Of all seven Canadian teams approaching the NHL’s trade deadline, the Jets are the most difficult to, um, peg.
We know Montreal, Ottawa and Edmonton, to varying degrees, will be buyers. Calgary was first in the pool, renting defenceman Michael Stone for a fair price. Lou Lamoriello will look for a bottom-six centre but will resist temptation to make headlines while playing the long game in Toronto. And Vancouver’s Alex Burrows and Ryan Miller are playing like men auditioning for a playoff run elsewhere.
The Jets, however, find themselves in a confounding spot.
While the mathematics point otherwise, those on Winnipeg’s front lines believe they should add rather than subtract by March 1. Considering the club’s loyal fan base is staring at a grand total of just two playoff home games (and zero wins) over six seasons, we imagine the locals are getting restless too.
This team can bulge the twine with the best of them (see: Laine, Patrik; see: goals, 30), but defensively they’re a mess.
On-again, off-again No. 1 goalie Ondrej Pavelec was brought up to stop the bleeding, only to get injured.
In addition to Jacob Trouba needing to sit out one more game, both halves of the Jets’ shutdown pair are on IR. Tyler Myers may not return this regular season. A lower-body injury has Tobias Enstrom sidelined for maybe two more weeks. By then, it might be too late.
Yet veteran centre Bryan Little tells us the feeling among the players still standing is that renting an experienced defenceman could do wonders.
“It would definitely help,” Little says. “It’s tough. We have had a lot of injuries and Trouba’s suspension—we’re starting to get pretty thin. If we do anything or don’t, it’s not going to change the way we approach the last 19 games.”
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The Jets experienced a “kick in the ass” moment, captain Blake Wheeler says, on Feb. 11, when Enstrom went down and they lost 4-1 at home to Tampa Bay, another team in mid-season crisis mode. A team meeting was called.
“It showed situations where we weren’t too proud of ourselves,” Wheeler says. “You’re looking at a team that should be a playoff team, realistically. We’ve played some really good hockey. Sometimes we swoon and don’t play as well and we’re not a playoff team.
“We’re kinda searching for ourselves a little bit. Over the last week plus, we’ve kinda re-established what our identity is.”
Since that loss to the Lightning, the Jets have simplified and toughened their game, snatching six out of a possible eight points prior to their much-appreciated mandatory break, which ended with a return to practice Monday.
Coach Paul Maurice lectured his troops on the dismal record of other NHL teams coming out of the break and encouraged them to hit the gym and the ice during their five-day vacation instead of, say, partying in South Beach.
“We’ve got to come out right,” Maurice says. “We don’t have a week to work ourselves back into the season.”
The Jets (28-29-6) rank 25th overall in points percentage (.492). The five teams below them on that list—Vancouver, Detroit, Dallas, Arizona, Colorado—are already selling.
Winnipeg ranks 27th in goals-against average and has tumbled to the bottom third in both special teams. The Jets are injured and undisciplined. Too young and over-travelled.
“We came into this season knowing we’re one of the youngest teams in the league,” Wheeler says. “With that, you manage your expectations. You don’t know what you’re going to get every single night.”
Yet they return from break only five points out of the wild card and begin their stretch run with a six-game homestand that’s starts Tuesday versus Minnesota. Despite being out of the picture last April, this group finished the regular season with four straight wins against playoff teams.
“Confidence doesn’t serve us well,” says Wheeler, tongue in cheek, about the group’s resiliency. “There can be a tendency, especially this time of year, when you’re a little bit out of the playoffs and things aren’t going your way, you start looking to the future.”
The Jets can’t allow that toxicity to seep in, but when fans watch fellow wild-card candidates improve their crease (L.A. renting Ben Bishop, who likely would not have approved a trade to Manitoba) and their blue line (Calgary was more aggressive in pursuit of Stone), Kevin Cheveldayoff’s patience might grow frustrating.
“We know it’s going to be an uphill road,” Little says. “The games are counting down and there’s not much time left.”
So, does Cheveldayoff look at the standings and the Central Division arms race and deal away UFA Drew Stafford and listen to offers on rumoured trade bait Mathieu Perreault? Or does he rent some help for a veteran core and a coaching staff that is still playing for a White Out versus a white flag?
Defencemen such as Kyle Quincey, Brendan Smith and Johnny Oduya are on the market.
“We’re in the fight,” says Maurice, convincingly. “We’re in the hunt.”
Question is, can he say the same thing on March 2?
