JETS PLAN TO PUT PENALTY PROBLEMS IN THE PAST
Former NHL ref Devorski visits to help team with its discipline issues, writes Ken Wiebe.
It has been the conversation that just won’t go away, not to mention the Achilles heel for the Winnipeg Jets.
For the opposition, on many nights it’s been the gift that keeps on giving.
Discipline has been something the Jets have struggled with pretty much since the arrival of Paul Maurice as head coach.
Part of that was by design, considering the Jets made being hard to play against one of their priorities and core values after Maurice replaced Claude Noel behind the bench.
Playing a more physical game occasionally meant a few more trips to the penalty box and was considered the cost of doing business.
But as the Jets incorporated more skill into the lineup during the past two seasons, it was the type of penalties taken that were the main cause for concern. Tripping and hooking minors became more commonplace and those are the type of infractions that are easily avoidable.
The Jets have spent a good chunk of their on-ice sessions during training camp working on defensive positioning.
Reducing the number of minors they take, especially those that fall into the undisciplined category, is an important area of focus going into the new season.
The best way to improve a penalty-killing unit that was among the worst in the NHL last season is to take fewer minors.
It’s a mentality that needs to be ingrained, and it comes from better habits being formed.
At the end of last season, Maurice was looking for a way to combat the issue. That led to a phone call in the summer to Stephen Walkom, director of officiating for the NHL.
Further to that discussion, the Jets welcomed former NHL referee Paul Devorski to town on Friday for an interactive and informative session, aimed to help players get a better understanding of what the men in stripes are looking for.
“We’ve got a really young hockey team and we don’t like the number of penalties that we take,” Maurice said after Thursday’s pre-season game against the Minnesota Wild.
“Some of it is original position and some of it is that (the players) really don’t know what the standard is. So I wanted a referee to come in and talk to the players. It’s not about reading the rule book, but about what their tells are. What a ref is looking for, and just have that communication. It’s completely educational.”
During Friday’s session, players were engaged in a lot of oneon-one battles. When fatigue sets in, that’s often when stick fouls occur.
The interaction between the players and Devorski is also something Maurice believes will be important.
For several years, the Jets were known around the league for being a bit too vocal when it came to disputing calls and the organization is trying to move away from that reputation.
“(Players) never ever get a chance to talk to a referee and when they do, the language usually isn’t very good,” Maurice said.
There’s no guarantee that one session with a former NHL referee is going to help the Jets take fewer penalties. But it’s hard to imagine it won’t have some impact on the process.
“Hopefully, it can help us out,” Jets captain Blake Wheeler told reporters in Winnipeg.
“It wasn’t so much on the ice. Just little tidbits here and there, trying to get into their psyche a little bit. What they look for and some of the areas where you can be a little bit cleaner to avoid some of the penalties we don’t need to take.
“It’s an area we need to get better at, so we’re looking to exhaust any resource we can to try and get better.”
Attacking the issue head on and trying to build from that point is a smart approach, especially after watching a crackdown on slashing and faceoff infractions during the pre-season.
“It’s obviously something you have to continue to work at and continue to think about,” Jets centre Mark Scheifele told reporters. “That’s something we all have to do, we have to remind ourselves each and every game of what we can and what we can’t do.
“We’ve just got to be smarter, that’s about it. We get told, we see what happens around the league, what they call and we just have to be conscious of it each and every night.”
Ultimately, if the Jets don’t clean up the discipline issue, chances are it’s going to continue to haunt them.