Why the Winnipeg Jets are the Blue Jackets of next season
Why the Winnipeg Jets are the Blue Jackets of next season by Nick Anderson
After finishing below expectations for the 2016-17 season, Winnipeg Jets fans are definitely disappointed after missing the playoffs for the 4th time in 5 years. Why did they miss the playoffs? This team seemed so well equipped to make a run, didn’t they? Well on paper yes. But the Jets were young. With the second youngest average age in the NHL, 25.759 years old, the team was younger than all others but the Blue Jackets.
But youth is good, right? Look at the Toronto Maple Leafs, they’re led by young guys, and they’re in the playoffs. Excellent point! If the Leafs are doing so well why are the Jets doing so bad?? Well for one, the Jets sit atop the NHL in man games lost, while the Maple Leafs sit near the bottom. Not to mention the fact that the Leafs goaltending situation played out much better than the Jets Hellebuyck experiment.
In fact, this year’s Jets are extremely comparable to the Blue Jackets of just a year ago. With the two teams set to face off later this week, I decided to take a look at the comparisons.
You might be asking “What do the Jets have in common with the Blue Jackets?”. Well for one, both team’s colour schemes involve a dark blue, red/white combo, as well as both their nicknames start with the letter J. If you are still reading at this point, you either have a broken home screen button, your computer froze and you have nothing better to do, or you have a good sense of humor. If you’re one of those listed, congratulations, you’re about to find out why the Jets will be the Jackets of next season!
Why the Jackets? Well when looking at the downfall of the Jets, it reminded me of another young team who missed the playoffs just a year ago. Only to have a 15-game winning streak and finish a top 4 team a year later. So, what hindered the Jackets of 2015-16? The same thing that got the Jets this season. The goaltending and the injury bug.
When analyzing the rosters of these teams, the number of comparisons is actually kind of scary. For starters, both teams didn’t get a full season out of their young American defenseman. Having only acquired Seth Jones halfway through the season, and with Trouba missing 2 months due to contract issues. Both teams acquired a young sniper the offseason before, Saad and Laine, who needed time to adjust to the system. Cam Atkinson’s breakout year numbers could be Nik Ehlers, Bryan Little could have as good a year as Alex Wennberg if any wingers can get hot. They both had just named a new captain, and Adam Lowry and Joel Armia play the same style and minutes as Brandon Dubinsky and Boone Jenner. Josh Morrissey plays really solid defensively at a young age, much like Ryan Murray. While the pairing of Enstrom and Myers is like the pairing of Jack Johnson and David Savard.
For the people who hate making player comparisons, I’m right there with you. I just find that these teams are similar in so many ways that my comparisons
became sort of far-fetched.
When looking closely, one could easily make the argument that the Jets are better than the Jackets. And honestly, after going player by player I couldn’t disagree with that statement whatsoever. However, the Jets are missing that one piece that keeps the Blue Jackets whole when they are not. A man by the name of Sergei Brobovsky. A surefire Vezina trophy candidate, if not winner, Brobovsky looks like the man who won the trophy just 3 years earlier, after missing more than half the season a year ago, injured.
What can the Jets do? Well with a crazy amount of youth both in the minors, and the pro’s, the Jets could take advantage by trading for a goaltending. With young-stud Eric Comrie still getting his feet wet as starter of the Manitoba Moose, he’ll likely still need around 2-3 seasons to grow before hopefully becoming starter in the future. And with this young core, the Jets could decide to be patient and wait but that could backfire in a few years when contracts start running out. And Jets fans are hungry to win now.
If Ehlers, Morrissey and Little all remain in Winnipeg through 2018, they’re likely all making north of 5 million(if not more) by the start of the 2018-19 season, and with Laine’s contract needing renewal at the end of that year, it looks like next year needs to be the year for the Jets. However, the Jets have drafted well enough that should they need to get rid of any players to make room for more cap, there’s always someone else to step in.
As for who they should get as a starting goalie, one could easily point to Marc Andre-Fleury as a target but the likelihood of him waiving his no trade clause to go to the Frigid North isn’t too high so where else do you look? Well, Bishop is set to be a UFA at year’s end why not try and sign him? Well it would take lots and lots of convincing and chances are he’ll land somewhere else so don’t waste your time their either right? Well after those two, your best option becomes hoping that Steve Mason decides to test Free Agency but I wouldn’t hedge my bets there either. Honestly, the Jets best option, in my opinion becomes Jonathan Bernier. Now you might be thinking “Ew no he was awful in Toronto!!”. Fair enough, he was. But out in Anaheim, Bernier has quietly gone back to his old ways.
Why is Bernier the best option? For one, he’d be cheaper than any of the three aforementioned, he put up extremely solid numbers (2.47 GAA.918sv%) in the absence of John Gibson, and has regained old form. However, these numbers came in a workload of 37 games, so I’m not comparing Bernier to Price. And no, I’m not saying Bernier should be the Jets starter either. I wouldn’t give up on Hellebuyck just yet if I were a member of Jets management. If he starts to slide again next season, having Bernier as a fallback is much more reassuring than Michael Hutchinson. And who knows? Maybe this relief of pressure to have to play so well because your backup is below average will help Hellebuyck!
Point being, the Jets need an answer in net, and goalie’s often take longer to develop. Even though I labelled next season as the year they must make a push, this seems like the most viable option if they’re going too. And if all goes well in net, with a more experienced lineup, and if they remain healthy, I could easily see the Jets becoming a top 5 team, just like the Blue Jackets.
