In a rare chance for the Jets they face a team at home who played the night before. While Winnipeg is far from isolated it is a bit of an anomaly in geographic terms as only Minneapolis and Chicago are the only close cities in the same time zone.
The Devils lost last night against the revamped Wild and limp into Winnipeg having lost their last 3 games and 5 and 5 for the past 10 games. The Devils are led by Patrik Elias who has 20 points in 24 games while the Jets have seen the recent surge of Evander Kane take over the scoring lead from Kyle Wellwood with 12 goals and 7 assists.
Kane is turning into the offensive threat so many have speculated and hoped he would be. He is a dynamic skater with a laser wrist shot who brings the home crowd to its feet when he rushes. Kane’s early seasons struggles were well documented here and in other publications and since the 7 game road trip he has changed his off-ice activites subsequently his on-ice play has improved immensely.
As the Jets seemed to have moved beyond a struggling offense the Devils face their own challenges with their superstar forward in Ilya Kovalchuk. He has struggled with only 6 goals and 9 assists thus far as the Devils hold a one-point edge on the Jets and cling to 10th spot in the West. Kovalchuk and the Devils came alive near the mid-way point of last season and after being left for dead in the east and the entire league made a push to almost make the post season. The threat of a great team rising up is still there and the Jets would be wise not to underestimate tonight’s opposition.
Kyle Wellwood has made a more than a few headlines in Winnipeg for his play as much as his route to success (finally) in the NHL. I mentioned to one reader I had a theory for Wellwood’s success and he said ‘if you don’t present it, you can never say you were right or wrong when it’s time to make your conclusion’- so here it is.
Wellwood has always played on teams with true superstar players- elite playmakers and scorers. Wellwood is a playmaker through and through but he also possesses incredible puck smarts and a keen sense of position but he needs the right complimentary position and team mates. In Toronto he was pushed down behind Sundin and Antropov. In Vancouver he was slotted behind Sedin and Kesler and the same problem existed in San Jose. Wellwood’s size and and stature make him a hard choice to be a number one centre but he has much of the skill to be one.
The Jets do not possess any one player who truly stands head and shoulders above all, although Kane is expected to be that player. They do have a more ‘blue-collar’ approach to offense but they also do not roll a bottom six designed to shut-down or grind out the opposition. Claude Noel wants to roll scoring-lines and this may be why Wellwood is finding success. Wellwood was never going to find success by fighting what he does best and no coach was going to benefit from him by having him play third and fourth line minutes.
When given players, who need the smarts and intuition Wellwood possesses, he makes them better. He needs players who are set out to score, while playing the same roll his skill set helps. The Jets provide a hybrid offense where scoring is done by committee and players are encouraged to think offensively. Early indicators are that this is a match for Wellwood after the quarter-pole of season. What happens after is still up in the air but with more 20 for 60 there is no reason Wellwood cannot break his scoring mark for the season.
Game time is an hour early at 6:00 PM CST. I’ll be down at the MTS Centre tonight and talking to players post game. If you see me around come up and say hello, I love talking hockey.
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Have a great Day
Winnipeg Jets Blogger •Winnipeg Jets Writer • 
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