One to grow on
Prospect-laden Jets can look forward to plenty of playoff appearances
It took 19 years for a Winnipeg team to return to the NHL playoffs. So it seems sort of cruel that after all that waiting, they would be bounced from the first round in a four-game sweep.
But keep your head up, Jets fans. Today might feel particularly dire, but there are plenty of reasons why there are brighter days ahead.
In The Hockey News’ Future Watch issue, the Jets were forecast as the 2019 Stanley Cup champions.
Here are five reasons for optimism:
Prospects
Defenceman Jacob Trouba, centre Mark Scheifele and winger Adam Lowry are 22 or under.
According to the Hockey News, the Jets have six players among the top-100 prospects currently not playing in the NHL.
Nik Ehlers (ninth overall, 2014), who scored 101 points in 51 games in the QMJHL, leads an impressive group that is the product of smart drafting and even smarter trades. Defenceman Josh Morrissey was selected 13th overall and Nic Petan was found with the 43rd pick in 2013, while Joel Armia and Brendan Lemieux were both acquired from Buffalo in the Kane trade.
Defence
Dustin Byfuglien did not have his greatest playoffs. Off the ice, his ill-advised decision to channel Marshawn Lynch was an unnecessarily dumb sideshow. On the ice, he made even more dumb decisions. But at the end of the day, Big Buff is an offensive defenceman (and sometime forward) who scored a whopping 18 goals this season. He is not even Winnipeg’s best defenceman. That honour will likely be split between 25-year-old Tyler Myers, who took a huge step forward after getting traded from Buffalo, and 21-year-old Trouba, who looks like a potential No. 1 stud.
Scheifele’s potential
We are still waiting for 2011’s seventh-overall selection to live up to the hype that made him the first pick in the Jets’ reboot. But don’t forget, not everyone develops as quickly as Sean Monahan. Scheifele is only 22 and in his second full season scored 15 goals and 49 points. He was particularly dangerous during the final stretch of the season, where he scored eight goals and 23 points in 34 games. He is only now growing into his six-foot-two frame and starting to use that size to his advantage. Could he be a No. 1 centre for the Jets? There is definitely the potential.
Goaltending
Whether it was Michael Hutchinson becoming the flavour of the month or Ondrej Pavelec rediscovering how to stop the puck, what used to be the Jets’ primary source of weakness is now their strength. Part of this is obviously because Winnipeg now has a strong blue line and plays a strong defensive game that insulates their goaltenders from high-quality scoring chances. But without Hutchinson’s .958 save percentage in November and Pavelec’s .943 and .965 in March and April, respectively, this is not a playoff team.
Paul Maurice
There were times during the regular season, like when Kane reportedly had his clothes tossed in the shower, when the Jets could have imploded. But credit the head coach for keeping everyone on the same page. Maurice seems to have found the team’s pulse and in a Canadian market where things can get a little nutty, he is perfect at deflecting attention away from the players and putting it on himself. Plus, he’s not a bad coach.