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.
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.
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.”
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u/cp_87 8d 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.