Jets reflect on the ups and downs of the 2022-23 season

WINNIPEG -Whenever a team doesn't reach the lofty goals set in training camp, disappointment will always be present as year-end exit meetings are conducted and locker stalls cleaned out.
That was the case for the Winnipeg Jets two days after being eliminated in five games by the Vegas Golden Knights.
"I think throughout parts of this season, you saw that we're right there," said Nikolaj Ehlers. "We had a really good stretch, and then we couldn't keep putting that together."
The regular season was almost a tale of two halves. Leading up to the All-Star break, the Jets were in a battle for top spot in the Western Conference. Then, a combined record of 10-12-2 through the months of February and March saw the Jets slip down the standings into a battle for the final wildcard spot.
They earned their way into the postseason with a 4-1-0 record in April.

"Guys are fighting for playoff spots, or they see you're fighting for first place and they're going to be better prepared for you," said head coach Rick Bowness. "There was games that we pushed back and we still lost. There were games we didn't push back and we lost. That's probably what led to the continued slide. There were also some really good games we played in there, out chanced and did everything right, and we still lost those games. That's all part of the 82-game schedule."

The Jets had plenty of pushback against Vegas. They won Game 1, and rallied back from a 4-1 deficit in the third period in Game 3 before ultimately falling in overtime. In Game 4, another deficit - this time 3-1 - became a one-goal game in the third before an empty-netter.
The only disappointing part was Game 5.
"I think it was Vegas' best game of the series, hands-down," said Mason Appleton. "So as not good as we might have been, that it was also Vegas' best game, so obviously it makes it look a little worse going out like that.
"If you lose a series 4-1 you can't be just OK with that. You're a loser if that's your approach."

Bowness felt that emotion immediately after the game, and used some words he regrets saying about the team's performance in that particular outing. The veteran coach wears his emotions on his sleeve, and always has.
"I can't come before you after a game like Game 5 and sugarcoat. I can't do that," he said. "That's a good crew in there. Listen. Don't ever let me paint the whole team with one brush because there's a lot of guys in there that gave a lot all year long."
And there was plenty of evidence of that.
Mark Scheifele and Josh Morrissey, who missed Game 5 due to injuries that they didn't want to disclose even after the end of the season, were calculating timelines for when they could possibly return.

For Scheifele, his upper-body injury from Game 4 was a day-to-day thing, and was re-assessed every morning he got out of bed. Morrissey's lower-body ailment was one he knew almost immediately would require the Jets to go on a run.
"I kind of knew right away, when after giving it the second try, that I would be out for some time. It was pretty emotional, especially in that moment," Morrissey said. "I'd have to check my dates, weeks and everything else, but probably the third round would have been most likely for me."
Nikolaj Ehlers also took the route of not disclosing his injury, which kept him out of the playoffs until Game 5. The speedy forward also only played 45 games in the regular season, with sports hernia surgery keeping him out for most of the first half.
"I actually came into camp and I felt really good. Everything was going the right way and then this came out of nowhere," he said. "Whenever you're out, it sucks, and it's been too much for me the last couple years."

Appleton had surgery to repair the wrist injury he sustained against the Seattle Kraken in November, and revealed when he came back, he broke a finger on the same hand.
"That made it tough to kind of hold onto my stick and do other things," he said. "Probably the best I've felt all year is right now."
Finally, Cole Perfetti felt he was close to a return in the playoffs as well. He skated in a non-contact jersey for over a week as he continued to recover from an upper-body injury that kept him out of the line-up from February 19 onward. Each of his last two seasons have been ended by injuries in mid-February, something he hopes is now in the past.

"I'm just happy to be coming back feeling really good," he said. "I've got to take what I learned last year, learn some more this year, really do some homework on that and how I can give myself the best opportunity and come back again with that attitude."
Now comes the difficult part of the off-season. There will be time to wonder what could have been, what could've been different, and those thoughts can be frustrating to deal with.
"Things didn't go our way and there's going to be time for reflection," said Scheifele, who had a career-high off 42 goals this season. "My focus this offseason, is do what I've done every summer. Try to think of things that I can get better at as a player and think of things that I do well and continue to work on everything and continue to get in the gym and do all the stuff that I do to get ready for another season."

There were strides taken from the disappointment of the 2021-22 season, when the Jets fell short of making the playoffs. The Jets wanted more offensive production from their blue line, and they got it. The 192 points (led by Morrissey's career-high of 76) were the seventh most in the NHL, up from 19th last season.
The penalty kill was seventh in the league, rising from 29th in 2021-22, and at five-on-five, they were on the positive side of the shot attempt percentage ledger (51.3 percent).
The list goes on, but when that list doesn't include the playoff success the team and the fans were hoping for - especially given the quick start in the first half - the next four months will be every bit as difficult as in some previous years.

"There's still so much more we can do as a group," said Lowry. "As a player, my job is to use this summer to find areas in my game to improve, to see different things where I can make a bigger impact on this team so that in the fall when training camp comes around I'm ready to be a positive influence, be a positive impact."
The fire still burns for Bowness, and he wants to remain behind the bench for an organization - and a city - that means a lot to him. He wants to help the group get to that next level, no matter what it takes.
"We'll never be satisfied just getting in, and getting in eighth spot and getting into the first round," Bowness said. "When we get there again next year, if we're in the same spot, we know how to handle it better. There are hard lessons in this league that you learn and there are harsh reminders every now and then of how good this league is. The context is now we have that experience to draw on."