Ken Wiebe of Sportsnet: The Winnipeg Jets season is winding down, with some players trying to establish themselves for next season with the Jets while others could be playing out their days in a Jets jersey.
The Jets are 35-30-11 on the season but are well back in the playoff race and got thumped by the Panthers and Lightning this past weekend.
On paper, they should be better, but their offense has been way too inconsistent. They also give up too many good scoring chances and haven’t played well defensively. Connor Hellebuyck’s play over the past few seasons has masked their inadequacies.
The Jets need to rebuild a winning culture and re-establish better work habits. They need to start this immediately and some pieces won’t be back.
TSN: Craig Button on Friday when asked where the Winnipeg Jets are going to go from here after a disappointing season.
**NHLRumors.com transcription
“And you’re right Jermain. You know maybe coming into this game there was a slim hope about the playoffs. I’ll tell you what, slim just left the building because they aren’t making the playoffs.
And now it becomes incumbent upon Kevin Cheveldayoff to really evaluate a team that so many people look at on paper and go, ‘geez, they got a lot of really good elements.’ Those elements begin with Connor Hellebuyck in the net. A few years back, Jermain, the defense got decimated. They rebuilt the defense. Their forward group, they’re one of the top, they’re a really good forward group with a lot of offensive ability, a lot of skill.
But now, this is a really difficult scenario for Kevin Cheveldayoff and his management group because you can look at it on paper and you can say, ‘okay, we have this and feel good about that, and we really like this area of our team,’ but the results aren’t there.
So, I’ve said this before, Jermain, I think the Winnipeg Jets find themselves in a very similar place that the Calgary Flames found themselves in at the end of last year. And, there was a lot of talk about who they should trade, who they should keep and everything that goes with that. They made some additions. They address it, Calgary Flames are now one of the top teams in the Western Conference.
I really believe that the Winnipeg Jets, you know, have the capability to improve their play and be a really good team in the West. But there’s going to have to be some changes and there’s going to have to be some close examination of what you’ve got to do with respect to the construction of the roster. Both, who stays, who may come in, and ultimately some of the players that may have to leave.
The Golden Knights are at home against the Capitals and are
-135 on the moneyline with Betway