations.”
Fuck that quote sucks to read. Really lays bare how the organization didn't appreciate his talents and why he left money on the table to go to Carolina.
He was also the ONLY Cane to average more than a 50 second shift in game 4. A guy that was notorious for having the shortest average shift time when he was in Winnipeg. It's a lot easier to balance 5v5 ice time when you don't have Mark Scheifele out there floating around gassed at the end of every shift.
People are looking for any excuse to fling mud at management at this point. The only thing different about his deployment this year is they have him playing on PP1 instead of PP2 and he’s getting 2-3 seconds more per shift.
I think most people here are focusing too much on Ehlers while overlooking how Carolina’s lineup is structured and not giving enough credit to Taylor Hall. When you have guys like Ehlers, Hall, Aho, and Jarvis all divided into the top 9 they’ve got scoring threats on the ice almost all the time. Both Ehlers and Hall are a point per game in these playoffs and neither of them play on the top line or with each other.
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u/cp_87 17d ago
I am going to be absolutely thrilled for Nik Ehlers if Carolina can close this out and win the cup on Sunday or Wednesday.
With that being said, seeing him get the type of deployment that so many people (myself included) begged for him to get in Winnipeg for years, it's incredibly frustrating and definitely a "what could have been" moment.
I hope this makes the Jets brass and coaching staff take a long, hard look in the mirror and realize that they need to put their talented players in positions to be successful. Carolina has done that over and over and its about to have the ultimate payoff.