Make It Work, Scotty

With Craig Berube heading to Toronto and Carolina re-signing Rod Brind'Amour under new deals, a couple of bigger fish are out of the coaching pool that the Winnipeg Jets may have been fishing. There are still options for the team, but it almost seems like the team is simply doing its due diligence before naming associate coach Scott Arniel as the new bench boss. I fully understand why the Jets would go with Arniel after watching him work under Bowness for the last couple of seasons, but I feel like Arniel's appointment to the position may replicate problems that plagued Rick Bowness. After all, they worked together, so how are we getting different results?

This isn't an indictment of Scott Arniel's knowledge or coaching style, but it's an honest question about what will change after two seasons of watching Arniel operate under Bowness. Frankly, we saw the Jets struggle mightily while on special teams, and there wasn't a lot to like about their zone exits or entries for most of the season. If the rumours of shopping Nikolaj Ehlers is true, that's only going to get worse if a deal is made involving the slick-skating Dane.

Personally, I'd like to see a handful of younger guys get a chat with the Jets' brass. I was hoping Brind'Amour would become available, but that's off the table. I'm glad Berube is also off the market because I didn't think he was the right fit. Dean Evason and Todd McLellan are names that have been mentioned with Todd Nelson reportedly still on the radar, but his availability is a little tied up thanks to Hershey still playing in the AHL's Calder Cup Playoffs. Again, none of these are poor choice by any measure, but it might be time to go younger in Winnipeg after a number of well-aged hires.

Jay Woodcroft would be a name high on the list of people with whom I'd want the Jets to speak, but Gerard Gallant would be another guy whose resumé can't be ignored. If the Jets wanted to dip into the AHL a little further than Nelson, Dan Bylsma in Coachella Valley, Karl Taylor in Milwaukee, and Mitch Love in Calgary would all be excelletn candidates for an interview considering their recent successes in the AHL. Jeff Jackson at Notre Dame, Derek Laxdal with the Oshawa Generals, and Switzerland's Patrick Fischer would be interesting chats when it comes to the head coaching position as well.

If the position is truly Scott Arniel's to lose at this point, my hope is that he choose to play the kids. I get that Winnipeg has gravitated towards veteran players when they need to fill holes, but it's time for the "develop" part of the draft-and-develop plan to start bearing fruit. Players like Cole Perfetti, Brad Lambert, Ville Heinola, Nikita Chibrikov, and Parker Ford should probably get shots, and it would be best for the Jets to find a way to get the kids into the lineup to create a little salary cap room in case they have to add someone.

In terms of longer projections, Elias Salomonsson may need a little North American seasoning after his fantastic campaign in Sweden, but he shouldn't be kept down with the Moose if he proves he's ready. The same holds true for Thomas Milic who got his feet wet at the AHL level this season, and may be ready to compete for the backup spot in the next season or two. With the likes of Rutger McGroarty, Colby Barlow, Daniel Zhilkin, Dom DiVincentiis, and Jacob Julien looking like they may be ready to make the jump, the pipeline is only going to get clogged if some of these players aren't promoted. Arniel, assuming the job is his, would be wise to find roster spots for the guys in the previous paragraph.

The Jets showed this season that they're a good defensive club through the rigors of the regular season, but they were exploited by size and speed when the Avalanche figured out how to attack the Jets. Scott Arniel was part of the coaching staff behind the Jets' bench that looked absolutely dazed and confused about how to get the Jets rolling, and it was ultimately futile as the team went back to what didn't work so many times before in losing in five games. There's a way out of this, but will Arniel accept it?

No one is saying the Jets need to go all-in on analytics, but to deny the numbers and trends outright while building lines that get pinned in their own zone for minutes at times is the recipe for another disaster come the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs. I get that Bowness never found a use for those analytics beyond using them as talking points, but Arniel needs to be far more aware of what the numbers are saying when it comes to how the Jets are playing. Assuming he'll be named the head coach, this is one small change he can make that can have a world of difference.

In the end, the Jets are still without a coach as we approach one month prior to the NHL Entry Draft. I'm curious as to how long the Jets will continue their search because it seems like they're talking to candidates, but I'm not sure there's a lot of substance to those chats. Whether they're waiting for Nelson or looking at others, it's hard to imagine they look elsewhere with Arniel already under contract, but it seems this process will continue.

As Montgomery Scott once said on Star Trek, "The more they overthink the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain." If the Jets do, in fact, hire Scott Arniel as their next head coach after talking to a number of candidates, what was the point of wasting everyone's time? And if he is hired to be the next coach, how will things change from what we've already seen in two-straight postseasons? Two wins in ten playoff games in two seasons can't be the acceptable standard.

Make it work, Scotty... assuming you're the next head coach.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!