Since the calendar flipped to 2024, the Winnipeg Jets are 3-8 against playoff opponents. That in itself is concerning, but what has Jets fans up in arms recently, is how they are losing these big-ticket games. A 4-1 loss to the Stars in Dallas where the team came out flat, a 5-0 loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Hockey Night in Canada, and just last night, a deflating 4-2 loss to the red-hot Nashville Predators, who are surging up the Western Conference standings and haven’t lost in regulation since Feb. 15th.
Jets’ Recent Losses to Playoff Contenders a Cause for Concern
These recent losses, along with their record against playoff teams in 2024, are legitimate causes for concern. However, I should clarify, that this year’s team is much, much better than the 2022-23 version of the Jets, and they should be treated as so. What you are seeing is not a second-half collapse, which was the case a season ago.
This team is deep, they have an incredibly stingy defensive system, and they have a goaltender who is playing at a Vezina trophy-candidate level. However, contenders have exposed some of their weaknesses as of late and that has resulted in some eye-popping results, and not the positive kind. After the 4-2 loss to the Predators, Rick Bowness pointed to a lack of execution: “The execution wasn’t there. Faceoff readiness. They were jumping by us, we were winning draws and getting ourselves into trouble. The execution was way off from the start.”
The main weaknesses plaguing the Jets this season are puck management, a lack of sustained forecheck and pressure, and lacklustre special teams play. When those aspects of their game aren’t clicking, they rely too much on Connor Hellebuyck and Laurent Brossoit to bail them out, and when they are unable to, you see the ugly results that have occurred.
Health plays a role in this as well, as most recently the Jets’ top-line centre Mark Scheifele missed the Nashville game due to an ongoing illness that has made its way through the room. Gabriel Vilardi has missed seven straight games with an upper-body injury, and his return doesn’t seem imminent. While the Jets need to get healthy, they also need to flex their muscle a few times against a formidable opponent and prove that they can bring back that consistency that they showed early on in the season.
Flashes of “Winnipeg Jets Hockey” Occur Occasionally
Plenty of times this season, Bowness has referred to the Jets’ impressive style of play at five-on-five as ‘Winnipeg Jets hockey’, and while the Jets have been wildly inconsistent as of late, that style of hockey still reveals itself occasionally.
Look no further than the Jets’ recent 3-0 wins over both the Seattle Kraken and Washington Capitals. They dominated puck possession for the entirety of those games, and their stellar defensive structure was evident. You only have to crawl back a few more games and you’ll find the Jets’ five-goal third period against the Carolina Hurricanes, on the road, to see that this team can score goals in a hurry.
The flashes of ‘Winnipeg Jets hockey’ now only occur every once in a while, and when they do, you are suddenly reminded why this team has the second-highest points percentage (P%) in the West, fifth-highest P% in the NHL, and the highest P% in the Central Division.
It’s shocking, really, to see a team be so consistently dominant for over 40 games of a regular season, to then see that dominance only come out every once in a while. There is a glass-half-full approach to all of this, and it’s something that was lacking in 2022-23. We know that even through this tough stretch, that dominant five-on-five team is still in there, because we see it now and then. With 17 games remaining during the regular season, there is plenty of time for Winnipeg to gain more consistency in their game, get healthier, and hit the ground running heading into the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Jets Have Plenty of Time to Put This Concern to Rest
For a team as dynamic as Winnipeg, who added Tyler Toffoli and Colin Miller at the NHL Trade Deadline, they will comfortably make the playoffs and will be a tough out for whoever plays them in round one. That pressure of making the playoffs is off of their shoulders, but the pressure they are facing is for the #1 seed in both the division and the conference, both very attainable from Winnipeg’s current position in the standings.
However, for the nine games against playoff opponents remaining in their regular season, both fans and management would want to see them convincingly win a few of them to gain more confidence in the group heading into the postseason.
While this trend is concerning, and I understand why Jets fans are quick to panic, I wouldn’t be hitting the panic button just yet. Reinforcements just joined the team, Scheifele will return soon, Vilardi potentially soon after that, and the Jets have plenty of time to iron out their game before they start to really matter. Having said that, the #1 seed and home-ice advantage is important, so finding their game consistently would go a long way to having Round 1, Game 1, played in front of the Winnipeg Whiteout.
Their next game comes against the Anaheim Ducks on Friday night, as the Jets look to wrap up their three-game homestand on the winning side of things. They then hit the road for a five-game road trip, starting in Columbus against the Blue Jackets, before taking on the New York Rangers on Tuesday, March 19. That will be the next ‘big test’ for Winnipeg, and if they lay flat yet again, this topic could re-emerge with a little more urgency behind it.
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