How do the Winnipeg Jets get over the top? What can they realistically do to augment the group that beat the St. Louis Blues in seven games and then lost to the Dallas Stars in six?<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no Connor McDavid, Connor Bedard or Macklin Celebrini on the way. The Jets are too good to pick No. 1 and are on track to avoid the top 10 for years to come. Top UFA targets like Mitch Marner, Sam Bennett, John Tavares and Aaron Ekblad are unlikely acquisitions, too; even with stable ownership, cap space to burn and a Stanley Cup-contending roster, the Jets have never been a top UFA destination.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s remarkable, then, that the Jets finished No. 1 in the regular season standings at all. They\u2019re Cup contenders, pending Ehlers\u2019 future (or their attempt at his replacement) and they\u2019ve done it through a combination of savvy trades and by developing their own players \u2014 despite trading away a ton of draft capital in the name of winning. In this way, the Jets\u2019 poor UFA track record hurts them twice \u2014 by keeping top end talent out of Winnipeg on July 1 and by incentivizing trading first-round picks in search of No. 2 centres. That said, it also helps them by keeping Winnipeg away from albatross UFA contracts.<\/p>\n
But this isn\u2019t a case of a team running roughshod over the NHL, making it to the Stanley Cup Final and getting beaten by a fluke in Game 7 OT. The Jets are doing their best to maximize every avenue of talent acquisition and haven\u2019t made it as far as the third round since the Vegas Golden Knights beat them in 2018.<\/p>\n
That team believed it had the cavalry coming in the form of top young players maturing into bigger roles. This one is led by Connor Hellebuyck, Mark Scheifele and Josh Morrissey \u2014 all on the wrong side of 30. The window to win depends on that trio maintaining elite performance before inevitable age-related decline. Elias Salomonsson, Brayden Yager and Brad Lambert are good prospects but don\u2019t match the superstar potential of 2011-2016 first-round picks Patrik Laine, Kyle Connor, Ehlers, Morrissey, Jacob Trouba and Scheifele.<\/p>\n
So how do the Jets maximize this window? What can they do to take the next step in the playoffs before it\u2019s too late?<\/p>\n
These are bigger questions than typically get asked of first-place teams, but the urgency is real. The Jets\u2019 best players are still great but on the downswing of their aging curves. The next wave \u2014 Dylan Samberg, Gabriel Vilardi and Cole Perfetti \u2014 is entering its prime. What could come next that would lead Winnipeg to the Stanley Cup?<\/p>\n
The mythical Tkachuk acquisition<\/p>\n
This section is up there with \u201cdraft Connor McDavid\u201d as far as helpfulness goes, but there is a common thread that connects most of Winnipeg\u2019s recent trade targets. Whether it\u2019s Brandon Tanev, Luke Schenn, Alex Iafallo, Vladislav Namestnikov or Nino Niederreiter, the Jets have clearly tried to supplement their stars with players who are a pain to play against.<\/p>\n
Ideally, Winnipeg\u2019s star players would be a pain to play against in their own right. It\u2019s just not realistic to expect Connor, Scheifele and Vilardi to play on the edge like Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett or Brad Marchand do. The Panthers didn\u2019t draft any of those players, nor did they draft Sam Reinhart, but they\u2019ve been aggressive on the trade front, putting themselves first in line whenever a highly talented, playoff-ready curmudgeon becomes available. It\u2019s not Niederreiter or Namestnikov\u2019s fault they\u2019re not Tkachuk, but there\u2019s clearly a difference in outcomes when the truculence comes attached to a point-per-game star player.<\/p>\n
Winnipeg\u2019s solution may be to identify targets who are closer to the middle class \u2014 more impactful than Tanev or Namestnikov, more likely to be available than Tkachuk. Andrew Mangiapane is a pending UFA, for example. Tanner Jeannot was once thought to have offence in his game. As rare as it may be for a Tkachuk, Marchand or Tom Wilson-type player to become available, they could certainly add a valuable dynamic to the Jets.<\/p>\n
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The Jets could use another Dustin Byfuglien on the back end. (Gregory Shamus \/ Getty Images)The somehow yet more mythical Byfuglien acquisition<\/p>\n
Dustin Byfuglien was perhaps even more rare as a defenceman than Matthew Tkachuk is as a forward (and didn\u2019t have a heavy-hitting little brother in the league). He\u2019s not fair to invoke as a trade target or UFA signing, but useful to us as a symbol. Wouldn\u2019t Josh Morrissey have done better than getting outscored 6-2 if he had a massive, mobile, puck-moving force to help him clear the crease and get pucks up ice against St. Louis and Dallas?<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the score Winnipeg picked up in the playoffs with the Morrissey\/Dylan DeMelo pairing on the ice at five-on-five \u2014 a huge disappointment after they\u2019d won their regular season minutes 51-36 while controlling 55 percent of expected goals (via Evolving Hockey).<\/p>\n
Watching them get pounded on each puck retrieval vs. St. Louis \u2014 and then watching Morrissey get hurt, twice \u2014 should have been a call to arms for the Jets. They\u2019ve heavily invested in Morrissey, DeMelo and Neal Pionk and are about to heavily invest in Dylan Samberg. This makes for a smart, talented top four defence corps, but one that\u2019s more likely to take punishment than to dole it out. Add that disadvantage to Hellebuyck\u2019s woes fighting through traffic (and acknowledge that bigger D-men like Luke Schenn and Logan Stanley didn\u2019t help on this front) and the symbol of Byfuglien lives on.<\/p>\n
Aaron Ekblad isn\u2019t quite it, nor is Ekblad a realistic UFA target. Vladislav Gavrikov plays an effective, physical style, but is well-liked in Los Angeles. It\u2019s easy to understand why past versions of the Jets were so interested in Jamie Oleksiak, although he\u2019s not a top-four solution anymore.<\/p>\n
The uncertain path to a second-line centre<\/p>\n
Adam Lowry had hip surgery on Tuesday<\/a>. His recovery is expected to take five to six months, taking until the end of October or November. The Jets needed help at centre before Lowry\u2019s surgery and tried to acquire Brock Nelson at the trade deadline. As I wrote in March, the Jets believed they had a deal done<\/a> for Nelson at that time.<\/p>\n There are some wonderful UFAs available, Nelson included, but free agency isn\u2019t typically kind to the Jets. They\u2019re not going to sign Sam Bennett or John Tavares this offseason, although players of that caliber would clearly go a long way toward putting Winnipeg over the top.<\/p>\n Could the Jets trade for a centre instead of signing one? Andrew \u201cHustler\u201d Paterson put the idea to me on this week\u2019s Winnipeg Sports Talk and it\u2019s an easy idea to run with. Winnipeg sent three first-round picks away from 2018 to 2024 for pending UFA centres (Paul Stastny, Kevin Hayes, and Sean Monahan) who signed elsewhere on July 1. It seems as though Nelson may have signed elsewhere even if the Jets had acquired him at this deadline, too. Would it not make sense to trade for a younger centre with years of team control instead of waiting until the trade deadline to go after pending free agents?<\/p>\n Let\u2019s say the Minnesota Wild put 60-point RFA centre Marco Rossi on the market \u2014 a distinct possibility, given the 23-year-old\u2019s unhappiness with his usage. It\u2019s unlikely that a 5-foot-9, 182-pound centre is the solution to Winnipeg\u2019s playoff dreams but Rossi\u2019s skill is undeniable and he\u2019s not UFA eligible until 2029.<\/p>\n The example may not be ideal but the concept is strong. The Jets are going to keep throwing assets at their second-line centre hole until the position is filled. A younger option with team control would give Winnipeg long-term stability, while freeing up deadline day assets in the pursuit of other upgrades.<\/p>\n Cole Perfetti skates up the ice with Dylan Samberg in pursuit. (Harry How \/ Getty Images)A young player going supernova while the core is still great<\/p>\n Cole Perfetti is alone among current Jets with NHL experience, draft pedigree and enough youth to project a continued upswing. Dylan Samberg and Gabriel Vilardi have established themselves, but they\u2019ll each be 26 years old by the start of next season. Logan Stanley just turned 27; the Zdeno Chara dreams are history now.<\/p>\n In 2018, the Jets\u2019 great hope was that Laine, Ehlers, Connor, Morrissey and Trouba would develop into great players while Blake Wheeler, Scheifele and Byfuglien were still at their peak. It seemed realistic, based on the sheer volume of high draft picks and their early returns: the 2017-18 Jets got more than 100 goals from players who were 21 years old or younger when the season began.<\/p>\n Perfetti may strike closer to a point per game \u2014 especially if he replaces Nikolaj Ehlers on the first-unit power play \u2014 but there\u2019s only one of him. Lambert scored seven goals and 35 points in the AHL this year. Yager has yet to play at the AHL or NHL level, while Colby Barlow\u2019s playoffs offer long-term hope after a pedestrian 20-year-old season in the OHL.<\/p>\n This leaves Winnipeg with two shots at stunning star turns: Perfetti, 23, and Elias Salomonsson, who turns 21 in August. Salomonsson is Samberg-esque in his defensive intelligence, while skating better and achieving elite AHL results at a younger age than Samberg did. That doesn\u2019t mean he\u2019s a surefire NHL player this season \u2014 there isn\u2019t a lot of room at right defence \u2014 but it bodes well long-term. The Jets\u2019 defence corps is all right if\u00a0Salomonsson peaks early enough and at a high enough level while Morrissey and Samberg are still excelling in their roles.<\/p>\n Perfetti took an exciting step forward this season. The Jets would do well to look at a long-term extension this summer before power-play opportunity raises his price for a second time. Ideally Winnipeg would have two or three players in his position \u2014 or a lottery pick, which isn\u2019t in the cards \u2014 or even more promising signs from Lambert, Barlow and Yager relative to their age.<\/p>\n Connor Hellebuyck goes full Hellebuyck<\/p>\n This is the easy way out of the thought exercise. One way for Winnipeg to make it to the third and fourth rounds of the playoffs is for Hellebuyck to shake off his recent playoff misery. Hellebuyck could carry the Jets that far himself with a string of performances like Game 2 or Game 5 against Dallas \u2014 or, more spectacularly, like Round 1 against the Edmonton Oilers in 2021.<\/p>\n To watch Hellebuyck get shelled against St. Louis and then start to question himself \u2014 just as he did against Colorado last season \u2014 is to think Winnipeg needs to do a better job of insulating him from crease-crashing playoff brutality. Hellebuyck has been the best regular-season goalie of the past several years because of his reads and his positioning \u2014 but through processing power, not acrobatics. We\u2019ve seen multiple teams bully the Jets in the slot now, taking Hellebuyck\u2019s sightlines away from him such that he\u2019s left to scrap for positioning. He\u2019s gotten off his game, confessing last year that he tried to put too much on his own shoulders and this year that he started to doubt his own process as the goals piled up.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a tempting, easy out as far as projecting Winnipeg\u2019s success goes. Snap your fingers, give Hellebuyck league-average results, and Winnipeg is dealing with Edmonton in Round 3 right now instead of sorting out its offseason. And it\u2019s entirely possible that he gets hot at the right time, or finds a better way to manage net-front chaos against his Central Division rivals.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-2209047895-scaled.jpg\")
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