Happy New Year’s Eve everyone!!!

The Winnipeg Jets will be playing their last contest of the year 2025 this evening when they visit the Little Caesars Arena in Michigan to clash with the Detroit Red Wings. The 2025-26 NHL campaign has seen these franchises have a swing in their fortunes, as the 5th ranked Wings are looking to end a 9 season playoff drought and the 32nd ranked Jets are looking like they will miss the post-season for just the second time in the same span.

Winnipeg (15-18-4) have now lost 6 games in a row and are now 15 points behind Atlantic Division leaders Detroit (23-14-3). The True Northers’ hopes for a Western wildcard spot haven’t been wiped out despite their poor record, as the club is only 7 points back of the San Jose Sharks & Los Angeles Kings. With more than half a season left, it certainly isn’t impossible for the True Northers to climb out of the hole their early season injuries & poor performance has put them in.

There are signs that the defending President’s Trophy winners have figured some things out in their most recent contests, as the Jets have strung up a bunch of one goal losses while playing competitive hockey. Yet even with this improvement, Winnipeg is still not consistently winning the Expected Goals battle, let alone dominating those fights like they did last season. Unfortunately, that just might be due to the roster construction done by GM Kevin Cheveldayoff this summer than anything else.

Therefore, I think the most important thing that management should be assessing in the second half of the year is how or if each player fits into Winnipeg’s future plans. There are no worries about the performances from the Jets’ top line of Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor, & Gabriel Vilardi, who basically have carried their team this year with 52 of the 106 goals the True Northers have scored this season. After that though….it becomes more problematic. During last year’s successful run, the unit of Adam Lowry, Nino Niederreiter, & Mason Appleton did some heavy work, often controlling play against the opposition’s top six which allowed Winnipeg to get some easier deployments for the Jets’ 2nd line of Nikolaj Ehlers, Vladislav Namestnikov, & Cole Perfetti. Even with the speedy Dane on that unit, it was never really talented enough to go toe to toe with the NHL’s elite forward lines, so having a high performing 3rd line was extremely important.

Fast forwarding to this year…..Ehlers has moved onto Carolina, weakening what was already an understaffed 2nd line, while Lowry’s checking line isn’t matching up well against the opposition’s best units. The first part is easily understandable, since losing the talent Fly possessed is obviously going to have an impact on that unit. It is more difficult to figure out why Winnipeg’s current 3rd line has looked so ineffective, especially after all the hate we piled on Apples when he was wearing a Jets’ jersey. Possibly it has more to do with the captain’s recovering hip than the only missing player from the NHL’s “best 3rd line” in 2025-26.

Chevy’s off-season additions did nothing to improve the team’s fortunes, so now he has to determine what the best path will be this summer. And to do that, he will need to watch and see if coach Scott Arniel can find a way to patch together another effective 3rd forward line in the second half of the year. That would make it easier to focus on improving the 2nd unit in the off-season, as well as helping identify which skaters could be moved at the deadline, should Winnipeg find them on the outside looking in. Getting the chance to draft someone like Gavin McKenna might make things easier for the GM…..yet somehow I fear that the NHL would rather he ends up playing along side Connor Bedard in Chicago. Lottery luck for the Jets?? Seems that would almost be too good to be true.

Enough of that tangent, I should start to focus on today’s hockey games since there are a ton of them for me to watch…but the four I want to watch are overlapping so might have to do some channel surfing or record a couple. The World Juniors is playing the final games of their round robin today, with the key games being the ones to decide who finishes atop the two Groups.

Kicking off the action is the Manitoba Moose, as they return from their holiday break to play the Abbotsford Canucks at the Canada Life Centre (4 pm Central). Just a half hour later, the WLC host United States face off against Jets’ prospects Alfons Freij & Sascha Boumedienne, as Team Sweden will try to remain undefeated (5 pm Central). Another half hour will pass before the Winnipeg Jets & Detroit Red Wings game will get underway and then the action ends with Team Canada & Team Finland fighting for the top spot in Group B (7:30 pm Central). A busy day indeed.

The Jets will be trying to end a season long 6 game losing streak against a Red Wings team that sits 11th in goals scored and 24th in goals allowed. The True Northers have pocketed the 26th most goals this season, while allowing the 11th least. Tonight’s 5:30 pm Central game between Winnipeg & Detroit will feature franchises putting up the following stats, via ESPN‘s team & goaltender comparison numbers:

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The two clubs’ top scorers are fairly equal, but it is the secondary help where Detroit has the edge.

Red Wings: Lucas Raymond (42 pts), Alex DeBrincat (40), Dylan Larkin (36), & Moritz Seider (30)

Jets: Mark Scheifele (45 pts), Kyle Connor (45), Gabriel Vilardi (33), & Josh Morrissey (30)

Here is how PuckPedia is currently predicting the players to line up:

WINNIPEG JETS LINE UP

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DETROIT RED WINGS LINE UP

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We will get to watch a slew of former Winnipeg Jets today, as Andrew Copp, Mason Appleton, & Ben Chiarot will be wearing a Red Wings’ jersey. Old mates Jonathan Toews & Patrick Kane will have a chance to reminisce about the days in Chicago.

According to reports, no new players are expected for the True Northers tonight….so all we have to look forward to is seeing how the coaching staff lines them up.

Go Winnipeg Jets!!!!!

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POST-GAME INFO

Scoring Summary: (courtesy of ESPN)

FINAL SCORE:  

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Game Stats: (courtesy of MoneyPuck)

Expected Goals (all): 

Expected Goals (5on5):  

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BOJA’S Post-Game Thoughts:

Probably won’t get around to updating the article with stats, etc until after the Team Canada game ends….so around 11 pm? Enjoy your plans for tonight….have fun and be safe.