Taste of playoff success, and failure, leaves young Jets hungry for more
Just making post-season no longer good enough in Winnipeg, writes Paul Friesen.
They filed through in pairs or in threes, sitting down with friends, linemates or defensive partners to look back at what was, what might have been and what’s still to come.
The Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday gathered for the last time this season, the dress code casual, the mood reflective, the outlook optimistic.
There was resignation, and even some admiration, in what the Vegas Golden Knights did to them in the Western Conference final.
“This is probably the only sport where this sort of thing could happen,” Andrew Copp said of an expansion team reaching the Stanley Cup final. “It’s the ultimate team game. And if you play a perfect team game, it’ll outweigh any sort of individual skill or talent on the other team.” There was disbelief it’s over. “You wake up today and you were prepared to still be playing,” Jets captain Blake Wheeler said. “You go from having everything right in front of you, where you have a lot of hope and expectation, and it all changes in a week.” And there were tinges of regret. “Personally, I didn’t feel like I played my best hockey in the playoffs,” said Nik Ehlers, referring mainly to his inability to score a single goal in the postseason.
But the overriding sentiment seemed to be that playing until mid-May or later has to be the new normal around here.
The bar, set so low in the first few years (“Let’s just be glad we
have a team again”) and raised only marginally a year ago (“They’ve gotta make the playoffs this season”), has been boosted a good bit higher for the foreseeable future.
Jacob Trouba trotted out the “unfinished business” motto and others expressed similar sentiments.
The message from the coaches’ room and front office might be one of bridled optimism, that nothing is guaranteed going into any season, and that’s true, too, of course.
But the players aren’t hiding from the expectations that will come from a final four appearance by one of the better collections of young talent in the NHL.
“As everyone takes a step ... there is no reason for us not to get back here and to finish the job,” Copp said.
Learning what it takes to get to a Stanley Cup final isn’t like taking a course in anything else. There’s no finite, measurable body of information in a text somewhere.
Even players with all the skill in the world have a significant knowledge and understanding gap. You have to live it.
“You learn what everything looks like,” is how second-year defenceman Josh Morrissey put it.
The young Jets got the equivalent of years of experience under their belts over the last six weeks.
The older ones, too, for that matter.
“As hard as maybe it is to admit, maybe trial by fire is how
this works,” Wheeler said. “Obviously, there’s a physical price you pay playing in the playoffs, but sometimes the mental toll is even more gruelling.”
Wheeler said the hardest part for his young teammates was probably turning the page on tough losses.
He says he learned plenty, too. And he’s a 10-year vet.
Bryan Little, one of the few players who has been at this even longer than Wheeler, says the primary lesson is dealing with emotions.
“It’s like an emotional rollercoaster during a series,” Little said. “You’re on top of the world when you’re up and then you lose a game and it feels like it’s over.” And then it really is.
“We all had a lot of fun, going through it together,” Little said. “But at the same time it makes you want it a lot more. Once you get a taste for it, you want to be right back there. You want to hit fast-forward to next year, already.”
Young players may assume they’ll get more chances, but if they don’t use this close call as fuel, they risk taking a step back next season, like Ottawa or Edmonton before them.
The natural inclination will be to expect it to come automatically, without all the sweat that went into it the first time.
“That’s going to be the hardest part for our team next year,” Wheeler said.
“Buying back into that, what got us to where we ultimately got to. Because the playoffs don’t start in October.”
And the season can’t end in April anymore.
It makes you want it a lot more. Once you get a taste for it, you want to be right back there. You want to hit fast-forward to next year, already.
Personally, I didn’t feel like I played my best hockey in the playoffs.
Obviously, there’s a physical price you pay playing in the playoffs, but sometimes the mental toll is even more gruelling.