![\"Mark](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Mark-Scheifele-Gabriel-Vilardi-Jets-1200x800.jpg\")
The Jets got great production from their stars such as Scheifele (left) and Vilardi, but not much from anyone else. (James Carey Lauder-Imagn Images)<\/p>\nThe Winnipeg Jets regressed badly this season (by 21 wins and 34 points) and became one of just five teams all time to fail to make the playoffs the season after winning the Presidents\u2019 Trophy.<\/p>\n
Here, as we continue to sift through the rubble of their disastrous season, we\u2019ll dive into seven stats that illustrate that regression.<\/p>\n
Goals by Players Not Named Connor, Scheifele, & Vilardi<\/p>\n
Last season: 168<\/p>\n
This season: 124<\/p>\n
A lack of secondary scoring plagued the Jets all season long, and for many stretches, they were a one-line team offensively. <\/p>\n
The top guns in Kyle Connor, Mark Scheifele, and Gabriel Vilardi did their part by scoring 39, 36, and 30, respectively. Unfortunately, those 105 goals represented 45.8 per cent of the team\u2019s total 229-goal output.<\/p>\n
The Jets got great production from their stars such as Scheifele (left) and Vilardi, but not much from anyone else. (James Carey Lauder-Imagn Images)<\/p>\n
The Jets had eight players this season record 10-plus goals, down from 12 last season (nine in addition to Connor, Scheifele, and Vilardi). One of the things that made the 2024-25 squad so formidable is because all four lines were a threat to score.<\/p>\n
This season, a number of players with decent-to-good track records of offensive success \u2014 those the Jets were relying on to make up for some of Nikolaj Ehlers\u2019 lost production \u2014 underperformed, as the chart below illustrates.<\/p>\n
PlayerPoints last seasonPoints this seasonDifferentialAdam Lowry3421negative-13Vladislav Namestnikov3814 negative-24Nino Niederreiter3719negative-18Gustav Nyquist29 (Nashville Predators\/Minnesota Wild)12negative-17Tanner Pearson27 (Vegas Golden Knights)15 (13 Jets\/two Buffalo Sabres)negative-12Cole Perfetti5032negative-18Jonathan ToewsDid not play29N\/A<\/p>\n
The dropoff between third and fourth in goals was also much sharper this season: Josh Morrissey finished fourth this season with 14 \u2014 16 fewer than Vilardi \u2014 while last season, Ehlers finished in fourth with 24 to the third-place Vilardi\u2019s 27.<\/p>\n
Connor Hellebuyck\u2019s Goals Against Average and Save Percentage<\/p>\n
Last season: 2.00 GAA, .925 SV%<\/p>\n
This season: 2.86 GAA, .890 SV%<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no denying Connor Hellebuyck\u2019s game declined sharply after he captured his third Vezina Trophy and became the first goaltender since 2015 to win the Hart Memorial Trophy<\/a> last season.<\/p>\n He truly never looked very comfortable or \u201cbig and boring\u201d in his crease for any long stretch, and having to undergo arthroscopic knee surgery didn\u2019t help matters either.<\/p>\n His record was 23-23-11, his GAA jumped all the way to 2.86 from 2.00, his SV% fell to a career-worst .895 from .925, and he didn\u2019t post a single shutout after having eight last season. By comparison, Eric Comrie, who makes one-tenth of the money, had a 3.13 GAA and .890 SV%.<\/p>\n The only time Hellebuyck looked close to his 2024-25 self was at the 2026 Winter Olympics<\/a>, where he backstopped the United States squad to their first gold medal since 1980 by posting a 5-0-0 record,\u00a01.18 GAA, .956 SV%, and stopping 5.92 goals above expected.<\/p>\n In the gold-medal game, he was simply outstanding, making 41 saves \u2014 many of the 10-bell variety \u2014 and even snagging the secondary assist on Jack Hughes\u2019 overtime golden goal.<\/p>\n Jets fans, the vast majority undoubtedly cheering for Canada, were probably a little frustrated after watching the legacy-making performance and wondering: where was\u00a0that\u00a0Hellebuyck this season for their team and in the past few playoffs?<\/p>\n Speed Bursts 22-Miles-Per-Hour Plus<\/p>\n Last season: 9th place<\/p>\n This season: 23rd place<\/p>\n It was obvious early on in the season<\/a> that the Jets \u2014 and particularly, Toews, Nyquist, Pearson, and Luke Schenn \u2014 were simply too old and too slow to keep up with youthful, speedy up-and-coming opponents.<\/p>\n The Jets were the oldest team in the league entering the season, with an average age of 29.84, and sure played like it. Prior to the 2026 NHL Trade Deadline, the Jets had 15 players and 13 skaters 30 or older and struggled against younger, quicker teams both in preventing high-danger chances off the rush and creating them.<\/p>\n Nyquist, Pearson, and Toews\u2019 slowness was even more evident because they were brought in over the offseason to compensate for the loss of Ehlers, one of the league\u2019s most dynamic skaters who kept opponents on their toes with his speed over his 10 seasons in a Jets jersey.<\/p>\n NHL EDGE stats<\/a>\u00a0measure speed bursts within or above certain mile-per-hour (MPH) ranges, and the numbers reveal just how slow the Jets were: <\/p>\n Speed burstLeague placement18-20 MPH speed bursts27th20-22 MPH bursts28th22-plus MPH bursts23rd<\/p>\n Of the 57 22-plus MPH bursts they had this season team-wide, fourth liner Cole Koepke had 22 of them.<\/p>\n Last season, when their average age was 28.13 and they had Ehlers, they were 28th in 18-20 MPH bursts, but 21st in 20-22 MPH bursts and ninth in 22-plus MPH burst.<\/p>\n Thankfully, the Jets got younger and faster after the deadline, when Pearson, Schenn, and Logan Stanley were shipped out in separate trades with the Buffalo Sabres<\/a>; Namestnikov and Niederreiter went out with injuries; and Nikita Chibrikov, Brad Lambert, Isak Rosen, Elias Salomonsson, and Brayden Yager all got into the lineup for different lengths of time. But by then, it was too late.<\/p>\n Power Play and Penalty Killing Percentages<\/p>\n Last season: 28.90 PP% (first), 79.40 PK% (13th)<\/p>\n This season: 18.50 PP% (24th), 77.63 PK% (21st)<\/p>\n A big contributing factor to the Jets\u2019 56 wins last season was their much-improved special teams. Their power play was lethal for most of the season and scored almost a third of the time under then-new assistant coach Davis Payne, and the penalty kill jumped into the league\u2019s top half under then-new assistant coach Dean Chynoweth.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, Payne and Chynoweth\u2019s units both tumbled drastically this season when it came to consistency and results, with the power play plummeting more than 10 percentage points to 24th overall and the penalty kill dropping back into the league\u2019s bottom third. Contending teams generally have their combined power-play and penalty-killing percentages equal 100 or more, and the Jets were short of that by five.<\/p>\n The Jets scored 42 power-play goals while giving up 51 this season for a negative-9 differential. Last season, they scored 63 power-play goals and gave up 41 for a plus-22 differential.<\/p>\n Record When Leading After Two<\/p>\n Last season: 41-0-1<\/p>\n This season: 23-3-6<\/p>\n If the Jets were leading after the second period last season, it was pretty much an automatic win for them as they went 41-0-1 in that situation thanks to a combination of a stout defensive structure and elite goaltending.<\/p>\n This season, a win when ahead after two was by no means a guarantee \u2014 they lost nine times in that situation, and at many points, were extremely fragile up multiple goals.<\/p>\n Third periods were the team\u2019s worst periods, as they had a negative-28 goal differential in the final frame (outscored 98 to 70) compared to a plus-1 goal differential in the first period and plus-3 goal differential in the second period. <\/p>\n![\"Connor](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Connor-Hellebuyck-Jets-1200x800.jpg\")
Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets (James Carey Lauder-Imagn Images)<\/p>\n![\"Mitch](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Mitch-Marner-Golden-Knights-2-1200x800.jpg\")
The Jets lost nine times this season when leading after two, including in this January contest versus the Vegas Golden Knights. (Terrence Lee-Imagn Images)<\/p>\n