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<\/p>\nThe Winnipeg Jets won the Presidents\u2019 Trophy while setting a franchise record for most points in a season. They did not make it to the Western Conference final. Their offseason begins where those two facts intersect.<\/p>\n
There are decisions for the team and players to make this offseason that will have far-reaching impacts. Nikolaj Ehlers\u2019 uncertain UFA future is the most urgent, while Dylan Samberg and Gabriel Vilardi\u2019s next contracts will help determine Winnipeg\u2019s ability to keep the momentum going.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s Jets were a special team, worth celebrating \u2014 and\u00a0they have work to do to keep pushing forward. Resting on their laurels, even after the best season in franchise history, would come at next year\u2019s peril.<\/p>\n
Today, we break down the most important decisions of Winnipeg\u2019s offseason. First, though, a quick look at one area to celebrate and another that needs improvement.<\/p>\n
Biggest victory: A team culture where there are no passengers<\/p>\n
Apologies in advance: This section takes a Toronto Maple Leafs storyline and makes it about Winnipeg.<\/p>\n
When Leafs captain Auston Matthews criticized Toronto\u2019s Game 7 performance, saying the team had too many passengers for a game that big, I thought about the Jets. Not only did the Jets show up for each other in their biggest games of the playoffs \u2014 Game 7 against St. Louis, Game 5 and Game 6 against Dallas \u2014 Matthews\u2019 words made me consider what Adam Lowry might have said in the same moment.<\/p>\n
Lowry would not have called out his teammates without calling himself out first. More likely, he would have called himself out in specific terms, while keeping criticism of anybody else\u2019s performance to himself. We saw it when the Jets crashed and burned against Colorado in five games last year \u2014 Lowry took personal responsibility for his line giving up three goals to Nathan MacKinnon. His critique of the team\u2019s play was couched with the pronoun \u201cwe.\u201d<\/p>\n
They\u2019re different franchises with different histories and different paths to their second-round exits. It may not be fair to compare. But Lowry\u2019s leadership style was apparent during his postgame press conference in Dallas. He was emotional, but mature. When he spoke, he put his teammates above himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re a family,\u201d Lowry said, fighting back tears. \u201cYou want to give (Mark Scheifele) the strength. You want to get that kill so bad. We just couldn\u2019t do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matthews is one of the best players in the world. This is not meant to criticize him from thousands of kilometres away. But his comments are a reminder that Winnipeg\u2019s leadership is in exactly the right place, the result of a process begun by Rick Bowness and continued by Scott Arniel.<\/p>\n
Biggest problem: Great team defence with one glaring weakness<\/p>\n
Rewind the calendar by a year. Focus only on the Jets\u2019 critics, and it\u2019s clear: There\u2019s no way a season like this one should have been possible. No division title, no Presidents\u2019 Trophy, no William Jennings Trophy, no finalists for the Vezina Trophy, Hart Trophy or Jack Adams Award. If you had only believed the angriest Jets critics, the team was broken and needed to be rebuilt.<\/p>\n
There was one thing they were right about, though. Winnipeg\u2019s special teams had glaring issues. The power play and penalty kill combined to cost a 110-point team the 2024 division title, leading to a first-round matchup with Colorado, where the 62.5 percent penalty kill helped sink the series.<\/p>\n
This season, assistant coach Dean Chynoweth improved the penalty kill (slightly) while assistant coach Davis Payne\u2019s power play became the team\u2019s biggest improvement. Sometimes it\u2019s wise to listen to squeaky wheels.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s time to listen to the critics about one more thing. The Jets gave up a ton of goals through traffic these playoffs (again) and, based on roster construction, it\u2019s unclear how Winnipeg is meant to win the battle for the middle of the ice. Whether you blame Connor Hellebuyck for the goals against, the Jets defenders or both, the playbook to beat Winnipeg in the playoffs depends on beating the Jets in traffic and taking away Hellebuyck\u2019s sightlines. Put enough goals past him, and he can get rattled.<\/p>\n
Hellebuyck recovered from a miserable series against St. Louis to allow 13 goals in six games against Dallas, which will build confidence heading into future playoffs. Still, the Jets have long-term commitments to three very smart but undersized top-four defencemen in Josh Morrissey, Pionk and Dylan DeMelo. Bigger third-pairing defencemen like Logan Stanley, Luke Schenn and Colin Miller come with limitations. It\u2019s hard to see an immediate path to a solution.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re not moving the franchise goaltender. They\u2019re locked in on their top four defencemen, with a Samberg extension one of their top offseason priorities. Somehow, some way, the Jets are going to need to improve on this front \u2014 and probably faster than highly touted prospect Elias Salomonsson can make happen.<\/p>\n
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The Jets could use another Dylan Samberg. (Sergei Belski \/ Imagn Images)Biggest offseason priorities: Contracts<\/p>\n