Adam Proteau analyzes the Winnipeg Jets, shootout records for the Seattle Kraken and Los Angeles Kings and career highs for Buffalo's Tage Thompson and Rasmus Dahlin.
This is another edition of Screen Shots, a regular THN.com column in which we analyze and discuss a few different hockey topics. This time, it's about the Winnipeg Jets, the shootout records of the Seattle Kraken and Los Angeles Kings, and career highs for some Buffalo Sabres. As always, we’ll get straight to it.
The Winnipeg Jets are backsliding toward the NHL’s March 3 trade deadline, going 6-8-0 since Jan. 16. Their mediocre performance has allowed the Minnesota Wild, Seattle Kraken and Colorado Avalanche to creep close to them in the race for one of the top six playoff seeds in the Western Conference.
It’s still a fight the Jets are likely to win, at least in terms of just being a playoff team, but they’ve made it much harder on themselves with this sag in play. And with news that winger Cole Perfitti will be sidelined for the next eight weeks with an upper-body injury, Winnipeg absolutely needs to use their $9.1 million in salary cap space (as per CapFriendly) to address its health issues.
The Jets have some clear needs – another above-average forward and a top-six experienced defenseman – and Winnipeg GM Kevin Cheveldayoff is facing a massive amount of pressure to put his team on course for a deep playoff run. But the Jets have shown in the past few weeks they probably shouldn’t be on anyone’s shortlist to win a Stanley Cup.
That may change if they make a big enough splash on the trade front, but as it stands, the Jets are in the second tier of teams in the West – and they absolutely could use an infusion of new blood.
Meanwhile in the Pacific Division, we’re seeing Seattle start to fade and Los Angeles start to roll. In their past seven games, the Kings have lost just once in regulation time (4-1-2), and they’ve won five of their six shootout games this season, including a Feb. 18 win over Arizona, for a top-five shootout mark in the league. The Kraken, on the other hand, have gone just 3-5-1 in their past nine games, and their shootout record is 0-3.
Say what you will about the fairness of the shootout, but teams that are good at it are rewarded in the standings. Indeed, with the closeness of the wild-card playoff contenders – and the race for the third Pacific Division position – it’s accurate to say a team’s shootout efficiency plays a notable role in where it winds up in the pecking order. Teams with shootout specialists can use that particular talent to gain the slightest edge over their opponents.
The quicker Seattle figures out how to win its shootouts, the more stable it’ll be in their fight to secure a playoff spot – and the longer the Kings thrive in shootouts, the more points they can put between them and every other team in the division other than the first-place Vegas Golden Knights.
Finally, it must have been great for Sabres fans to watch the team beat Tampa Bay and have Buffalo’s long-term forces make important contributions.
Blossoming superstar winger Tage Thompson had a hat trick – his fourth of the season – and blueliner Rasmus Dahlin chipped in a pair of assists in the Sabres’ 6-5 victory over the Lightning. Thompson’s third goal of the night also was his 39th of the season, breaking his career-best mark from last season.
And Dahlin has 14 goals this season, one better than his previous career high, and his 62 points this year are far and away much better than his previous career high of 53 last season.
We still feel good about Buffalo beating the odds and landing a wild-card spot, but unless they surprise people and win the Jakob Chychrun sweepstakes, the Sabres are almost assuredly going to lean on their offense to win games. And having two legitimate stars at two key positions can only help them in that regard.