The Winnipeg Jets are through 10 games of their 2024-25 season and the once-small statistical sample sizes are getting less so.
Trends are beginning to emerge for every team and numbers begin aligning with those trends with some degree of accuracy around now. No longer can stats be written completely off as “flukey” or “inflated” or “not reflective” of a team’s performance.
Here, we’ll dive into 10 notable numbers for the Jets, who are off to a franchise-best 9-1-0 start under new head coach Scott Arniel.
18: Points For the Team
With 18 points, the Jets sit first in not only the Central Division and Western Conference, but the entire NHL.
Related: Jets’ Arniel Off to Best Start of Any New Coach in NHL History
Last season, the Jets had 10 points through 10 games via a 4-4-2 record. Obviously, there’s a long way to go, but October points count the same as March and April points and the Jets have done a good job to bank a bunch before the calendar even reaches November.
9, 17: Kyle Connor’s Goal and Point Totals
A lot of Jets are off to strong offensive starts (and we’ll get to that in a minute) but no one has been hotter out of the gate than Kyle Connor.
The Jets’ right winger is second in the NHL in goals with nine and third in points with 17. In the most-recent game against the Detroit Red Wings, he notched his 500th-career point by picking up an assist on Gabriel Vilardi’s game-opening goal 2:48 into the first period (Connor added another assist 74 seconds later and then a goal of his own for a three-point period.)
Connor has at least a point in every game this season and has multiple points in each of his past five.
“You never take anything for granted in this league. It’s tough every single day, it’s the best league in the world,” Connor said after reaching the milestone. “To get that accomplishment is pretty cool. Obviously there’s bigger goals in mind, but it’s still nice.” (From ‘Connor’s milestone night in Michigan,’ Winnipeg Free Press, Oct. 30, 2024.)
5: Point-Per-Game-Plus Players
The Jets’ attack has been balanced as they have three forward lines capable of scoring and a defence that continues to get involved in the offence. Five players are operating a point-per-game-plus clip: Connor, Mark Scheifele (13 points,) Neal Pionk (12,) Nikolaj Ehlers (11,) and Josh Morrissey (11.) Nino Niederreiter and Cole Perfetti, with nine points each in 10 games, could get back into that category soon as well.
The Jets didn’t have any point-per-game-plus players last season (when excluding Nikita Chibrikov and Brad Lambert, who both had one point in one game.) Scheifele and Connor were close, with 72 points in 74 games and 61 points in 65 games, respectively.
44.83: Power Play Percentage
The Jets power play, completely revamped by new assistant coach Davis Payne, has been firing on all cylinders. They are first in the league with a ridiculous 44.83 per cent conversion rate (13/29) and have scored more than one power-play goal in four different contests. That doesn’t even count the multiple goals they have scored either on a delayed penalty or just after power plays expired. Indeed, what was a weakness throughout much of last season (when they only converted 18.75 per cent of the time) has been quite the strength.
Both units have looked consistently dangerous and are generating quality chances with quick puck movement and a willingness to put pucks on net quickly. Connor leads the way with four power-play markers, and six Jets have scored at least once up a man.
80.95: Penalty Kill Percentage
The Jets’ penalty killing percentage took a nearly 10-point hit by allowing two goals in three shorthanded situations against the Red Wings, but has been solid for the most part. The penalty kill is also under new management and assistant coach Dean Chynoweth’s more aggressive tactics and novel player deployment have shown some good results; the Jets thus far have the league’s 13th-best penalty-killing percentage and one shorthanded goal.
The fact the Jets have been disciplined as a whole has also helped. They have surrendered the league’s third-least power-play opportunities with 21.
24: Goals Against
The Jets won the William M. Jennings Trophy last season by allowing a league-low 198 goals (an average of 2.41 per game) through a combination of historically-stingy defence and great goaltending.
They are in the early conversation for repeating for the award as Connor Hellebuyck and Eric Comrie have allowed 24 goals, the league’s fifth-least through 10 games (and are right on last season’s pace at an average of 2.40 allowed per game.) The Washington Capitals, who they are tied with, have played two fewer games and the four teams that have allowed fewer goals have all played at least one fewer game.
2.12, .923: Connor Hellebuyck’s Goals Against Average and Save Percentage
There has been no Vezina Trophy hangover or new-contract complacency for Hellebuyck. Fresh off winning the award as the NHL’s top goalie for the second time and in the first season of a massive seven-year extension he signed a year ago, he has been terrific, posting a 2.12 GAA, .923 SV%, 7-1-0 record, one shutout, and 6.0 Goals Saved Above Expected.
The 31-year-old has allowed more than three goals in a game just once, against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Oct. 28 when he was largely abandoned by his defenders.
13,997: Average Attendance at Canada Life Centre
True North Sports & Entertainment’s (TNSE) strategies to get more butts in Canada Life Centre’s seats appear to be paying dividends.
The team averaged 13,997 fans through their first five home dates, 1,324 under the 15,321 capacity. The Jets nearly sold out their home opener — and would have if there weren’t 33,000-plus fans attending a Winnipeg Blue Bombers game across town at the exact same time — and did sell out their most-recent home game against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Last season, the Jets averaged 11,846 through their first five home games and only the home opener drew 12,000 plus. The average attendance increased as the season went on due to the Jets’ success and ended up at 13,490.
After seeing the season ticket base shrink and a once-long waitlist for them dry up over the past five years due to factors both in and out of their control, TNSE has implemented a number of more flexible ticket package options with less commitment, added more perks for fans, and made efforts to improve the overall gameday experience. In mid October, the company said they have 500 more season ticket pack holders this season than last, bringing the base up to 10,000.
On-ice success certainly helps at the gate and the Jets have had that early on this season, going 4-1-0 at home. TNSE says it wants to get its season-ticket-holder base back to 13,000, where it was for the first number of seasons after the Jets relocated from Atlanta in 2011.