Blue Bombers Forum

With the Winnipeg Jets training camp starting next month, this will be the new pinned Winnipeg Jets thread for the 2023/2024 season.

https://thehockeywriters.com/10-questions-prior-to-jets-training-camp/

The 2022/2023 thread will be closed when training camp opens in September.

Should the Jets give Helli $10M on a short term deal?

CH37 will be hard pressed to find a deal at $8.5 million ongoing... especially if he's looking for 5 years... I don't think, though, $10mil/2years would be of interest to him.  What kind of deal would he land after that?  $8mil/6 years is $28 mil more than $10mil/2years, so he'd have to find a 4 year 7 mil deal at age 34...

I think he wants to sign his last contract next, its hard to "bridge" a 31 year old player.

As much as I love the idea of keeping Helle and Scheif in Jets jerseys for their whole careers, I would personally trade them for assets at the deadline.

I know the Jets will do everything in their power to sign them; but Helle especially, I don't see taking a deal here. He has no reason to sign a short term deal that would make it more difficult for him to sign his next contract. I imagine it would take a minimun of 5 years - but he's really going to want 8. Why would he sign a 2-3 year deal?

Am sure we all agree that HellB in a Jet uni is what we all desire.

Chevy might go $8.75 for 5-6 years

I do and I don't. I don't think it's in the best long term interest of the team. But he is the guy you'd hate to see on another team. I more hate that we wasted his last contract. We should have been a Contender every year he was in his prime on a reasonable deal. On his next contract, whether he's here for more money or gone somewhere else, we're a worse team.

All that aside, I think he's made it pretty clear he wants out. BUT - I think this version of the team could be better than last year, so if we're a play-off team, and if Chevy  offers him more than any other team, he might stay. But again, that's not to our benefit.

No goalie is worth $10M per season, IMO. I would argue no player is but that's another discussion.

I'm all for trying to keep Hellebuyck, who's been the lynchpin of this team for a long time now. That said, the price needs to be right - and the term.

There's no market for him (or Scheifele), apparently, so I'm not sure what sorts of assets could be acquired in a trade.

I have no idea how his situation shakes out going forward.

I assume there will be a market for them at the deadline - where salary cap is less of an issue since teams are taking on much less.

But those will be rental prices. And if we're in the hunt, I don't believe the Jets would make the deals, so it's a 50/50 shot that Helle moves on for free.

I expect Scheif to re-sign on a legacy contract.

Do we hold on to 37 and 55 to the trade deadline, and then keep them as "own rentals"?  I guess that is possible.

If CH37 plays in top form in a contract year, and actually steals us games in the playoffs,I can see him going to FA and getting his 6 year 8.5mil deal in a place he WANTS to play in.  I can also see Chevy selling him on the idea that that place is here.  It will be evidence that we are not rebuilding, that we can compete, and will, going forward, and that he would be a big part of that.

If he plays sub career average, and we miss the playoffs, and he blames the team in front of him, he's gone, and if Chevy can get a return for him anywhere near what he got for Dubois, home run.  I'm sure that after the season there will be a team that thinks it is a goaler away from the CUp and will mortgage the future to get him.  Hopefully more than one team feels that way.

MS55 on a legacy contract?  Not sure how happy I'd be with that.  Still not sold that MS55 *isn't* the problem in the room, and if we could swap him straight up for another #1 C, giving both a fresh start, I'm all for that. 

The talk has been trading CH37 for a #1 C, and then trading MS55 for a quality goaler and a D man... those trades have to be nigh on simultaneous, or it could be disaster.  Best scenario is if that happens in a 3 way deal... 

We have enough new blood in the room, lots of leadership has left, how the new room shakes out will depend in large part who's behind the bench.  Bowness has the job, how long a leash does he get?   

Ugh.

Eloquent,

Please elucidate.

The possible trade of CH37 and MS55 is not a contentious or undebated situation, and the main issue is how to get the best return for the assets, or use of the assets if a good return is not there.

That's all I was stating.

I would give MS55, $8M on a 3-5 year extension. Helli has priced himself out of Winnipeg. Nate also need to go. At $6m a year he's just not worth it.

I'd go with succinct. ;D

There isn't any comparison to be made to the Dubois trade because he was a pending RFA and the trade was contingent on him signing long-term with the Kings.

Hellebuyck and Scheifele are going to be UFAs after next season, and so I see only two scenarios where they aren't Jets for the 2024-25 season: traded as rentals for prospects/picks at the deadline to a team in the playoff picture should the Jets not be in it, or signed elsewhere on July 1st, 2024 and the Jets get nothing in return.

Your disdain for the latter has been well documented on this forum, so I'll just leave it at this: Scheifele is currently the team's best centre by a wide margin. Considering no teams have come forward with any tangible interest in trading for him, re-signing him seems like the right play depending on the money and term.

As for Hellebuyck, it's a similar situation in that no teams have expressed interest in a trade. Also, he's far and away the team's best netminder, one of the best in the league, and arguably the biggest contributor to the Jets' success the last handful of seasons. Maybe that isn't saying much but this team is markedly worse without him between the pipes. Trying to retain his services at the right term and price seems prudent until his replacement materializes.

Your trade ideas for two pending UFAs don't really lend themselves to reality in today's NHL.

No way Nate?s going anywhere.

"No team has come looking to trade for.."  is something we don't know. 

A: There could have been trades floated, just not what Chevy wants. 

B: With both players being exceptionally high grade, isn't it strange no one is knocking down the door to get these pieces they can build around?   If signing in Winnipeg will take x+ vs. x to sign with another team, you'd think other teams would be more interested in them than we are... 

You're right, we've gotten a lot of good mileage out of both players, truthfully, its not like they are assets with long futures ahead like Dubois (or Liane that we traded for Dubois) had.  And sure, teams trading for 55 or 37 would be signing them to 5-8 year deals expecting to possibly buy out/trade the last few.  But they both can help teams now, and could be pieces that make that last step to contender. 

We aren't going to get a haul of current stars for either, but there should be trades available with some future prospects/picks.  Is there a FA C out there that can bridge us a year of development? 

I think the team has moved forward on many fronts, and it will be interesting to see what the new look team will be.  Not sure how much different it could be without 55 or 37 or both, but it would be be way to allow a new group of leaders to take over.


2 years left at $6mil cap hit ($5mil cash), and a 10 team NTC, he's a hard one to find a dance partner to trade him away...  and a buyout, well... maybe next year.  Like Wheeler.

Viewing needs , believe/know that Buffalo is a "contender" who needs a HellB goalie to create positive action in next couple years

Congrats to Stanley for signing, now just Chisholm, an RFA, is left

Of course we don't know definitively; that's a given considering our position as fans relative to the organization. I'm speaking to the somewhat obvious implication in that no proposed trade or interested has come to light in any reported capacity as far as league insiders are concerned.


Indeed, Cheveldayoff doesn't seem like the type of GM to entertain disadvantageous trades, especially with his top players. But again to my previous point: no reported trade proposals have come to light in the seven or so weeks since free agency began. That's telling.

And it's not necessarily strange. It's not common to see pending UFAs get much interest at this time of year unless the team to which they belong is looking to shed salary. That doesn't appear to be the case with the Jets right now (projected to have around $1.8M of cap space to start the 2023-24 season).


To me, there aren't any trades available at this time based on the apparent lack of interest from 31 other teams. What's worth noting is 18 of those teams have less than $1M worth of projected cap space, of which 12 have none whatsoever.

New leaders have already taken over recently. Morrissey, Connor, Lowry - to name a few. But that doesn't mean there isn't room in the leadership for players like Scheifele or Hellebuyck. I'm merely speculating but now that Wheeler's gone - the last of the old guard, as it were - the leadership issues could be sorted out with the current group and perhaps we see improvement in how the team plays in terms of its consistency.

The future of both players beyond next season seems very unclear, IMO. I don't expect that changing any time soon.

If some of our draft choices (e.g. Lucius, Lambert, McGroarty, Barlow, Salomonsson, DiVincentiis and Milic) manage to crack the starting lineup in the next year or so, perhaps we can trade MS55 or CH37 for draft choices.

We got screwed by covid. The time has come to move these big pieces and the flat cap has made it impossible for other teams to take them on.

So the only option becomes trading them at the deadline when their cap hits are reduced and teams may have a bit more flexibility/desperation to make a play-off push.

That or lose them for nothing - which I half expect from Chevy.

https://thehockeynews.com/news/what-can-the-winnipeg-jets-do-with-connor-hellebuyck-and-mark-scheifele

Pretty much sums up the challenges in the current environment.

Well, for Sheiffle, I would propose a contract higher than 8 million for five years, same with Hellbuch.  If they were only looking for a chance to win and some equal pay to others, maybe it keeps them.


Of course if they hate Winnipeg then there isn?t much to say.

Sheiffle.

Hellbuch.

So MS55 and Heinola for Chytil and Schneider of the Rangers? Rumored on CJOB today.

MAKE THE DEAL!

Lol...

Makes sense, re-unite MS55 with BW26..

Kinda makes our D situation even worse, though...

How?

IIRC, we're going to have to expose a D man to waivers... this would mean Heinola wouldn't be one of those...  Scheider makes the top 6...

The only guy on our D core that is untouchable, is JM44. Schneider is 6'3" 210. Would add some size and skill to our D. I can think of a couple of guys making 6M I could part with. 

But how are you going to part with them?

+1...  can we even buy out the $6mil D?  No one has cap space to trade them to.  short of a Kerrigan, they are on the roster...  no saving sending them to the Moose, and I'm sure they clear waivers...

It's really not that hard. Just like Montreal did with Petry. Trade him for a draft pick or prospect, and retain a percentage of his salary.

Well it looks like for the first season since the Jets 2.0 returned to Winnipeg, I will not have season tickets. With both of our Grandson's playing hockey in Sask. this season I can't see myself spending a lot of time in Winnipeg.

A rumour that was started by a Rangers fanboy on social media.

And what a terrible trade suggestion it is.

Adam Lowry named new captain: https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/winnipeg-jets-name-adam-lowry-captain-1.2006649

So, we have @ALowsyPlayer17 leading the team now.

Will be interesting to see if that makes a change in the dressing room.  No doubting his heart and leadership skills, but there are still some old guard in there he will need to get on board under his rule.

Morrissey and Scheifele designated as alternates: https://www.nhl.com/news/adam-lowry-named-winnipeg-captain

I am happy with Adam Lowry wearing the C.

Everyone should be. He's a gritty, tenacious, competitive player who walks the walk and leads by example pretty much every shift.

sidenote: was the 2022-23 thread deleted? I was trying to find some info from last season but had no luck.

It's in the Archives.

I apologize for my ignorance (and derailing this thread) but is that something that can be accessed by members?

https://illegalcurve.com/first-adam-lowry-media-availability-after-being-named-captain-of-the-winnipeg-jets/

https://illegalcurve.com/winnipeg-jets-head-coach-rick-bowness-comments-after-adam-lowry-named-captain/

https://illegalcurve.com/winnipeg-jets-gm-kevin-cheveldayoff-comments-after-adam-lowry-named-captain/

Most definitely agree with the choice in making Lowry our Jet captain.    He is a special person who will inspire on and off the ice.

The kudos, mentioned by so many others, are very fitting. This everyday leader will continue to set a good competitive example I have no doubt.   

One of the keys for me is CP91. Would like to see him as our 2nd. line C. Apparently he spent a lot of time this summer working out with a new trainer.

20-25 G, and 35-40 A  Some where around 60 points.

I?m gonna feel kinda meh about Perfetti until he can stay on the ice for a fullish season.

That's my concern with him being the projected 2C, too. Today's presser made it sound like it's his spot to lose.

As for the new pieces, it sounds like Vilardi will be 1RW, Iafallo will be 3LW, and Kupari will be 4C.

I am also hoping that 1 or 2 of are young prospects can have an outstanding camp and give a couple our vets a run for there money.

Like the Jets, RCAF jersey.

Yikes? those jerseys are horrendous

I like them as well. Anything is better than those stupid aviator jerseys from Previous years.

Jets start the pre-season off with a W. CP91 with the shoot-out winner.

Looks like Vilardi is building some nice chemistry with his linemates.

Yes, 81,55,13. Could be a very good line. Disappointed that NE27 missing TC. Every year it's something.

Yeah, wow. Guess I?m just used to him being injured all the time I didn?t even notice.

Neck spasms seem pretty serious. I just hope it's nothing long-term and he'll return in short order.

Practiced all of 15 minutes.

of Ehlers yup, sadly the guy is a walking bay of sores.

Skating band aid.

Liked the game that Heinola had.  Competed with some very strong body battle victories and was dependable at both ends .

They kept talking about how he has bulked up, and he showed it a couple times... either he makes the team, or is a solid trade bait, that can be packaged.

I thought the same as well, he had a few really great shifts. Maybe this is the year he finally becomes a regular for the Jets. Question is, who would he replace?

I'd love to see him on the big club to start the season. Indeed, whose spot does he take, though?

Also, Tyrel Bauer looks like a tough customer.

I liked the play of Ford last night. The kids works his tail off.

Didn't like the hit to CP91s head. Cheap.

Perfetti not at practice today.

Ehlers in a non-contact jersey.

Was at practice on Thursday and happened to see Perfetti, which was great to see, and Schmidt skating on a separate sheet.
Surmised they and a handful of others were nicked up players skating for rehab, non contact purposes. Believe Barlow was there as well.

Ehlers in the gold jersey was incredibly fast and so smooth while working with the main group.

Harkins, picked up by Penguins. 

Looks like the Jets had a full compliment of players practicing today. Getting healthy at the right time. Go Jets.

Pretty uninspired showing to wrap up the pre-season last night.

Here's hoping they get it together for Wednesday's tilt vs CGY.

To bad for VH14, fractured ankle.

I thought Ford had a great TC.

Such an unfortunate injury for Heinola, who was seemingly playing himself into the 6th or 7th spot D-man

Saw that Ford got sent to the Moose. This I believe will help his development, as he should be used in more key spots during game

Thinking we will see our team scoring down a bit this year but danger zone shots against lessened.
Want to think the Jets will be pushing right to the end and finding a way to secure a playoff spot

Some hockey insiders are thinking the Jets will be 2-8, after the first 10. I was hoping for 5 and 5. Tough schedule to start the year.

MS55 and CH37 both sign identical 7 year $8.5 mil deals...

Sign and trade?

At least we can get something at the trade deadline.

Wonder which we buy out first...

But, that ends a lot of the stupid questions pre and post games....

Extension for HellB is priced decently with the 7 years reasonable for a successful goalie that he is

Meanwhile the price for what Scheif accomplishes offensively is quite reasonable, however the term is a bit rich in my eyes

Chevy's work has brought what should be stability to start the season

Gooooooooooo Jets Gooooooooo      make great things happen

So, no move clauses in both deals until 2027... guess we know what the lineup is for a while...

Expecting a trade on D soon...

I like the Hellebyuck deal and am so so on the Schiefle deal. Mark better be on his horse on the back check this year!

Didn't expect extensions at this point in time for either but both are key pieces to this roster and it's good to have them stay long-term. FWIW, contracts such as these seem to be commonplace in today's NHL. Both are reasonable from a cost standpoint, IMO. The term less so but I get why from the standpoint of a player's interests.

Now they have to produce and do so consistently. It's that simple.

There should be no reason why this locker room can't come together under this leadership group.

I don't like the term. Both will 38 at the end of there contact. Just went thought this with Wheeler. Production usually starts dropping off once your over 35. But, I am glad there both back.

I am happy that our first draft pick and our most successful draft pick have the opportunity to finish as Jets. We should continue to be competitive and keep me engaged

That said, I am still pretty bitter from the past few years of underwhelming efforts from this group. We've seen their peak and it's a play-off bubble team. We may miss the play-offs, we may get a first round victory, but it's not a Stanley Cup contender. Only now, we're paying much more for two of our assets, which will mean losses elsewhere as these contracts begin.

So, as someone who would like to see our team complete for the cup, I don't think these deals help us do that in the long or short term. There may be a small window if all our young comes come up and have a lot of success on their entry deals. But then in the later years as Scheif and Helle slow down, we're going to be in a bind.

The biggest issue with long term contracts is that they are 100% guaranteed, with no performance requirements at all.

There is nothing stopping a player on a 7 year deal from showing up to camp 30lbs overweight and not having skated all summer.  I'm not suggesting that either of these two would, I'm just saying long term guaranteed deals are dangerous.

A player going into a contract year plays his top game.  Its an odd duck who uses the "I've got to earn this contract that is guaranteed" as inspiration to play his top game.  Neither of these players ever need to earn a contract every again.  If, after these deals, they decide they can and want to play, anything there is gravy (see Wheeler).

CH37 has stated his goal is to win a cup.  I'm guessing multiple would be even better.  Keeping these guys motivated is going to be key, and putting the pieces in place around them that gives us a chance to win will be key.  If we drop into rebuild mode in 2 years due to injury, coaching, GM or other issues, that's a lot of money tied up in guys who will be hard to motivate.

Here is hoping these end up looking like incredible steals in 5 years (after winning 2 cups).

I was a little surprised we signed them to seven year deals, and not a shorter term, but perhaps they wanted more money per season for a shorter term. Hopefully in a couple of years, the young draft choices can start to contribute, and we can be a legitimate Cup contender !

Ugh X2.

The 2023-24 season begins tonight. Puck drop at 9 on SNW.

Looking forward to it. Is NE27 in the line-up tonight?

No idea. Twitter is such a dumpster fire now and I can't find anything re: lines or pairings. The pre-game skate isn't for a bit yet, so hopefully some information will be made available this afternoon.

We needed NE27 to be healthy and productive this season. One of the O leaders.

He's been listed as part of the lines the last couple of practices, so I think he's good to go.

That second line with Ehlers and Perfetti will make or break the season. Can't take the next step if those two miss half the year again.

Agreed. This team cannot afford to have those two miss time if they want to compete for a playoff spot.

I'm still not sold on Perfetti at 2C but maybe he'll surprise us.

On paper they look solid and competitive.  Agree that Perfetti needs a full, productive season and Ehlers must stay healthy

https://illegalcurve.com/game-1-winnipeg-jets-vs-calgary-flames-pre-game-report/

Looks like Ehlers is good to go based on the lines/pairings as of yesterday:

Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi
Ehlers-Perfetti-Niederreiter
Iafallo-Lowry-Appleton
Barron-Kupari-Namestnikov

Morrissey-DeMelo
Samberg-Pionk
Dillon-Schmidt

Hellebuyck
Brossoit

Played a pretty solid game for 58 minutes.

I didn't watch this one (no SN at home) but the scoring sheet would indicate a bad defensive effort and netminding. Allowing a SHG is inexcusable.

Blegh.

We outplayed them for most of the game.

Ran into a hot goaltender. He stole the game for us.

A couple really unfortunate plays led to goals. Morrissey getting a penalty as the first one expired. Schmidt's icing after a long PK keeping the same skaters on the ice late in the game.

A definite shame that we couldn't pull points out of this one.

read that Ehlers was practicing in a reg jersey today. Good news for we fans wondering and worrying

Well it got a little ugly for a couple of minutes, but we pulled it together for the W.

The Appleton goal will be on highlight reels for a while, Morrissey deserves the 2nd assist for his fast thinking getting Lowry the stick. 

Nice to see MS55 earning his new deal.  On pace for 82 goals for the year, and KC81 on pace for 122...

Really an entertaining victory

New deal doesn't kick in title next season.

My biggest concern about the Jets early in the season, is our 2nd line. Is CP91 a #2 C? I also never thought of NN62 as a top 6 forward.

They gotta learn to tighten up when they're leading late in games.

Very entertaining game on Saturday.

PL80 headed back to Winnipeg. Not sure how I feel about PL80. Enjoyed watching him as a Jet. Didn't like his exit plan.

Meh. Good riddance to self-centered brats with entitlement issues.

I just hope the Jets get another win tomorrow and do so in convincing fashion.

I think we will all enjoy his exit plan for years to come... Chevy got a very good haul for him, probably a better haul than he would have gotten from Liane. 

Of Gabriel Vilardi, Alex Iafallo, Rasmus Kupari, so far I've noticed Kupari the most.  But all have been noticeable.  I keep thinking about that scene from Moneyball where they are replacing Giambi...

Odd, PLD got 8 years at 8.5 in LA, and we extended MS55 and CH37 for 7 yrs at the exact same 8.5mil.. coincidence?

Has anyone missed the play of PLD for us out there? I certainly haven't. How many teams has he played for now in his short career? It won't take long for the folks in L.A. to realize what a selfish player he is. It's not a good quality in a team sport. So far I like what we got in return for him and I think Bones is happy too. It was pretty obvious to me what he meant when he stated that "everyone in that dressing room wants to be here". Much better team atmosphere and it shows.

I was a fan of PLD in the sense that I loved his metrics and was excited for what he could become. The problem is that he's 25 and we're still not sure what he will become or how long that will take exactly. I got tired of being excited waiting for him to hit his stride and be able to do what we got to see glimpses of every once in a while consistently.

Personally I will take Scheifele's consistent 30-40s goals every season for the same money as PLD's "maybe one day he will be good and grow tf up" any day of the week.

I have a man cave in my basement and flanking my bar is a rotating jets jersey where I retire one out once I get a new one. Right now I have my 55 white heritage on the wall as I thought the Scheif days were over, and my wife bought me a 80 reverse retro (the one we wore last year). With the recent happenings, I am going to switch those jerseys up.

I wanted PLD to turn out because I wanted a Tkachuk--type player on our a team.

That hard to play against, physical player, that also has 100-point upside.

But not only did PLD never live up to that billing, he has this attitude about himself as if he absolutely is that player. Thankfully, LA seems to still think he has that upside and we were able to get a ransom for him.

I hope Scheif and Vilardi both get hat tricks tonight, while PLD skates around aimlessly like his infamous Columbus shift.

Hard to really gauge after all of two games, IMO. There's no denying Cheveldayoff got a very good return moving Dubois, though. All three players acquired in the trade have contributed and add solid depth to the roster. From that standpoint, it's a plus.

From the standpoint of pure skill and physicality, Dubois is a very good 2C who still has room for growth. That's where the praise ends for me.

How Perfetti continues to progress is key in all of this. Filling the 2C role on a consistent basis is crucial.

PLD was in full on beast mode in game 1 of the playoffs, then completely vanished the rest of the series.
Seems to me his entire career has been like this. Wildly inconsistent.

PLD got is jerkass revenge only 11,200 in attendance
Vilardi looked messed up pretty good.

Of course Dubois gets the opening goal after the PK unit can't clear the zone.

Things fell apart after that. Ugly middle frame buried the home side.

Lizotte is a perennial turd.

Just hope this injury isn't long term.

Vilardi expected to miss 4-6 weeks with a MCL sprain, per Bowness.

Lizotte is a perennial turd.

Excluding the restricted attendance games during the pandemic, last night's game vs. LAK was the lowest single-game attendance in Jets 2.0 history at 11,226 (73.2% capacity).

Yikes.

I was there and it certainly looked empty. Jets didn't give those in attendance much to cheer about either... Loudest chant was a "Ref you suck" after the missed hit from behind on Perfetti.

I can say, I let our season tickets go this season.

I have refused to spend a dollar on the Jets for quite some time.

That said, I think I'm coming around. The indecision behind so many players for so long turned me off, but with the trade of PLD and the signing of MS55 and CH37, and a few concourse things that they have added - along with some "cheap seat" nights last season (not sure if they still are this year) - I can see myself attending some games this year.

In what world does that dirty hit go unpenalized and L.A. actually goes on the PP? Only in the NHL. What a screwjob the Jets took from the officials in that one.

The 4-0 knights in Winnipeg. Hope we can keep this one close.

I believe Brossoit is gonna give us a good shot.

Will come down to if we can score. Need to try and get that first goal.

It'd be fun to see the Jets rise to the occasion and play well enough to beat the Garbage Knights, but I'm not about to hold my breath.

I thought the Jets played an excellent game tonight. Probably should have been up 4-0 after the 1st. I usually don't complain about the refs, but there was some missed calls and some weak calls tonight. But, there was no quit tonight. The boys battle hard right till the end.

Another loss cuz the opposition goalie beat us .......... gotta start seeing our goalies steal a game and get the victories rolling

In at least three of our games, there have been some really horrendous choices by the refs. Do you remember the Calgary game where their goalie fell down while we had the puck in their end and the refs blow the play dead?


It's not a coincidence that every goalie has a great game against us. Need to start getting some rebounds, get some dirty goals.

Half of our D pairs are playing atrociously. I saw some advanced stats this morning that show that Schmidt, Stanley, Dillon fail at getting the puck out of our end more than half the time. And that what Bones was saying last night too. They can't make the simple play to get the puck out of our end. It burns us again and again.

Stanley was not good yesterday. He has to take advantage of his playing time.

Should we be looking to make a trade for some goal scoring. Apps played okay with the first unit, but he just doesn't have the finish around the net. Or, do we bring up Ford or Lambert from the Moose.

Hard to steal games when your teammates cough up pucks and make sketchy passes in the defensive zone. The Jets are giving up way too many high danger scoring chances. Special teams is a mess, too.

The officiating the last three games has been pretty absurd. That call on Iafallo that resulted in the Garbage Knights taking the lead in the third was absolute horse feathers.

Rough start to the season, IMO. Not sure what to think.

EDIT: the number of empty seats again last night is not a good look, either. And that won't improve if they continue losing games.

I think it's more on our defense. If they can't get the puck out of our own end successfully, our scores don't have a chance.

We have Schmidt riding the bench, even though he's one of our highest paid Dmen. It's a tough hole to get out of.

Nice OT win by the Jets.

Yes it was. Hellebuyck was great and once we found our legs Edmonton had no answer for our speed and tempo. Very nice comeback win and I hope that's the kind of hockey we'll be playing all season.

Hellebuyck stole the show. Although, he did give credit to the guys playing pretty tight hockey and making his saves easy - as he put it. His post-game segment with Scott Oake was great.

hopefully everything works out...family always comes first.


Winnipeg Jets? head coach Rick Bowness is taking a leave from the NHL club after his wife fell ill on Sunday.

The team says in a statement that Rick?s wife, Judy Bowness, suffered a seizure yesterday evening. She is currently undergoing further testing in hospital.


Associate coach Scott Arniel is taking over head coaching duties until Bowness returns.

The Jets are asking for everyone to respect the family?s privacy at this time.

Bowness has a 48-35-3 record since becoming Winnipeg?s coach ahead of the 2022-23 season.

That's really unfortunate news. I hope Bowness' wife has a full and speedy recovery.

HellB steals a win for us . However I should applaud a decent team game after the first period
For those who didn't catch it    the After Hours interview with HellB is probably the best I've watched over the years.

Major concerns in the Bowness family for which best wishes are sincerely sent

Jets vs. Blues tonight.

First game under Scott Arniel. Knowing the Jets, this was the succession plan for after Bowness; so perhaps a sneak peak at our future bench boss.

Didn't he get a chance to coach some games early on last season when Bowness was absent due to illness?

Good opportunity for Arniel, anyway. And for the team to fight through some adversity.

Hoping for a good performance by the home side tonight against a division rival.

Yeah, you're right, nevermind.

This is the most winnable game of the year so far, so hopefully we can dig it out. Gotta start stacking some wins at some point.

Maybe instead of digging we can score first, score more, and then play 60 to hold the lead the entire game and not let the other team creep back into it.

I don?t ask for miracles.

Solid win for the Jets. Nice to see Gus finally get a goal. Helli rock solid again.

Nice pass from Perfetti to set up a goal by the Gus Bus ! :)

A good win last night. Hellebuyck was fantastic yet again.

This is why he is on the team... his "vision" and quick decisions.  With some more age adn conditioning to build up his strength and durability, he's going to be a nice long term #2 C behind MS55...

Oh, so now we are not trading MS55? lol.

Nice goal by Gus last night, just hope it doesn't take him another 4 years to get his next goal.

Thinking we all stood or at least cheered big time for the goal that Gusty got. He certainly looked soooooo very relieved.

yes indeed HellB was terrific      Sure wish our solid leader Lowry didn't have such "stone hands"

We gave him a 7 year deal, 5 years no move... so, that ship has sailed.  We will have to make do...

Good test for the Jets tonight. The Wings are 5-1, and seem to have a good team.

I believe I read they are leading the league in scoring. Definitely going to be a good test.

2-1 Jets, we need to get the next one. PP has not been good.

4-1 Jets.  We'll take it!

Really solid road win against a good team. Hellebuyck was fantastic yet again. He's dialed in.

Full marks for really tightening up after Appleton's goal.

Nice to see Ehlers looking like his old self, too.

Powerplay needs work.

Geez what a terrific team victory. Lines were playing well away from the puck and our dmen had some great moments with their sticks
Course all is complete cuz HellB was big throughout the nite

Agree, PP need to be better. Moving the puck well. Just not getting enough pucks to the net.

NE27, has a great shot, just needs to hit the net more often.

In Montreal tomorrow night. Montreal has some scoring. However I think they are a weak on D, and they also take a lot of penalties. This would be a good night to get the PP going.

Our PP bites us in the butt. PP in the last 2 minutes of the game, which was terrible. Nice to see AL17 with a couple of goals.

What the heck is up with Ehlers? He suffers from stupidity on the ice.

Rangers in town on Monday. 6-2 record, 4 game winning streak. Jets are going to have to play a very good game.

El former Capitan in town tonight.

Should be a good test for the Jets and it'd be nice to see the powerplay get going.

Hellebuyck gets the start.

Wheeler has had a rough start to his season. Should be a nice tribute to our long time captain.

Yes our PP, has been a problem. I would also like to NE27 get going. I understand he had no TC. But, he really does look good so far this season.

Very solid game for the Jets. However, again we have a 4 on 3 PP to start OT and can't score. I think that 0 for 18 now? Helli very good again tonight. NE27 looked much better tonight. Be nice if he could hit the net more often. Gus with another goal.

The coaches need to figure out how to get the PP* going. This is a troubling trend as they hit the ten-game mark. And as with previous years, it seems as Hellebuyck goes, so do the Jets.

Nice tribute to Wheeler and a decent performance from the home side. Another point would've been nice, though.

* 4PPG on 33PP opportunities so far (12.1%)

A little 3 game road trip. Knights are still undefeated after a shoot out win over Montreal last night. Tough place to start a road trip.   

I want so bad to beat this team.

You and me both, brother.

Stanley trade rumors surface again.

Source?

The leaf nation.

PP still not clicking. PK with a bad line change. Jets need to get the next one.

Not going to win to many games with 2 goals.

Can't give up two PPGs on the road and expect to win, especially against the Garbage Knights.

Man, I can't stand that team.

That 4 minutes was tough to watch. 2 mistakes, 2 goals.

NE27 was AWOL again last night. I am wondering if he still not 100% yet.

Live from the poorly lit gateway community centre it's the Jets vs the Coyotes in a classic Saturday afternoon draw for the jets

Nice win for the Jets. 62/17/22 dominate. Helli very good again tonight. NE27, maybe his best game of the year. PP second unit looked very good.

very good result aided by the scoring Bonuses from Dill and Nino

Can't wait for the Jets to get on a role of not giving up PP goals

Now three important divisional games.

The Jets are 5-4-2, after 11 games. I think this is a lot better then most thought they would be at this point in the season.

Numbers: Vilardi has only played 3 games. JM44-1G, NP4-0G, CP91-1G, NE27-2G.  22/17/62- 10 goals. MA22- 9 points.
               

Special teams continue to struggle. A bit of a troubling trend at this point, IMO.

But a solid come-from-behind win yesterday. Niederreiter had his best game since joining this team - and it sounds like he wants to re-sign here.

Very nice win for the Jets tonight. Nice to see the PP get a couple of goals.

Impressive road win. Top line had a strong performance and I'm really liking the third line lately.

Really nice to see the PP click, so hopefully that's a sign of more PPGs to come.

I'm liking this team's play lately

Another big game for the Jets tonight.

Another solid win for the Jets. What can you say about AL17. 81/55/9 with 10 points tonight.

Excellent win tonight. Top line took over in the second and never looked back. Scheifele (4A) and Connor (3G, 1A) are building some fantastic chemistry lately.

Big test coming up on Saturday vs. DAL.

That was a fun one.

I know the Preds aren't very good but it was nice to go out and dominate at home.

This team is looking good. Can we keep it up? The last couple years we've had incredible starts only to fall off after New Years Eve, so I'm containing excitement for when we show we can play like this a full season.

Getting Vilardi and Heinola back will only help.

I'm loving how well Iafallo and Niederreiter fit in on this team.

The forwards by and large are playing 200 ft. hockey and that's leading to fewer shots allowed and fewer high danger scoring chances allowed.

Kudos to Arniel for keeping his players focused on the right things while Bowness is away.

I really like the line of 62/17/22. All have played very well. Nice to see MA22 rounding into the play many thought he could be.

The game against the Stars will be another good test for this team. Helli should be fresh, and will need to be at his best.

It should be a really interesting game. So far, we?ve mostly beat the teams we should have (which is not something we always do with consistency). Now, does our game translate to one of the better teams?

The Stars are starting to own the jets this 2nd period.

Helli had a great game. However our PP or lack of PP was a big factor again. Stars were 1 for 4 on the there PP. But, the difference was that SHG.

Just watched the 3rd. period of this game. Jets really played well had most of the play. Had a couple of great chances to tie that game.

Another special teams letdown on Saturday against a really strong opponent.

5v5 I thought the Jets played great.

Very good result, 6-3, with goal posts and a real feisty mood out there.

Really like how this team is playing. Team effort all night long. The PP was clicking to tonight.

Really nice bounceback game after Saturday's meh-ish outing.

Morrissey with four apples, Ehlers with a pair, Connor with a pair and an apple... 81 making his way into the Rocket Richard conversation, IMO.

I wonder what the update will be on Kupari's UBI.

Ehlers almost gets the Gordie Howe hattrick... when NE27 drops the gloves, you know the whole team has bought in...  good work, Arneil....

Kupari out for 4 to 6 weeks with a shoulder injury.

Very nice effort. I like the sandpaper the Jets are playing with.

 though his offensive numbers were meh, really was enjoying the effort from Kupari.    Sure do wish him the best in rehab.

Jets re-called F Axel Jonsson-Fjallby from the Moose to take his place.

I like AJF, very hard working player. But, I was hoping for a guy like Parker Ford, or Lambert. I guess our young guns aren't ready yet.

This is 100% the correct call up. We need Fabio and is dynamic speed back in this line up. Other 2 don?t fit the forth line profile.

Only saw the highlights of this one. Jets 0-4 on the PP, only 18 shots, and out played in the 3rd. But, still come away with the W.

Nice, the Jets with another win, MS55 with a 3 point night. LB pretty between the pipes.

Yes LB looked great! No panic in his game and he was very steady. Team is playing for Bones and it shows. Very proud of their performance as is, I am sure, Mr. Arneil. Keep it up boys!

KC81 leading the league in goals with 14.

MS55 11th in the NHL with 15A.

Great weekend for the Jets with back-to-back wins at home.

Well, I guess I'm a hockey fan now..

Go Jets..

LOL

What a lousy game last night, eh! Ugh, I'm still so crusty about it.

Yah?right?Go Jets Go? :D

This sucks.

Sounds like Vilardi's making progress and could suit up on this road trip.

His injury was so disappointing.

But if he comes back (and can stay in the line-up), and Helle starts to figure it out as the season progresses, we may start to look real good.

Things are most certainly looking up. Hopefully they knock it out of the park on the Florida trip.

Lizotte is a perennial turd.

Lighting are playing much better the last couple of weeks, this should be a good game. 6 pm start tonight.

Nice win for the Jets tonight. Helli was outstanding.

That was a great game to watch. Really thought we were able to keep the pressure up consistently throughout the game.

Solid road win last night. Morrissey has been on a nice heater lately (2 G, 6A in his last 5 GP).

Loved Lowry's OT winner.

Ehlers also playing well. Jets deserve some credit for the way they are playing. Their confidence is rising and it's showing. I'm sure Helli is loving it.

Darren Dreger
The Winnipeg Jets with some down time today in Florida. Looking forward to a quick meeting with Rick Bowness who?s been away from the club the past month on a leave of absence. Bones is a well liked and highly respected man.

Could be something, could be nothing. Dreger did a good job keeping us guessing. I'm leaning towards the Jets meeting with Bowness and seeing where things are headed.

I believe it's simply that Bones is in Florida with his wife and is using the opportunity to come see the squad.

Nevermind, he's back coaching tonight.

Coach Arniel did a nice job in his absence. 9-2-2.

They're playing some solid hockey. Nice to get Bones back behind the bench, too.

Unreal. Well done.

Very proud of the way this team responded to Bones' absence. Something has changed this year.

What a great team win for the Jets. Helli outstanding. NE27 has found his game.

What a fun run we?ve been on.

Perfect road game. Ehlers' goal was phenomenal.

Five-game win streak!

Tied with Colorado for first place in the Central Division.  Great to see!

And Dallas. Gonna be a battle.

Early season has certainly provided some surprises, the key one being some extra victories

Keep hustling Jets and continue to play fast and determined

Nashville up next, this should be a good game. Nashville has been playing much better lately.

Couldn't manage the comeback last night.

EDIT: some weird goals scored by both teams. Perfetti's PPG was a beauty.

Obviously not going to win every game, but after we got close I was really hoping to take it to OT.

Good first period, expect for the last 30 seconds. Excellent third period. The middle frame they just out played us. But, it was a nice push back. Dallas on Tuesday another tough game.

A much more important game. Both because of how close we are in the standing and because it's the measuring stick we have to compare ourselves too. Doesn't matter if we get into the play offs if we can't win games against the top teams.

Yup, very true. It's time to stake our place at the top and prove we belong.

So, does Winnipeg win if CH37 played against Nashville?  Going up against their #1 goaler, aren't we wise to counter with ours?  Nothing against Broisot, bit he's no Hellebuyck.

Probably. But also can't play Helle in every start.

I wouldn't even say Brossoit played poorly on Sunday night. The Preds' second goal he'd probably want back, though.

Big division tilt tonight. Should be a gooder!

We will learn a lot about the team tonight. It's a hard cope, but maybe it's good that we broke the streak on Sunday so the boys are fired up to start another one against arguably the best team in our division (other than us ;))

apparently Vilardi still will not be in tonight's lineup

so Chisholm (Def) goes down to Moose for conditioning, now he's back
Realize the Jets have really been fortunate with lack off injuries on defense but shouldn't we rotate Stanley and Chisholm a bit in the next couple weeks

Super intrigued to see how we match up.

Rotating Stanley and Chisholm in is a great idea, but who do you sit?  Run 7 D?  Sit Schmidt?  The rest of the D is better than Stanley/Chisholm.  And we still have Heinola we have to squeeze in, all three are RFA next year.  

Dylan and Dillion are UFA next year, and Schmidt and Pionk the year after, so some of those spots might open up, maybe even earlier if we move them at the deadline, depending on how the young D develop.  I can't see all 4 UFA's coming back, I'd be surprised if more than just Pionk are here in 25-26.  These young D have to step up into those roles, for sure.

Ditto. A litmus test of sorts for the home team tonight.

Yeah, take away that flukey goal and it?s different game. Possibly goes to OT and we get a point or two out of it. Shucks. Bad bounce.

Hockey fights cancer is always a special night. I thought the Jets played a very good game. But, again our down fall was our PP. Two 5 on 3s, and we can't score. Need to get the PP going.

Bleck.

+1

Oilers tomorrow night. Oilers on a 3 game winning streak and seem to be playing better.

Would be nice to get a healthy Vilardi back into the line up.

F Gabe Vilardi has been activated from IR. He'll be a game-time decision for tonight's tilt vs. the Oilers.

I feel like after being out this long, he shouldn't be a GTD. He's either clearly ready to go, or he should continue to sit out.

After 6 weeks, is the 6 hours before game time really going to make a difference?

Probably just a standard procedure to make sure he's good to go. FWIW, he was on the 4th line at today's morning skate.

I like this, work him back into game shape.  I think our 4th. line players average 7-8 minutes a game. I could also see him on one of the PP units.

Yeah this is great news! He was playing well until he got hurt by that dirtbag. Nice to have him back.

Jets played a good game until that weak goal. Helle completely misplayed that shot. You just can't give the Oilers a PP that late in the game.

Bones 0-3 in his return, 2-6 for the year.

Crummy loss and even crummier three-game skid.

Gotta beat the Blackhawks tomorrow.

1-3. He was behind the bench in Sunrise when the Jets shut out the Panthers 3-0 last Friday.

True.

I think our fourth line has 5 goals and 8 points so far this season.  Need more production out of these guys. 81 no goals in 5 games now?? Need to find some scoring. 

This is it. one goal in the last two games isn't going to do it.

I like NE27 with 81/55, but it also really hurts the line of 7/91. Also I think we lost 75% of the faceoffs last night. Another area that needs some work.

The hit on JM44 last night. Dirty, and unnecessary. Don't need that in the game.

The no call was what irked me. Blatant interference, not to mention dirty and stupid.

But Vilardi's working his way back, so hopefully that stabilizes our lines/depth a bit and we can start a new streak.

Although now Namestikov(sp?) is out for a while, apparently.

Namestnikov is listed as day-to-day with a lower body injury. I doubt he plays tomorrow.

Bowness has already ruled him out and said probably not the next game either.

I loathe the Oilers.

They're definitely in my top 5 of hated teams, lol.

We're beginning to see an old trend here. Goals dry up when the other teams focus on locking us down and play us heavy and hard. Too much perimeter play, not enough willingness to work hard, pay the price, and go into the dirty areas of the ice. That has to change or sooner or later or we'll pay the price, like in the playoffs. May as well get used to it now and start winning the low scoring games and quit relying on 5 or 6 goals a game. It's unsustainable.

He also took a McDavid shoulder to the face late in the game. He looked a little dazed for a few seconds. Really like how he plays.

We didn't lose because of the refs... it should never be something that decides a game, you have to play well enough that those factors do not matter.

But, did the refs tilt the rink?  Did their missed calls affect the game?  No doubt whatsoever.  The missed call on Morrisey alone... and again, Eye In The Sky should make that call, everytime.  There was no doubt that was a penalty, and possibly a match penalty.  If not the EITS acting independently, it should be reviewable on challenge.  Look, it the announcers can see it, and the replays show it plain as day, the EITS should have no issue making the call.