Expect Some Turbulence

Time to buckle up Jets fans, all indications suggest it will be a bumpy ride

Yes, the entire city, and frankly a good chunk of the country, is eagerly anticipating the official return of the Winnipeg Jets to NHL hockey this coming Sunday.

The buzz has been building ever since the Stephen Brunt article hit the web back in May, and has only grown with the release of the new logo and uniform that is being worn in some fashion by approximately 97% of the local population (the faded women's v-neck t-shirt is borderline spectacular).

When you factor in the blitzing media coverage provided by Hockey Night in Canada and TSN (radio and television), the dominating water cooler talk in every business and social setting, and of course the total panic surrounding all those not fortunate enough to have gotten in on season tickets, the love-in for all things Jets has reached its crescendo.

Because the moment the puck leaves the hand of Bobby Hull, or Stephen Harper (or whomever it is that gets the call for the monumental moment) and hits the ice, well, all the anticipation and pure joy for the return of NHL hockey will fade to the background. From that point on it will be about results.

There is no doubt this franchise will have a grace period - five years of confirmed sellouts guarantees that. No one expects this team to win the Stanley Cup this year, or even next. But playoff hockey in the near future is on the minds of many locals, and to reach that goal, players will need to develop and wins will need to be accumulated.

And that is where the conversation gets tough.

In Evander Kane, Zach Bogosian, and Ondrej Pavelec, the Thrashers have provided the Jets with a solid group of young players to build around, and it looks like Zinger and Chevy drafted another piece to include in Mark Scheifele. Andrew Ladd, Dustin Byfuglien and particularly Tobias Enstrom form a nucleus of better than average veterans to lead the way.

That group absolutely represents promise, and has upside to believe in. The problem is that outside of Enstrom, none of those players represent bonafide first line NHLers. Not today anyways. The young guys all have the potential to get there, but potential can't be expected to immediately translate into wins.

The problem begins with the rest of the roster, which is filled mostly with 3rd and 4th liners, who other than the soulless Nick Antropov and the disinterested Kyle Wellwood, should play passionately in front of what promises to be an all-out crazy home barn. But passion and grit can only get you so far (like about 10th place in the East).

The Jets first line of Ladd, Bryan Little and Blake Wheeler is actually a decent second line or a great third line on a championship caliber team. Kane, Burmistrov and Antropov are again, a decent third line. Scheifele and Eric Fehr (when he returns) represent 2/3's of another decent third line. The Tanner Glass's, Ben Maxwell's, Tim Stapleton's, Chris Thorburn's, Patrice Cormier's and Jim Slater's of the world are great to have when they combine to fight for the 12th and 13th forward spots. But when you need to dress three or four or even five of them a night, well, that's not a good sign.

I expect this team to feed off the home crowd and play winning hockey in front of the MTS Centre faithful, but struggle mightily on the road. On that note, the early schedule could be cruel, with Winnipeg playing only 4 of their first 15 games at home, including a 7-game road-trip through the Eastern conference from Oct.27 to Nov.8.

Head coach Claude Noel along with the management duo of Zinger and Chevy have done a great job establishing a culture and identifying their model for success.

Hopefully Jets fans have the patience to allow them to stick to it.

The Forgotten Star

Only 3 defenceman have out-scored Winnipeg's Tobias Enstrom over the last two years

On the day the Winnipeg Jets opened training camp for the first time in 15 years, one storyline continued to dominate local headlines.

That would be Dustin Byfuglien, who, thanks to his ongoing legal matters as well as his Prince Fielder-like figure, has been heavily (couldn't resist) focused on.

Before Big Buff started getting the Kate & Will treatment from the Winnipeg media, the spotlight had mostly been occupied by Andrew Ladd. He was the first Jet to touch down in the 'Peg after the team officially relocated, and his new five year contract, along with his recent stats, Stanley Cup pedigree, and Western Canadian upbringing gave fans reason to feel comfortable with their instant attachment to the new captain.

The tragic suicide of Rick Rypien was obviously big news as well, while the hometown heroes (Fehr, Gregoire, Meech), and potential young stars (Kane, Little, Pavelec, Burmistrov and Scheifele) have each received their fair-share of print.

Lost amongst all those storylines is that of a 27 year-old Swede who just might be the NHL's most underrated player.

Tobias Enstrom was drafted eight rounds into the 2003 Entry Draft (239th overall), and despite putting up solid numbers and progressing in each of his four NHL seasons (he was an All-Star in 2010-11), hasn't stopped being overlooked by the hockey community.

When you think about Duncan Keith, Nicklas Lidstrom, and Dan Boyle you instantly recognize them as elite NHL defencemen who provide excellent offensive output and quarterback their teams' powerplays.

What most people don't realize is they are also the only three d-men to register more points (Keith - 114, Lidstrom - 111, Boyle - 108) over the last two years than Enstrom (101).

What Enstrom lacks in stature (he is listed at 5'10 and 175) he makes up for with skill and savvy, and after finishing in a tie for fourth amongst defencemen with 28 powerplay points last season, Jet fans and the entire hockey community won't be overlooking him much longer.

Heartbreaker Doesn't Have to be The End

Next 20 games will define this Blue Jays season

What was hopefully the final episode of "The Maybe Jon Rauch Can Close for Us Show" doesn't have to be the climax of Toronto's season.

There is no doubting Thursday afternoon's loss to Tampa was deflating for both players and fans. Coughing up two separate extra-inning leads is a tough way to lose a series, and when you factor in the momentum they had going and that a Jays win would've moved them into a virtual tie in the standings with Tampa, it hurts even more.

Toronto lost an opportunity to announce, "Hey, for the next few years, it's gonna be us scaring the Red Sox and Yankees, not you". Instead, John Farrell inexcusably sat nailed to the bench while Rauch threw the Rays batting practice. (Note: Anthopoulos has done just about everything right, but putting four guys who think they could or should be closing in the same bullpen was a disaster.)

The Jays (particularly Farrell and especially Rauch) may have come up short in the Tampa series, but there is still reason to believe this team can bounce back, continue to position itself as a real threat beginning next year, and perhaps even put a tiny bit of heat on the Yankees for this year's Wild Card.

With a suddenly very appealing everyday core of Bautista, Lind, Escobar, Rasmus, Arencibia, and Lawrie, an elite top of the rotation duo (Romero + Morrow), and a collection of adequate 4/5 starters, the Blue Jays immediate future is as bright as its been since 1994.

With that group of players and a revamped bullpen, another quality starter, and a live body replacing Aaron Hill's corpse at second base, the Jays will open the 2012 season as a legitimate, albeit underdog, playoff contender.

But let's not forget about this year.

Beginning on Friday, the next 19 games stack up like this for Toronto: in BAL (3); vs OAK (3); vs LAA (3); in SEA (3); in OAK (4); vs KC (3).

I'm not saying they're going to feast on that schedule...but if they ever had it in them to really go streaking, well, this seems like a pretty likely stretch of games to do it, right?