Alexei Ponikarovsky Will Help Provide Something the Jets Have Been Missing: Size (Photo by Andy Martin Jr)
If anything stands out in the Winnipeg Jets' off-season so far, it's the move towards becoming a bigger team.
Be it through the draft, free-agent acquisitions or players who've moved on, there is no doubt the Jets brass is making an effort to address one of their roster's biggest shortcomings, the lack of size.
The trend started with the NHL Draft on June 29. Youngsters Jacob Trouba, Lukas Sutter and Ryan Olsen will provide height and a lot of bulk down the road where it's needed the most: on defense and especially through the middle.
Free agents Alexei Ponikarovsky and Ollie Jokinen are two big bodies that will play a physical game and contribute immediately on the power play and the penalty kill. Jokinen, in particular, has versatile enough skills to help the Jets in every aspect of the game. Free agent goalie acquisition Al Montoya is another big person who will tend the nets for the Jets, along with starter Ondrej Pavelec.
Two other recent signings, Ben Maxwell and Mark Dekanich measure in at 6'1' and 6'2', respectively, with both weighing 190 plus pounds. Maxwell played in the Jets system, mostly with the St. John's Icecaps last year. Dekanich saw action with the Milwaukee Admirals, the Nashville Predators AHL affiliate.
On Wednesday 5'9' 180 lb. speedster, Tim Stapleton, signed with Dinamo-Minsk of the KHL after the Jets showed little interest in re-signing him. So far one of last season's most pleasant surprises, and another small member of the team, Kyle Wellwood, has yet to be re-signed by the team after becoming an unrestricted free agent.
For several decades the game evolved to become more physical and less wide open while players were also becoming bigger and bigger. One of the results of the rules being altered after the 2004-05 lockout was a propensity for teams to take more chances in signing players who lacked size. The rule changes clamping down on unnecessary holding, hooking and contact, allowed for smaller players to be more effective. Over the past 8 years it's become obvious to NHL management that size may not be necessary, but it's still great to have. Everyone will take the great little guy, but they'd choose the great big guy first every time.
http://jets.nhl.com/club/newsindex.htm?location=/news
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/winnipeg-jets-score-signing-olli-jokinen-fans-042800533–nhl.html by Adam Martini
This article was originally published at: The Hockey Writers.
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