So the bench boss went on record with the media by saying that the performance of Eric Fehr has to be better. Noel pulled no punches in his interview and put his point across as a matter-of-factly as one possibly could.
I suppose the ball is now in Fehr's court and many Jets fans are waiting to see what the big forward will do after being singled out in such a manner.
Now keep in mind, Fehr is coming off yet another shoulder surgery which I am sure is in the back of his mind every time he takes the ice. Another point that should be noted is that he has seen very limited ice since his return from injury. He currently is playing anywhere from 5-7 minutes on the 4th line. Tough to make an impact with those limited numbers.
Now don't get me wrong, Noel is bang-on in his interview. Fehr
does need to show more. Much more. As a Cap fan during the hiatus of the Jets I was well-versed in the ability of Fehr. Unfortunately he is finding himself in the same position on the Jets squad as he did as a Cap. The one difference being, the Caps were a MUCH more talented squad than the Jets are. He was NEVER going to break onto the top-six forwards of that group. With the Jets he should easily replace Nik Antropov's points or that of a Tim Stapleton (nothing against Stapleton).
If I were running the club I would give Fehr 3 more games to prove to me he is in a mental state that will allow him to perform at his best level and feed him second-line ice time. If the Jets aren't willing to offer up that kind of ice time then they are better off sending him to St. John's so that he can get the quality ice time he will require to find both his game and his confidence.