Jets’ End-of-Season Interviews Reflect on 2nd-Round Playoff Exit & Lessons Learned

“When you look at the big moments in the series, I think Dallas owned more of them than we did,” defenseman Haydn Fleury said, whether they were key goals, saves, or blocked shots.

Vladislav Namestnikov described feeling “empty” after Game 6 considering the dark cloud over the day: Mark Scheifele’s father Brad died just hours before the game and seeing Mark Scheifele in the penalty box with his head down after Thomas Harley’s overtime game winner was gutting.

“It’s not the end result that we wanted, but we have all the keys in this room to have success and I think we’ll be back stronger next year,” Namestnikov said. “Unfinished job. I think the guys here understand what we can achieve and it leaves a sour taste and a hunger to come back and do it again next year,” the centre, who signed a two-year extension in February, continued.

“We battled, tried to leave it all out there for him (Scheifele,)” Mason Appleton said. Addressing his prime opportunity late in the third period of Game 6 that he shot directly into a down-and-out Jake Oettinger, he said “obviously I had an insane chance there that didn’t go in… It’s kind of haunting in a sense, frustrating…”

“You think about those things (the ‘what-ifs’) for days…” he continued. “There’s ‘what-ifs’ in everyday life too but there’s a million in a game of 60 minutes of two teams competing at that pace and speed… there’s a million ‘what-ifs’ on both sides, but it’s a sport, it is what it is.”

“You Learn More From Losing Than You Do Winning:” Jets Have Lessons to Apply to Next Season

There was also a sense resolve that the group will apply the lessons they’ve learned from the defeat to next season, where they should be highly competitive again.

“I think the sentiment is that drive that we had after last season when it didn’t go our way, when we felt we needed to make some serious changes, we need to have that same attitude this summer in terms of pushing ourselves and maybe even harder than we did last year,” defenseman Josh Morrissey said. “To get to that next level of obviously the ultimate goal of winning the Stanley Cup, we’ve got to continue to push to go to that next level.”

“It doesn’t get any easier, you gotta start from day one again too, and it’s a journey,” fellow defenseman Luke Schenn, who has won two Stanley Cups and played for 17 seasons, said of the team he joined at the trade deadline taking another step next season toward glory. “You just gotta continue to go back and try to get better and grind. In saying that, there’s valuable experiences that you can go back and rely on.”

“There’s tons of lessons learned throughout this playoffs,” Connor, who led the Jets in playoff points with 17, said. “You have to learn those lessons. We’ve shown, this group, obviously the body of work we’ve done in the regular season the past couple of years. Obviously, this year taking a step in the playoffs, just gaining that knowledge, gaining that experience.”

“I think you learn more from losing than you do winning,” Fleury, a pending unrestricted free agent (UFA) said. “There’s a lot to learn but also so much good that we showed in that. The steps that we took as a group throughout the year is a testament to what they’re building here.”

“We were a ‘what-if’ away from a Game 7 coming back in our building where we’ve been dominant, so definitely a lot of pride and a lot to be proud of,” Appleton, another pending UFA, added.

“We have pretty much the same group coming back (next season,) so we’re all very motivated for a Cup and that’s our goal,” Connor Hellebuyck said. “That’s all we’ve got on our mind from now until next year this time of year. It’s all about building the process.”

Hellebuyck posted a goals against average above 3.00 and a save percentage under .900 for his third-straight playoffs after a tremendous regular season that saw him nominated for the Vezina and Hart Trophies. He had a very poor first round against the Blues and was pulled three times, but was better against the Stars. He added he learned a lot about “what makes him tick” and that his focus will be on building himself up to feel ready to “bring it every single night.”

Assorted Takeaways and Observations

Scheifele and Nikolaj Ehlers were the most notable two players absent. Scheifele has already returned home to his family after his his father’s death. The organization is chartering several players and staff to Kitchener later this week so they can attend the funeral, The Athletic reported.

Ehlers, the Jets’ highest-profile UFA, had already departed for Sweden to join Denmark at the 2025 IIHF World Championship.

Morrissey won’t require surgery on the knee injury he suffered in Game 6 against the Stars but said he would have been out for the rest of the playoffs.

Schenn revealed that he was playing through cracked ribs since Game 2 against the Blues.

Appleton, Fleury, and Brandon Tanev all expressed interest in re-signing in Winnipeg.

Head coach Scott Arniel and general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff are set to speak to the media Wednesday.