NOT GOOD ENOUGH.
How many times have you heard that statement from Winnipeg players during the majority of the 51 post-game avails this season?
Probably about the same number of times that has been the brutally honest assessment from Scott Arniel.
But Saturday night, following as ugly a third period as we’ve ever seen at Canada Life Centre, the thoroughly dissatisfied head coach of the Jets mentioned “not good enough” three times in a 23-second response to a question posed by Winnipeg Free Press reporter Ken Wiebe on how to eradicate a performance at this point in the season that led to such an embarrasing result.
Get daily National news
And embarrassing was Arniel’s summation — twice — on how his team played during his first answer about the 5-1 loss to the Red Wings.
The coach’s news conference lasted barely a minute. But that was more than enough to illustrate
where this team stands with 31 games to play.
This past week was “supposed” to be the opportunity for Winnipeg to set the foundation and establish momentum for what is going to be an extremely difficult road trip.
And the Jets stumbled their way to one win in four games. They are actually 1-2-2 since reeling off four victories in a row.
Based on what we saw Saturday Night in particular, and pretty much the last three months in general, how many of the five games before the Olympic Break do you think Winnipeg are going to win?
One? None? I mean, we’re talking about going into New Jersey, Tampa Bay, Florida and Dallas before returning home to host Montreal a week from Wednesday.
The question GM Kevin Cheveldayoff has to be asking himself right now must be: Is this team, as it is currently assembled, capable of staying relevant heading into the March 6 trading deadline?
The answer has to be no. Not good enough.
Make that no, not “nearly” good enough.
Comments
Want to discuss? Please read our Commenting Policy first.