Central Division dominance is something the Winnipeg Jets have enjoyed over the past two seasons, but can and will it continue in 2024-25?
Jets Have Owned Central Division Opponents For Last Two Seasons
The Jets will clash with divisional opponents 26 times once again in 2024-25, facing the Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, Nashville Predators, St. Louis Blues, and Utah Hockey Club four times each and the Chicago Blackhawks and Minnesota Wild three times each.
Related: Breaking Down the Winnipeg Jets’ 2024-25 Schedule
These so-called “four-point games” are crucial as winning them is the fastest way to rise in the standings and losing them is the fastest way to tumble. Divisional games down the stretch can even make or break a team’s playoff hopes.
The Jets were excellent against divisional compatriots last season, posting a sparkling 20-5-1 record. They were 1-3-0 against the Stars, meaning they went 20-2-1 against the other six. Below are the Jets’ records against each opponent last season:
- Vs. Arizona Coyotes (now Utah Hockey Club) — 4-0-0
- Vs. Colorado Avalanche — 3-0-0
- Vs. Chicago Blackhawks — 3-0-1
- Vs. Dallas Stars — 1-3-0
- Vs. Minnesota Wild — 4-0-0
- Vs. Nashville Predators — 2-2-0
- Vs. St. Louis Blues — 3-0-0
In 2022-23, Central Division success was the main reason the Jets were able to sneak into the playoffs despite a prolonged second-half slump. They went 18-8-0 against the Central, including 3-0-0 down the stretch, to snag the second Western Conference wild-card spot.
Add those records together and the Jets had a 38-13-1 clip and grabbed 74 per cent of the available points against their most-frequent opponents in the Rick Bowness era.
Central Division Has Powerhouses, Up-and-Comers, Middle Grounders, Rebuilders, and Fearful New Foes For Jets to Face
Returning Powerhouses
The Jets lost a lot in free agency — with Laurent Brossoit, Brenden Dillon, Sean Monahan, and Tyler Toffoli being the most notable departures — and general manager (GM) Kevin Cheveldayoff didn’t bring in anyone comparable to replace them. New head coach Scott Arniel will need young players to step up and into bigger roles if his team is to avoid regressing from their second place finish and 110-point performance last season.
The Avalanche and Stars reamin bona fide Stanley Cup contenders entering 2024-25. The Stars finished first last season with 113 points and gave the Jets a lot of trouble, while the Avalanche faded in the final few games of the campaign to finish third with 107 points. A 7-0 drubbing the Jets dished out pretty much dashed Colorado’s chance of finishing second, but the Avs more than avenged the loss by clobbering the Jets in the first round of the playoffs.
Neither team had massive roster turnover. The Stars added Matt Dumba, Ilya Lyubushkin, and Brendan Smith while losing Ty Dellandrea, Joe Pavelski, Chris Tanev, and Scott Wedgewood; the Avalanche added Erik Brannstrom, Parker Kelly, and Oliver Kylington while losing Andrew Cogliano, Pavel Francouz, Ivan Prosvetov, Yakov Trenin, and Sean Walker. Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog, who hasn’t played since 2022 due to knee surgery, should also return at some point this season but how effective he’ll be after such a long layoff is anyone’s guess.
Despite the clubs’ GMs only tinkering around the edges, they remain the class of the Central and will be tough opponents for the Jets this season.
2024-25 matchups against the Avalanche: Nov. 7 (home,) Dec. 31 (away,) Jan. 11 (home,) Jan. 22 (away.)
2024-25 matchups against the Stars: Nov. 9 (home,) Dec. 1 (away,) March 14 (home,) April 10 (away.)
Up And Comers
One GM who did a lot more than tinker around the edges is the Predators’ Barry Trotz. He opened his wallet wide in free agency after his team finished fourth in the Central with 99 points but lost in the first round like the Jets. He doled out big money and long-term deals to longtime superstar sniper Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, and Brady Skjei.
One can debate whether Marchessault and Skjei were overpaid and how long the 34-year-old Stamkos — who has more than 1,1000-career points — has before he declines, but there’s no doubt Trotz’s intention is for his team to contend now. He’s put them right up to the cap ceiling.
The Predators lost some pieces in Jaroslav Askarov, Tyson Barrie, Anthony Beauvillier, Cody Glass, Ryan McDonagh, Kiefer Sherwood, and Jason Zucker, but with Juuse Saros guarding the crease and the aforementioned additions set to bolster an already-strong core featuring Filip Forsberg, Roman Josi, and Gustav Nyquist, the Predators won’t be an easy team for the Jets to handle (especially since Stamkos has 33 goals and 59 points in 44 games against the Jets.) Three of the four games between the sides last season were decided by two goals or fewer.
2024-25 matchups against the Predators: Nov. 23 (away,) Dec. 30 (home,) Jan. 7 (home,) Feb. 27 (away.)
Utah, entering its inaugural season after being bought and relocated from Arizona to close the book on years of drama in the desert, will not be the pushover the Coyotes were for the past number of seasons amid arena and ownership troubles.
Despite all the distractions swirling around him in the Coyotes’ dying days — mainly owing to owner Alex Meruelo’s incompetence — GM Bill Armstrong quietly built up an impressive prospect pool. Some of the youngsters are starting to stuff at the NHL level and are only set to get better — most notably Logan Cooley, Josh Doan, and Dylan Guenther — while others are waiting in the wings. They also acquired John Marino and Mikhail Sergachev in separate trades.
With new owner Ryan Smith’s a long track record of success and his all-in strategy of making the team a contender and financially viable, Utah is already in a much better place than the Coyotes were one calendar year ago. They may not be a playoff team yet, but it won’t be a cakewalk for the Jets to sweep the season series as they did last season against the Coyotes.
2024-25 matchups against Utah: Nov. 5 (home,) Jan. 20 (away,) Jan. 24 (home,) April 5 (away.)
Middle Grounders
The Wild had a fairly quiet offseason after finishing sixth in the Central, with GM Bill Guerin’s biggest addition being Trenin. They are looking to run it back while staying healthier (some long-term injuries to key personnel held them back at times last season.)
The rivalry and testiness between the Jets and Wild really escalated last season due to Ryan Hartman’s intentional high stick on Cole Perfetti, Dillon’s crosschecks that injured Kirill Kaprizov, and bad blood remaining from 2022-23, when Hartman injured Nikolaj Ehlers with a dirty hit and Bowness and now-former Wild head coach Dean Evason jawed from behind their benches. Friendly Manitoba and Minnesota Nice are well in the rearview mirror.
That made the 2023-24 series sweep all that much sweeter for the Jets, who will try to do the same to their closest geographical opponent this season. Unlike the prior two seasons, the teams will be done with each other early, as the last of their three matchups is before Christmas.
2024-25 matchups against the Wild: Oct. 13 (home,) Nov. 25 (away,) Dec. 21 (home.)
The Blues, meanwhile, don’t seem like a serious Cup contender but also haven’t fully committed to a rebuild. They could sneak into the playoffs if everything goes right but may stay stuck in the “mushy middle” due to their lack of a clear direction.
GM Doug Armstrong was busy in the offseason, inking Radek Faksa, Ryan Suter, and Alexander Texier in free agency and acquiring Phillip Broberg and Dylan Holloway from the Edmonton Oilers via the ever-so-rare offer-sheet route. Broberg and Holloway are good young additions, but don’t appear to be players who can help the team improve dramatically over its fifth-place finish last season.
The Blues have some offensive pop up front with Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou, but their aging blue line remains a question mark — especially since Torey Krug is going to miss the entire season — and Jordan Binnington hasn’t been an elite goaltender since he broke into the league in 2018-19 and helped the Blues go from worst in December to Cup champions in June.
The Jets only faced the Blues three times last season, but will face them four times this campaign.
2024-25 matchups against the Blues: Oct. 22 (away,) Dec. 3 (home,) Feb. 22 (away,) April 7 (home.)
Rebuilders
The Blackhawks remain in the early stages of rebuild that began in earnest two seasons ago. The club finished last in the Central for the second-straight time last season (and actually got worse with 52 points compared to 59 in 2022-23) but look better on paper than last season. It should be upward for them from here.
Calder Trophy winner and franchise cornerstone Connor Bedard is entering his sophomore season and already has shown he can win games singlehandedly (he did just that against the Jets in a 2-1 overtime victory last December.) Jets fans only got one chance to see the phenom in action as a rookie — he was injured by the time Chicago’s second game in Winnipeg came around — and will only get one chance to see him this season (at the Oct. 11 home opener.)
The 2023 first-overall pick was a one-man army last season, but GM Kyle Davidson worked over the offseason to ensure he has more support going forward by adding Tyler Bertuzzi and Teuvo Teravainen, two guys capable of potting 20-plus goals each. He also added former Jets’ backup Brossoit, who was outstanding last season behind Connor Hellebuyck and is looking to prove he can shoulder a starter’s workload.
The Blackhawks lost MacKenzie Entwistle, Sam Lafferty, and Taylor Raddysh, among others, but should be capable of snagging more points from divisional foes than last season. The Jets cannot take them lightly.
2024-25 matchups against the Blackhawks: Oct. 11 (home,) Dec. 7 (away,) April 12 (away.)
Central Division Dominance Will Be Tough in 2024-25
The Jets may take a temporary step back this season as young players adapt to expanded roles, and as we’ve outlined, their divisional opponents appear to have either improved or at least not gotten worse. The Jets are more talented on paper than the Blackhawks, Blues, Utah, and Wild, but may be behind the Predators now and remain behind the Avalanche and Stars.
Related: Central Division Better Balanced Heading Into 2024-25
Of course, being the better team entering a game doesn’t guarantee a victory, nor does being the worse team guarantee a defeat. The NHL has more parity than other professional sports leagues and there are numerous factors that can influence which team comes out on top on any given night.
The Jets may be in tough to rack up 20 wins against the Central Division again, but if they can capture at least 60 per cent of the points available — for example, by going somewhere in the realm of 16-10-0 or 14-8-2 — it will go a long way to cementing another playoff berth. The five divisional matchups from March onward may be especially important.