Winnipeg Jets

The Morning Skate: Reincarnated Jets make return to Buffalo

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Tonight’s game is going to be no different from either of the two visits the Atlanta Thrashers made to Buffalo last season. The only difference will be the color of their jerseys and the name on the scoreboard.

Still, tonight will be monumental for a reason other than the Winnipeg Jets flying back to Buffalo for the first time since the mid-1990s. This evening, Rick Jeanneret and Dale Hawerchuk will be enshrined in the Buffalo Sabres Hall of Fame. It should be a great ceremony as the last HOF induction I was present for (Andreychuk and Ellis) was quite stirring.

It is somewhat ironic that Hawerchuk will be inducted on the night Winnipeg returns to Buffalo. After all, it was with the Jets that Hawerchuk became a star. Of course, this is quite a different Jets team that will roll into First Niagara Center.

The Jets, who have struggled to find much consistency this season, will wrap up a seven-game road trip this evening. Winnipeg has taken seven of twelve points on the roadie despite dropping two of their last three (one in a shootout).

Buffalo is fresh off a back-to-back wins over Calgary and Ottawa over the weekend, two wins that put the Sabres back into the top eight in the Eastern Conference. Of course, the two-day lay off has brought a few teams back up to the Sabres in terms of points.

Jhonas Enroth played a big role in both wins, particularly Friday’s win over Calgary and has been quite good in relief of Ryan Miller as the team’s usual starter finds his way through a tough patch. Perhaps the best part of the two wins is that the rest of the Sabres roster has managed to pick up some slack from the Subway Line. While Thomas Vanek, Luke Adam and Jason Pominville have been held scoreless in the last two contests, the rest of Buffalo’s roster has managed to start finding the net.

Buffalo will certainly lean on their entire roster to find the net this evening. The Jets have had a few barn burners already this season (-10 goal differential on the season) but have tightened up the ship recently.

Highlighted Matchup

Tyler Myers and Andrej Sekera vs. Nik Antropov and Alex Burmistrov. Like Saturday in Ottawa, Lindy Ruff will certainly use more than one defensive pairing and one forward line to match Winnipeg’s two big scorers. The pair of Russians have 21 points (7+14) already this season and have been the most consistent offensive players for the Jets. Burmistrov’s agility plays off Antropov’s size nicely and the two seem to be establishing some chemistry. Obviously a sound defensive approach will be necessary to keep the pair quiet.

Projected Goaltenders

BUF: Ryan Miller 9GP, 4-5-0, 2.48 GAA, .922 SV%

WPG: Chris Mason 4GP, 1-2-0, 2.68 GAA, .893 SV%

Last Meeting

3/19/2011, HSBC Arena, Sabres 8 – Jets (Thrashers) 2

 

2ITB NHL preview: The East

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Another NHL season is upon us after a summer that was filled with more Buffalo hockey news than you could shake a stick at. The entire Eastern Conference saw a shake up over the summer and the conference could see a similar playoff race, with seeds 7-12 all within shouting distance of each other. I think the same playoff cast will return this season, but with a few minor changes: Continue reading →

Winnipeg Jets unveil new uniforms

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The Winnipeg Jets alleged logos and uniforms have been a fun topic of conversation this summer. After a surprise logo unveiling earlier in the summer, the Jets showed off their new jerseys today.

A close-up of the terrible vertical arm striping on the new Jets uniforms.

Overall the jerseys are pretty underwhelming. They don’t stink, which is a good thing. But they aren’t show stoppers. The blue home uniform looks good. The sleeve and waist stripes aren’t ridiculous and the color scheme works well. Aside from the main logo, the home uniform works.

As for the away jersey, it is awful. The sleeve stripes aren’t all that terrible. The light blue looks good. However that stupid vertical navy blue arm band is horrendous. There is no trim on it, so it is just floating out in space, part of it fills in between the horizontal stripes and it has no counterpart on the home uniforms. To top it off, it makes the horizontal stripes, which on their own would look good, look like something you see on a crossing guard.

i was really hoping the Jets organization would stay away from mistakes like this, especially those awful third jerseys. For the most part they did. They chose a cool color scheme with a very cool secondary logo and a fairly unique wordmark, depending on your taste. The boring logo doesn’t help much, but coupled with that idiotic vertical stripe, I can only hope the NHL goes to white jerseys at home so I don’t have to witness these in person.

On the bright side there is an opportunity for a baby (aviator) blue third jersey with that awesome secondary logo. Also, the numbers and letters are pretty unique, so that is a small victory.

Again, they’re not the worst things in the world. Just not worth all the waiting and fan fare. I think I may have taken the counterfeits over this model.

A look at the numbering and lettering on the new Jets uniforms.

New Winnipeg Jets logo = fail

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After quite a bit of hype, the Winnipeg Jets finally unveiled their new logos. Of course, they didn’t include the jerseys, just the logos. What I was left wondering was, is this seriously the best they could do? Honestly, I understand that True North wants to establish their own brand separate from the former franchise that now resides in Phoenix, but c’mon.

The former Jets logos, while similar, were iconic to the team. They also grew somewhat of a cult following after the team left. The same can be said for the Whalers and other defunct franchises.

My problem with this logo is that it is so bland. They do a good job playing off the True North name by giving the compass look, same with including a real jet. Those are really the only good points about the primary mark. Otherwise I just see the same thing as the Penguins Winter Classic, Florida and Columbus third jersey logos. Continue reading →

Jetting back north

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It is official. The announcement that the Atlanta Thrashers had been sold by the Atlanta Spirit Group to True North Sports and Entertainment took place yesterday at noon. True North has every intention to move the team to Winnipeg, despite the fact that the Thrashers were still selling season tickets at 11:00 AM, Tuesday.

This is not an official logo. But like New Coke, the New Jets need a face.

I am on the fence as to what this deal means for the NHL, hockey fans in Winnipeg and hockey fans in the United States. Atlanta shouldn’t have to suffer through losing a franchise. It is the second time they lost a hockey team, maybe the NHL should have kept that in mind when they awarded the franchise to Atlanta in 1999. Still, the few dedicated fans they have don’t need to lose their team. Still, the franchise was poorly run and suffered from day one. Continue reading →

Interesting development in the Coyotes situation

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I haven’t been doing too much reading about the Coyotes pending sale recently because I simply stopped caring. It became very monotonous to read the same thing over and over. So, I waited until something concrete developed. Finally, something did. I will defer to the TSN article for all the details.

I’m not sure if the city council vote could be viewed as a “Judgement Day” of sorts, but it is certainly a big step for the Coyotes future in Glendale. All signs seem to be pointing towards a positive vote. That means the city will give the NHL $25 million more to keep the team in the Desert for another year. Thus giving them another 365 days to figure out a sale agreement with a potential buyer, no matter who that may be.

The fact of the matter is that this is nothing more than a band-aid. The city is going to give away millions to keep a team that loses millions every season. It is time to face facts, there is a small number of passionate fans in that city, but there aren’t enough to support a NHL franchise. I understand that moving a team for the second time isn’t the solution to all the problems. However, it seems as if the Phoenix experiment has failed and it is time to evaluate a new future for the franchise.

Have we seen the final game in Glendale?

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Thanks to a largely inconsistent showing and questionable goaltending from Ilya Bryzgalov, the Phoenix Coyotes were dispatched in four games by the Detroit Red Wings.

The bigger story coming out of this series is the fact that many believe that the final NHL game has been played in Glendale. I’m not so sure that is the case.

Since Matthew Hulsizer came forward to purchase the Coyotes about 5,872 stories have been published regarding the pending sale. Some revolve around what Hulsizer needs to complete the purchase, some talk of the major opposition that the Goldwater Institute has posed and some talk about the potential move of the team to Winnipeg.

I have said in this space before that Hulsizer probably shouldn’t be allowed to buy the team with all of this public help. If he can’t leg the deal then so be it. I also think that Winnipeg deserves to have the Jets/Coyotes return. Continue reading →

Could the Fiesta Bowl be no more?

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This just in, a major member of the BCS is corrupt. You already knew that? Ok, nevermind.

It seems as if some mega-corruption on the part of the Fiesta Bowl has the future of the game in jeopardy. That has led some to question if that will affect the potential sale of the Coyotes. Continue reading →