Minus key players, hard for Jets to stay competitive

It’s beginning to look like something out of a horror movie. One directed by Peter Chiarelli or Pierre Dorion.

How else to explain the sudden fall from grace that the Winnipeg Jets are experiencing? At one time — and it wasn’t that long ago — this was one of the most promising teams in the NHL and Canada’s best bet to bring home a championship. Even The Hockey News expected big things, splashing a trio of Jets on the cover of its Future Watch magazine back in 2015 and boldly predicting a Stanley Cup parade in the next four years.

It, of course, didn’t happen. And today, with three of their best players still missing from training camp — and three other key pieces gone from the team for good — it looks like it won’t anytime soon.

This might sound a bit premature. After all, the start of the regular season is still more than a week away. Any day now, the Jets could announce that Patrik Laine and Kyle Connor have been signed to long-term contract extensions and that Dustin Byfuglien, who is on a personal leave of absence and reportedly considering retirement, is back with the team.

If so, expect the Jets to join the Calgary Flames and Toronto Maple Leafs as Canada’s best chance of ending a 27-year championship drought.

But if not, well, the Jets won’t be anyone’s pick to win the Stanley Cup. Based on how things are transpiring in Winnipeg these days, it doesn’t even look like they will finish ahead of the Vancouver Canucks or Edmonton Oilers in the standings.

That’s how important Byfuglien, Laine and Connor are to the team’s success. And that’s how brutal of a summer it’s been in Winnipeg.

Those three players represent a No. 1 defenceman, a winger who scored 44 goals two years ago and another who finished with 34 goals last season. With training camp in full swing, none are anywhere to be found. And with the start of the regular season just around the corner, no one can be sure when or if any of them will arrive.

Byfuglien, who hasn’t skated much this summer, is reportedly contemplating walking away from the game. Laine, who told Finnish reporters that he is unhappy with his coach and linemate options, is training in Switzerland while awaiting a new contract. As for Connor, who is also a restricted free agent, there are reports that at least six teams are preparing offer sheets.

Losing any one of them would be a major blow to the Jets’ season, especially after the Jets said goodbye this summer to top-4 defenceman Tyler Myers and second-line centre Kevin Hayes and then traded Jacob Trouba to the New York Rangers.

But losing all three? In a division as cutthroat as the Central, which includes St. Louis, Nashville, Colorado and Chicago, the season could be over before it even begins.

And so, with a week to go until the start of the season, the latest Canadian NHL team power rankings suddenly look like this:

1. Calgary

2. Toronto

3. Vancouver

4. Montreal

5. Edmonton

6. Winnipeg

7. Ottawa

And yes, Ottawa is rising. We can’t say the same for Winnipeg, who last season finished with 15 fewer points than the year before and with the current state of their roster looks anything like a team that will match the 99 points it recorded in 2018-19.

The NHL is all about windows of opportunity, which can open as quickly as they can close. The good teams are somehow always able to keep them cracked open, even if it’s just a sliver.

For years, it appeared that the Jets would be one of those teams. They had so much potential, so much promise. They had drafted and developed better than anyone. They were making steps towards something big. It was just a matter of time.

But piece-by-piece, the rebuild that GM Kevin Cheveldayoff worked so hard and long to complete appears to be coming undone.

Without Byfuglien, Laine and Connor, along with Trouba and Myers, it’s hard to imagine how Winnipeg will stay competitive. It’s hard to imagine the Jets not taking a step backwards. If so, it’s no one’s fault but their own.