From First Place To Dead Last…

What the heck is going on with the Winnipeg Jets? Seriously. It’s crazy what one year can do. This team was unstoppable in the regular season last year. And this season you ask? Dead last. So what went wrong and what do I think should be the best plan of attack going forward for the Winnipeg Jets?

Drop a comment down below as I read and interact with every single one! Thanks for all the continued support guys and I will see you in the next one! #nhlhockeyislife #nhl #nhlteams #hockey #hockeyplayer #hockeyteams #winnipeg #winnipegjets #hockey

36 comments

  3. It’s tempting to say that getting to draft the first pick of the 2026 NHL Draft (be it Gavin McKenna or someone else [ 2:11 ]) will make all of the problems of the Winnipeg Jets go away. sure, a top-five draft pick, if the right one is drafted, will help the Jets to some degree but ice hockey, like basketball, is a team game. The Raptors, during the 2016 NBA Draft, drafted Pascal Siakam, 27th and thus late in the first round. During the third season following that draft, he would be integral to helping the Raptors win to date their only NBA championship. The Oilers also have drafted some studs, with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl having been integral to helping that team qualify for consecutive Stanley Cup finals.

    What about various busts? There have been a huge number of them over the years, and if the Jets aren’t careful, they may will be stuck with a highly-touted prospect taken way too soon. The Oilers have made those mistakes too, with Nail Yakupov they had drafted, during his draft year, first, but who would not last beyond the sixth season following that draft before he pretty much would run out of NHL teams that had wanted to sign him. It’s not likely he will ever play in the NHL again, with his having played for multiple teams in the KHL, the highest level men’s pro-hockey league of his homeland, since the Avs, the last NHL team for which he would get to play, having not extended him a qualifying offer after the expiry of that contract of his would have, had he received a qualifying offer, made him a restricted free agent.

  8. Ehlers was the fastest Jets skater and backed defender off with his zone entries and created space for his linemates. He was also the best Jets' 5v5 point producer. And couple his loss with the loss of Appleton & Kupari, the Jets lost their 3 fastest skaters.

    And then they were replaced with Toews, Nyquist & Pearson. All 3 guys well past the age of 30, and slow. And Toews was expected to be a 2C, which was ludicrous to those of us paying attention. And thus, the Jets had no back-up plan if he wasn't able to fulfill the 2C role. And alas, he hasn't come close to being a 2C. But they sure paid him like a 2C.

  12. When Connor isn't playing like the best goalie in the world, they need goals. He covered up so many warts for so long, and now when he's having a down year, the team doesn't have the offense to bail him out. They didn't plan for this, they couldn't replace what the lost in Nik, and somehow, Toews looks like a 37 year old that didn't play hockey for over 2 years. Crazy.

  15. The Jets need more than 1 person, but if they can stockpile some good capital for this year's draft, shipping Stanley, for example, to get back a 2, and try and get some peeps that will be ready in 2 years. I think that's the ideal scenario. But right now the Jets org seems to be stuck in the 90's when it comes to developing, they are WAY too slow at it, the speed of today's NHL for development is a couple of years sometimes less, but for the Jets, it feels like decades. Right now, with the poor talent pipeline Chevy has left the team, there is no light at the end of the tunnel as he only seems to want to acquire over-the-hill vets.

  16. 1) trade Josh Morrissey
    2) see if Kyle Connor wants to go play in Detroit
    3) trade neal pionk
    3) trade or waive nino, vlad, Stanley, demelo, iafallo, Nyquist, pearson, schenn, Fleury

  17. Ehlers was driving the second line for a decade. He had a slow start to a new team but has since been close to a ppg.

    But Winnipeg also lost speed on the forecheck outside of him, Appleton went and they picked up considerably slower players. It was easier for the Jets to use their depth when they had a fully functioning second line, Ehlers was also was kinda the magic touch on the PP last year.

  18. Yeah this season is a wash, play for a top pick now, maybe give Toews the option to try again as a 4th liner but we need some moose to put their big boy pants on and show up when they get a chance. Lambert, Chibrikov, salomonsen

  19. It's partially okay to rely on one or two good lines, as long as the other lines don't get scored against. Look at the stats, really brutal stats. They should have changed the lines a long time ago. When Hellebuyck was out, they should have played more defencive hockey, but they got clobbered. Is it too late? Well, to maybe clinch a wildcard spot, they'd have to win at least 30-32 of the remaining games. Even that might not be enough, because the other teams are also gathering points either by wins or extra time points. Everyone always picked on Logan Stanley, but it seems he's the guy who always stands out when the Jets struggle. He's having his career best season right now, while his team is tanking. He's a big player and just like Zdeno Chara, it took some time for him to fully develop into a top defenceman. Their second line has to be demoted to 4th with some new talents added. It's been years since rookie prospects have entered into the roster for a full season.

  20. was so good to meet you yesterday! I think your vids are great! my wife asked after… did you get a selfie i said no i was too nervous. lol keep kickin that ass bro! happy new year!

  22. They don't have the speed to replace what Ehlers gave. They're not letting the young players come up and give a shot. Not having Helle for a while there hurt the team morale wise, losing a bunch like that with Coms goaltending, expecting to win when he comes back and not preforming to back him up when he did. It's quite unfortunate, but might as well tank, try to get a good pick, and retool for the next season hopefully (trades aswell).

  23. I am pretty confident the management group for the Jets recognizes that there is not a knee jerk moment here. I also don't think this team is that bad that by the end of March it is in the bottom 5 of the league. There is a team here that is capable of a huge run up the standings.

  25. I feel Jets shouldn't draft Mckenna and take Stenberg.

    I feel Mckenna has higher upside but few reasons
    1. He left medicine hat to go Penn State he's making 700k a year there. If jets try to say spend seasons in AHL I could see him being mad wanting trade go from 700k to 110k on Moose. Another poorly developed player. Either way both will get top 6 minutes.
    2. Ik players like McDavid are trained on how to talk media some guys I don't think are great people(kindaAholes) but try and look good for camera. Stenberg seems more down to earth willing to learn. Similar to when Montreal drafted Slavkovsky over Wright.

  27. Jets need to go younger. they keep bringing in these dinosaurs to fill spots but we need to be faster and heavier. need to stop wasting all these years letting all these prospects "over ripen" in the AHL while the big club flounders in mediocrity. No reason we should've gone from President's Trophy to last place returning 95% of the same squad.

    Cuts:
    Logan Stanley is a liabilty.
    Comrie is not the answer at #2

    Youth Movement:
    Braeden Yager,
    Sascha Beaumedienne
    Brad Lambert
    Colby Barlow
    Alfons Freij

    add a legitimate #2 goalie that can handle 16-24 games and win at least 50% of them.

    after world juniors i'm less certain about McKenna. He's great dont get me wrong but Jets have a propensity for Swedish players Ivar Stenberg is NHL ready in size and plays a heavier game. We need more of that

  28. I may be completely wrong about this. So, the ownership really controls the team. And from an ownership perspective, they’re looking for short term profit.
    What I mean is that as an owner, your budgeting is calculated based on the regular season. Playoff money goes straight into their pockets.
    So the owners and fans have different priorities.
    Owners just wanna get a playoff round or two. Then they’re happy.
    Fans want to win it all. And tanking is a way to guarantee that you won’t make it to the playoffs for a number of years.

    Sure, ownership would love multiple deep runs and a dominant team, but that is rare.
    More common is the mushy middle; where you can count on a playoff round once a year.
    Worst case scenario, is to openly embrace rebuilding and become buffalo,

  29. They lost 4 key players, one in each line, without them they lost there speed, they lost Ehlers, Mason appleton, Kupari, without them there just a normal team

  31. Missing 2nd line center for several years. Last year they had a phenomenal regular season with above average scoring from average players above average goaltending and solid team defence. This year every one of those areas has been exposed. At this point the Jets need to cut slow veteran players like Schenn, NyQvist, Pearson and bring up Lambert, Chibrikov, Salimonsson and play them. Stay at the bottom of the league and get the high draft pick.

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