2017-18 record: 52-20-10 (114 points)
Lost to Vegas in Conference Finals
Captain: Blake Wheeler
This time last year, the Winnipeg Jets were just hoping to make the playoffs and the seats of both Paul Maurice and Kevin Cheveldayoff were warming up. Thanks to everything finally lining up, the Jets not only made the playoffs, but also did things they never did in their franchise history as both the current incarnation of the Jets and as the former Atlanta Thrashers. Not even a Conference Finals defeat to Vegas could dampen the team's accomplishments. Now, it is up to them to do something else they haven't done in their history: make the playoffs in consecutive seasons.
The Winnipeg Jets' offense is a game of pick your poison, as Mark Schiefele is leader in that category, but Blake Wheeler, Patrik Laine, and Nikolaj Ehlers can also kill you if they go unchecked. Depth is a major strength, even with rental Paul Stastny spurning them to head to Vegas in the off-season. The defense is also strong not only in talent, but in numbers, as Dustin Byfuglien is still the team's best player in that category. Up and comers Jacob Trouba and Josh Morrissey are close to stardom, and one player to watch for is Sami Niku, who had a couple games with the team at the end of the season. In goal, Connor Hellebuyck finally solved the team's perpetual goaltending problem, as he had a Vezina nomination to show for it. He now needs to show that the season wasn't a fluke, as it actually followed a terrible first full season.
Prediction: 1st in the Central Division
The Jets have all the pieces to make another deep run, and better, the core piees are all young and not quite hitting their prime. The potential for a drop-off is possible, given the team's history, but there is plenty of reason to hope that Winnipeg will be the one to finally bring Lord Stanley back to Canada this season.
No comments:
Post a Comment