It’s been quite a season for the Winnipeg Jets. After being eliminated in five games in the first round of the playoffs last spring by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights, the Jets came back in 2023-24 with a vengeance.
With multiple winning streaks and consistent play throughout the year, including another Vezina Trophy-caliber season from Connor Hellebuyck, the Jets look like a serious contender to hoist the Stanley Cup this summer.
On Tuesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and Colby Cohen look at the Jets’ 3-0 win over the Washington Capitals on Monday night, and where they rank this group among the game’s best teams in the league.
Tyler Yaremchuk: The Jets came out and got a 3-0 win over the Capitals on Monday. Call them the new-look Winnipeg Jets, if you will, even though it was just Tyler Toffoli making his debut, and Hellebuyck secures the 23-save shutout.
This Jets team will be a bigger problem then some teams realize. When you look at that roster, Hellebuyck could singlehandedly win you a best-of-seven series, and that blue line has a bunch of jerks on it. They look like a legit Cup contender
Colby Cohen: I’m probably one of those people that doesn’t give them enough love. Last night was a dominant performance, and a few things that really stood out to me were how those defenseman kill plays. It’s difficult to gather and generate offense on the rush because you have these big-body defenseman and a forward group that back pressures the puck so hard.
These guys are able to hold the blue line, they kill plays almost immediately in their own zone, and they get the puck up to the forwards, a simple north-south style. Their puck recovery is absolutely relentless.
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here …
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