The Winnipeg Jets finished dead last in the Western Conference and the NHL with 34 points on the season. They fell to the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night by a score of 4-2. Logan Stanley was suspended Sunday by the Department of Player Safety for his altercation with Brady Tkachuk. Everything that can go wrong for the Jets this season does.
Despite their strong start to the season, the Winnipeg Jets have completely fallen apart. Winnipeg has lost that punch that made them successful, and their window may have closed after winning the president’s medal last season and falling in Round 2 of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
There’s only so much Kyle Connor and Mark Scheifele can do without help. Losing Nikolaj Ehlers to the Carolina Hurricanes this past season was a tough one. Imagine if they still had Ehlers on that top line with those two. Winnipeg doesn’t have a second-line center. Adam Lowry is a good 3C, and Jonathan Toews is a great depth center, but his skating is at the back of the pack.
Now, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet’s Saturday Headlines on Hockey Night in Canada says the Winnipeg Jets want to score. Maybe not mistreating Ehlers over the years could have kept the player in Winnipeg. Now the Jets regret that decision and are looking for help.
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As Jim Biringer of NHLRumors.com, Full Press NHL, and RG Media explained on TSN Radio in Montreal, when asked why the Winnipeg Jets are in this free fall.
Writing for NHLRumors.com
Host: “So Jim, how are these Jets going to handle this? They’re 4-0, 2-5-3 (1-6-3 over their last 10). I get the part that they don’t have their starting pitcher (Hellebuyck is now back in the lineup), and no doubt, I think we all need to see more from Helleseason to Game 8. But. 82, in the last few years, nobody’s better at scoring goals in the world without him.
But like this free fall, it seems like a lot less, no? Like, I thought they were going to struggle. Obviously, you lost your goalkeeper, but I didn’t think they could be, what are they here? Just drop one point to the Chicago Blackhawks to get to the bottom of the Western Conference (now in last place in the West). And if memory serves me right, they won the Western Conference last year.”
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Jim Biringer: “Yes, they won the Western Conference last year. I don’t think anyone expected them to be the President’s Trophy team again, because a lot felt right for them last year. But again, it’s a mismanagement of goods. If you look, Nikolaj Ehlers, is there? A guy who really helped their power play. Really, Carolina really helped him.
Jonathan Toews is an excellent host. It’s a sweet, heartwarming story. The Winnipeg guy is coming home, but I think he’s punching above his weight right now because they brought him in to be a third-line center, not a consistent 2C right now. And he played well, but being at that 2c level not so well. You want to be a deep, deep source for them.
And yes, Hellebuyck being out of the lineup doesn’t help them. (Eric) Comrie, I thought I played well. But again, it’s playing defense. It gets a goal. Kyle Connor is not producing at the same level as he has in the past. Cole Perfetti has been in and out of the lineup due to injury. Mark Scheifele has good games, and he doesn’t have good games.
This team, again, is brilliantly built in the end, has always been a weakness for me. Yes, Neal Pionk is good, but Josh Morrissey, you have another great defender there. But they still need more. They lack the depth that has made them so good over the past few years. And maybe last year was their window, and hopefully the surgery Hellebuyck now allows him to find his game, and gear up for the playoffs, because, let’s be honest, that’s why he’s being paid what he’s making to be a playoff goaltender.”
Something has to give at last with the Winnipeg Jets. Does it make sense for a coaching change to wake up a team? What will GM Kevin Cheveldayoff do to make his team better? Although the Jets would never win the president’s medal again, no one saw this coming. Many felt they were a playoff team.
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Winnipeg will need a miracle run by St. Louis Blues for 2019 to enter, and now may focus on the top five picks in the 2026 NHL Draft. This is a surprising sight, given the talent on the team. But as we have seen, two or three players cannot carry the team to the championship.
In the span of a year, the Winnipeg Jets went from Stanley Cup contenders to a rebuilding team.”
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