Now that it’s throttle up for the Winnipeg Jets into a new season, here are some random notes, quotes and anecdotes involving the team, the National Hockey League and local hockey…. It comes with great relief to all involved that Kyle Connor’s contract extension was finalized just prior to Opening Night. Avoiding the lingering questions and uncertainty that can ultimately turn attention away from the on-ice quest of the team to the uncomfortable business topics of money, term and structure can only provide serenity in the Jets dressing room moving ahead…. Still with Connor, now that he’s secured in Winnipeg for another eight years, he’s likely poised to deliver another high-octane season this year in earnest. After a career-high 97 points last year what’s the \ceiling this season? Is 100 points a possibility? If so, he would become the first 100-point player in the franchise’s history since 2006-07 (Marian Hossa). The last Winnipeg Jets player to score 100 points was Teemu Selanne, who notched 132 in his phenomenal rookie season of 1992-93.
After signing Jonathan Toews, Tanner Pearson and Gus Nyquist this off-season, the Jets not only added some significant depth to their forward core, but a tremendous amount of NHL experience. Between the three players Winnipeg augmented over 2,600 games to their roster. In fact, the Jets are now one of the oldest teams in the NHL according to Elite Prospects, sitting with an average age of 29.33 years old….In addition to the vast game experience Toews and Pearson bring to the team, they also add to the total of Jets’ players that have won a Stanley Cup for a cumulative of six. Pearson won his with Los Angeles (2014), while Toews produced three with Chicago (2010, 2013, 2015) and Luke Schenn a pair with Tampa Bay (2020, 2021). That kind of experience isn’t necessarily tangible, but it certainly won’t hurt a dressing room that is trying to surge toward a higher playoff ascension next spring.
Congratulations to Winnipeg’s Jett Woo on helping the Abbotsford Canucks to their first-ever Calder Cup championship last June. Woo, 25, anchored the blueline for Vancouver’s AHL team in his fifth year with the organization, after being drafted in 2018 in the second round (37thoverall). He chipped in with an assist on the game-winning goal in Abbottsford’s clinching game six win over Charlotte and recently signed a one-year extension with the organization. Although he has been called up previously by Vancouver, Woo is still waiting to make his NHL debut.…For the record there are two other now local connections to that Canucks AHL title, including former Winkler Flyers’ forward and MJHL coach Harry Mahesh, who is now an assistant coach with Abbotsford. The other link is recently signed Manitoba Moose forward Phil Di Giuseppe, an 11-year veteran of professional hockey. For the 31-year-old Di Guiseppe this summer’s AHL title was the first hockey championship of his career.
There is little question Nikolaj Ehlers was a notable fan favourite in Winnipeg for the 10 seasons he called the city home. As such, when the Jets host the Carolina Hurricanes in his return to Winnipeg on Nov. 21, it should provide an intriguing date on the calendar. For starters, Ehlers has scored against every NHL team except for the Jets through his career, even recording a goal last year against Utah. And likely more important to his old team is the game should attract a solid crowd, as the ‘Canes haven’t been a sellout in downtown since 2019.
After finishing with an NHL-best power play last season at 29% effective, the Jets know opposing adjustments are coming. Credit assistant coach Davis Payne for last year’s improvement in his first year with the team, but what he has up his sleeve to keep them guessing this season should be worth watching as Winnipeg’s man advantage situation improved by 10 goals last season on 22 less chances.
There are only two NHL teams this season without a captain. They are the Boston Bruins and San Jose Sharks. For Boston, one wonders if defenceman Charlie McAvoy becomes their next ultimate leader. At just 27 years old, he would appear to the perfect fit in that he already wears an ‘A’ and embodies what the Bruins have represented for the last two decades and where they want to get to again after missing the playoffs for the first time in eight seasons last year. Still with McAvoy, did you know his father-in-law is New York Rangers head coach Mike Sullivan? For the Sharks, the search to replace Logan Couture as captain might take significantly more time, especially as the rebuild continues in Silicon Valley. To be clear, Couture is out indefinitely this season after playing just six games in total the last two years.
In this the 15th Anniversary season of the Winnipeg Jets back in the city, congratulations to Doug Neubauer, the Director of Engineering & Ice Operations for True North Sports & Entertainment, and his ice maintenance team at Canada Life Centre. In a recent NHLPA player poll of nearly 600 members, the playing surface at CLC was voted the third-best in the NHL behind the Bell Centre (Montreal) and Rogers Place (Edmonton). It’s an esteemed recognition Winnipeg quietly gets annually and Neubauer and his crew are as good as it gets in the industry.
The NHL’s extended break for the 2026 Winter Olympics in February will mean the Jets will have 20 days off between games. They’ll finish against Montreal on Feb. 4 and resume on Feb. 25 in Vancouver. To make up for the nearly three-week abeyance, Winnipeg will play 16 games in both January and March.
If you’re still wondering about the importance of major junior hockey as a pathway to the NHL, then crunch on these numbers. There are 402 Canadian Hockey League alumni named to NHL Opening Night rosters ahead of this season, with 145 of those coming from the Western Hockey League. In fact, all 32 teams have at least one CHL grad, while the Jets in particular boast 15 players who progressed to the NHL via Canadian major junior hockey.
Entering this new campaign the Buffalo Sabres have missed the playoffs for 14 consecutive seasons, a dubious NHL record. There have certainly been some lean years in one of America’s most unique hockey markets, where around 10 percent of their season tickets base is Canadians residing just over the Niagara River. What is interesting about last year’s Sabres team is they led the NHL in goal posts and crossbars hit. They smashed a whopping 128 combined last season. And if the game of hockey is truly a game of inches, then what would one-third of those posts/crossbars mean if they were converted to actual goals? In other words, what would another 41 goals mean to Buffalo’s win/loss record and their overall placement in the Atlantic Division standings. By comparison, the Jets hit 102 posts/crossbars, which placed them 15th in the league.
Finally, if you’re wondering about player development philosophy within the Winnipeg Jets organization, then this quote from head coach Scott Arniel sums up the team’s strategy on fostering growth of young players like defenceman Elias Salomonsson: “We’re trying to make 15-year pros, not one-year pros.”
-30-
