As the Winnipeg Jets prepare for the next NHL season, the buzz around their projected lineup has started to commence with fans wondering what they can expect to see from the 2025-26 team.
It’s very early to say what the coaching staff decide to roll out with but Daily Faceoff has started its early predictions for the Jets’ lineup and it appears to have some accurate aspects to it.
Photo by James Carey Lauder/USA Today
We look to break down the projected top 12 forwards and how likely it is for the lines to come into fruition come opening night. With the help of MoneyPuck, we’ll be looking at some numbers available for the lines past performance and how successful they were.
Advertisement
1st Line: Kyle Connor – Mark Scheifele – Gabe Vilardi
No line in the NHL played together more than Winnipeg’s top trio. With 907 minutes played together over 71 games, this unit will almost certainly remain together as they were the second-best scoring line in the league with 48 goals. The only issue is that the Jets still haven’t agreed to terms yet with Vilardi as he is a restricted free agent.
However, with the level of success he found last season on this line it’s hard to imagine he wouldn’t re-sign. Out of the Jets’ 275 goals last season, Connor, Scheifele, and Vilardi combined for 107 goals, finishing as the team’s top three scorers in that order.
2nd Line: Cole Perfetti – Jonathan Toews – Gustav Nyquist
Advertisement
Perfetti saw his biggest highlight of his career with a game-tying goal in the final two seconds in Game 7 of the first round versus the St. Louis Blues last postseason. This was the exclamation point on a stellar season as the 23-year-old finished with a career-best 50 points, including 18 goals and 32 assists.
He will now get the opportunity to play with a hall-of-fame talent in Toews and a consistent 45-50 point player with upside as high as 75 points which he recorded in 2023. Last season was a down year for Nyquist as he recorded just 28 points and posted career-worst numbers across the board but could do well in a new system and playing with someone of Toews’ caliber.
The former Blackhawks captain in Toews is a bit of a mystery box after missing two years of hockey due to injury but things could break out in a way that the second line operates as one of the best of its kind in the NHL.
3rd Line: Nino Niederreiter – Vladislav Namestnikov – Alex Iafallo
Advertisement
The Jets rock solid third line has been dismembered with Mason Appleton heading to Detroit and captain Adam Lowry out for the start of the season due to injury. Filling their roles will be a significant challenge, but the recent demotion of Namestnikov to the third line could serve as motivation, potentially sparking a resurgence that helps this new-look line recapture some of the effectiveness of its predecessor.
4th Line: Tanner Pearson – David Gustafsson – Cole Koepke
With the departure of Kupari comes an ever-rotating door for the fourth line centre role. David Gustafsson will look to regain his place on the fourth line – a role he has found some success with off and on over his career in Winnipeg. Pearson is a Stanley Cup champion with the LA Kings and has grown into a solid bottom six forward with consistent 30-40 point upside.
Koepke is coming off his best season yet after recording 17 points through 73 games this past season with the Bruins and could show more room to grow at 27 years old. The trio will likely see frequent movement with a few roster spots still left open and could see a young Manitoba Moose forward look to make the jump from the AHL.