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Published Dec 08, 2025 • 4 minute read
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Winnipeg Jets defenceman Dylan DeMelo. Photo by Getty Images /Winnipeg SunArticle content
Even the best job in the world has some lousy days. When those start piling up, you have what the Winnipeg Jets are dealing with.
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“Winning’s fun. It’s contagious,” defenceman Dylan DeMelo was saying on Monday. “Losing can also be contagious… if you allow it to be.”
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With just five wins in their last 16 games, the condition is spreading.
Sitting down with DeMelo at his locker after practice provided an up-close and personal lesson in the struggle to not get mired in it.
DeMelo sees it as a choice. You can hang your head and look down at the muck you’re in, or look out at where you want to go and what you need to do to get there.
“I’ve been on good teams, I’ve been on teams that weren’t so good,” the 11-year-vet said. “If you’re having a hard time coming to the rink, you’re not having fun, then you’ve got to look in the mirror. What are you here for? Obviously you’re here to win. We’re trying to win a Stanley Cup. But we all fell in love with the sport of hockey, first.”
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That outdoor rink with friends growing up, that first goal in youth hockey – those moments were the spark. Losing games didn’t extinguish it back then.
A seventh loss in the Jets’ last nine games, Saturday’s disheartening, 6-2 effort in Edmonton, is threatening to.
“That’s not how I want to remember the best years of my life,” DeMelo continued. “Guys are having sleepless nights because they’re ticked off about a loss. I know I am. The Edmonton game leaves a bad taste in our mouths… we’re mad. We’re not thrilled where we are. But we still have a lot of track here. Fall in love with the process… and just be better. That’s how I’m trying to live my life.
“It’s a lot more fun looking at it in that lens than looking at it the other way.”
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Easier said than done, of course. Especially when this is new territory.
Not used to losing
It’s been nine years since the Jets have had this paltry a point total through 28 games. DeMelo wasn’t even in Winnipeg at that time.
Neither was forward Gabe Vilardi.
“I’ve never gone through something like this in my years, especially here,” Vilardi, a third-year Jet, said. “We’ve only ever won, it seems like. So it is a little foreign. It’s weird. It’s not a good feeling, constantly looking in the mirror and trying to figure out how can you be better each day.”
Vilardi sees the bright side inherent to the job: There’s a chance to redeem themselves on Tuesday against Dallas, another chance after that, and then another.
“Eventually you run out of time,” the 26-year-old acknowledged. “But we’re not at that point, yet.”
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Coming into the year, Vilardi decided one of the things he could do better was bring more intensity to practice.
Monday’s appeared to need it.
The man running it, though, says barking at his team isn’t the answer right now.
Scott Arniel says he began the day by showing some 10 video clips that were “extremely negative,” but it was all positivity and encouragement after that.
“When you are struggling and you are down and you are thinking negative thoughts, a lot of that stuff goes into your legs, it goes into your brain, it goes into your hands,” the head coach said. “Honestly, we’ve been trying hard to do that, try to stay upbeat as possible. And it’s hard to do when you’re not winning hockey games. But… it helps you. You don’t want to dislike your job and having to go to work every day.
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“If I come in with that kind of grumpy, negative thought, they’re going to recognize it right away. But there’s also times, and this is one of those, where we’ve got to build ourselves up.”
For the 32-year-old DeMelo, that means getting excited about becoming a better player in practice, then getting excited to play a top team like Dallas on Tuesday.
Falling back in love with the process, even if it sometimes feels like it’s betrayed you.
“We want to win”
“Even just talking to you, it’s freeing saying that,” DeMelo said. “It takes a weight off your shoulders of whatever burden you may feel. We want to win. There’s nobody who wants to win more in this city than the Winnipeg Jets in this room.”
DeMelo joined the Jets late in the 2019-20 season. They made the playoffs four of the next five seasons.
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The one hiccup came the year Paul Maurice walked away from the bench, eventually replaced by Rick Bowness, then Arniel.
“Bones laid down the foundation, Arnie took it to another level,” DeMelo said. “The message has been the same. And then we as a team have grasped that and taken it each year, level by level. We all understand what we need to do. It’s going out and executing it. And that’s on us in this room to figure it out.
“Our story’s still unwritten for this year.”
That’s not quite right. It’s being written as we speak.
The words, like the win total, a work in progress.
paul.friesen@kleinmedia.ca
X: @friesensunmedia
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