It’s hard to be an afterthought for an NHL team in Canada, and yet it kind of feels like the Winnipeg Jets are one. They’re not grouped with either of the other blocks. They aren’t near Toronto or Montreal in the Atlantic Division, and even the Ottawa Senators get more shine from being caught between the two. They’re not grouped with the three Pacific Division teams that either have Connor McDavid, or get reflected noise from him, or are just constantly wailing about something like the Canucks (even when they’re really good this year!). The Jets are just stuck in the middle, in what constitutes that country’s fly-over country.
And yet, the Jets are the best team in Canada. In fact, they’re the best team in the NHL at the moment, with a league-leading 56 points, and the league’s best points percentage at .718. Listen closely and one might detect some weird chants and dances taking place in the NHL offices in New York and specifically Gary Bettman’s office, already working on keeping the Jets out of the Stanley Cup Final for ratings reasons. But then maybe that would be an excuse to not raise the salary cap as high. Time will tell.
The Jets are here in great part thanks to Connor Hellebuyck, who might be having his best season in what was already a pretty sterling career. He’s sixth in the league in save percentage (.921), and first in total goals saved over expected (15.6, two over the next guy, according to MoneyPuck.com). Hellebuyck has been one of the league’s best goalies for years, and it was widely assumed before the season that the Jets would be forced into a position to have to move him as he was heading into free agency after this season and their prospects for the season were middling at best. But then Hellebuyck signed a seven-year extension at a $8.5 million per year clip, kind of a deal for the Jets considering how much value Hellebuyck has, and not having it on his mind seems to have made a difference. And he’ll be the US’s No. 1 in whatever tournament the league finally gets off the ground in the coming years.
Perhaps the difference for the Jets between merely being in the playoff picture and sitting on the league’s iron throne at the moment is that their backup, Laurent Brossoit, has been as good as Hellebuyck in 10 starts. Brossoit has a .920 save percentage himself. He has flashed being a superb backup before, even in his first tour of duty with the Jets six years ago, and had had a brilliant brief cameo with the Knights last year before flaming out and getting hurt in the playoffs. The Jets aren’t surrendering points whenever they have to give Hellebuyck a rest.
The Jets aren’t just goalies though. They have one of the deeper forward groups around. Mark Scheifele is doing his usual thing on the top line, Nikolaj Ehlers is doing his usual thing of being one of the best unsung forwards in the league, and Kyle Connor is doing his usual thing of scoring a ton of goals (17 in 26 games before getting hurt) that somehow go under the radar (he poured in 47 two seasons ago and we bet you didn’t know that).
But the Jets’ depth has been buffeted by one rookie and one trade. The rookie is Cole Perfetti, who may be getting extremely sheltered shifts but has come to anchor the second line, when he’s not getting needlessly brained by science project gone wrong Ryan Hartman. The trade was giving Pierre-Luc Dubois the exit he so desperately wanted, taking his still somewhat unidentifiable uses to L.A. for Gabe Vilardi and Alex Iafallo. Vilardi missed a chunk with an injury, but has put up 17 points in 21 games while playing up and down the lineup. Iafallo has been a solid forward doing the same, giving the Jets three lines that can hurt opponents. Jets fans might also get their jollies from the fact that the constantly bitching Dubois has just 16 points for the Kings so far. Adding to that is longtime analytic darling Nino Niederreiter forming a hellish third line with Adam Lowry and Mason Appleton that continually gets the Jets out of their own zone.
The depth continues on defense, where Josh Morrissey is one of the best puck-movers in the league on the top pair (and again, you probably didn’t know that but it’s true) and summer pickup Nate Schmidt doing that thing he’s done for years where he’s one of the best second-pairing puck movers around. The two of them make sure the Jets exit their own zone with possession most of the time, getting them out on the rush which is how they prefer to attack.
And it all appears to be real. The Jets don’t really have anyone performing wildly over their heads, and even navigating some injuries they have the goaltending to bail them out on off-nights. The Central suddenly looks open with the Avs having a pretty big hole beyond their top line and the Stars being a goalie plus two scorers.
Sure, Scheifele has had a habit of losing his rag in the playoffs. Other than 2018’s conference final appearance, this is a core of players that have made a habit of spitting up in the first round if not missing the playoffs altogether. But that was also a core of players that utterly loathed then-coach Paul Maurice, and maybe there’s more comfort with Rick Bowness. This isn’t a team crumbling under the push-and-pull of who was leading the team between Scheifele and now decidedly-cooked Blake Wheeler, who was allowed to go to hospice with the Rangers. They’ve got goaltending, they’ve got depth both at forward and on the blue line. Maybe Canada will have to pay attention come May after all.
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