The Winnipeg Jets don’t need a whole lot — but Christmas wish lists to Santa Claus aren’t about what you need (after all, your mom can always buy you socks) but rather about what you want. A PlayStation 5, Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots, an official Red Ryder, carbine-action, 200-shot, range-model air rifle, with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time… (you’ll shoot your eye out.)
The Jets — currently third in the Central Division and two points out of first with a 16-8-2 record less than two weeks before Christmas Day — should still make up a little list and send to Jolly Old Saint Nick regardless. A few wishes being fulfilled this holiday season and beyond would set them up even better for the rest of the season and a potential playoff run than they already are.
1: A Gabriel Vilardi Breakout
Gabriel Vilardi finally scored his first as a Jet. Now he needs to keep scoring.
Vilardi’s first tally of the 2023-24 season couldn’t have come at a better time: he tipped home a Josh Morrissey shot during Dec. 10’s third-period comeback against the Anaheim Ducks with 1:42 to go and the goal stood as the game-winner.
It was just the third point of the season for the 24-year-old in eight games. He missed 18 contests with an MCL sprain he suffered on Oct. 17 as the result of a reckless trip by former Los Angeles Kings teammate Blake Lizotte (an incident Vilardi was still steamed about six weeks later, calling it a “stupid play” that nearly ended his season right after it started.)
Vilardi returned to the lineup on Nov. 30 against the Edmonton Oilers, but had limited impact in the four games prior to the contest against the Ducks, recording just one assist. Head coach Rick Bowness was, sensibly enough, easing the young power forward back into the lineup to help him get back up to speed after a long layoff.
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However, the training wheels need to come off. With Kyle Connor potentially out long term after being kneed by the Ducks’ Ryan Strome, everyone else on the Jets is going to have to pick up the scoring slack, Vilardi included.
He’s certainly got the talent to do so and the Jets’ wish should be that now that he’s got the monkey off his back, the floodgates open. Vilardi scored a career-high 23 last season and the hope was he’d take another leap forward to becoming a consistent top-six threat and power play net-front mainstay.
2: Consistent Power Play Prowess
The fact the Jets have the strong record they do is mainly owning to their play at five-on-five, because getting a power play has not often been much of a gift.
While better in November than it was in October, the Jets’ overall play with the man advantage has been subpar and both units have struggled to generate chances or maintain offensive zone time.
The power play produced 10 goals in November and operated at a 25 per cent efficiency, (after scoring just three in October and operating at a 11.09 per cent efficiency) but whiffs in key moments throughout the season show this facet of the game needs more work.
After going 0-5 against the Ducks — including coming up empty on the major to Strome for his dirty play on Connor — the regime is operating at 17.65 per cent efficiency, 23rd in the NHL, and is zero for their last 10.
Special teams can be the difference in a tight contest regardless of how strong a team is at five-on-five. If the Jets’ wish for more power play prowess is granted, it would really take them to the next level in a juggernaut Central.
3: Sustained Success in the Second Half
This should be the biggest item on the Jets’ wish list, because this is hardly the first time they’ve been formidable out of the gate. Sustaining momentum through an entire season by sticking to their blueprint of success and not letting the culture lapse has eluded them.
The Jets, under Bowness and new captain Adam Lowry, look tight knit and finally rid of the long-standing cultural issues that has held the team back from being all it can be since the 2018 Western Conference Final run (removing Pierre-Luc Dubois and Blake Wheeler from the equation in the offseason has also worked wonders.)
Last season, the Jets were in first place in the Central and even the entire Western Conference in mid-January before a drastic second-half downturn saw them fall back into old habits, tumble down the standings, barely make the playoffs in the second wild-card spot, and quickly get dispatched in the first round by the Vegas Golden Knights. Another first-round exit for a team that’s signalled it’s all-in by extending Connor Hellebuyck, Mark Scheifele, and most recently Nino Niederreiter would be a disappointment.
One thing that bodes well for the Jets is they’re winning in a more sustainable fashion now than in seasons past, where they often got wildly out-chanced but came out victors quite often because Hellebuyck bailed them out.
Since the first 10 games of the season, the Jets have put a stout defensive structure and stinginess on display. They’ve allowed three or fewer goals against in 16 straight games and their defensive details are much sharper than any other time in recent memory (including that of the forwards.) That committment to team defense is the biggest reason they have given up just 34 goals in that stretch (a paltry two per game) and posted a 12-4-0 record. They look comfortable in low-event games, knowing that offense will come and that they don’t have to do anything reckless to push for it.
The Jets should underline this item on their wish list (and perhaps put it in bold and underline it too.) While it seems everyone’s pulling in the same direction now, how they push back when they face more adversity will tell us if this team’s different than its predecessors. Fans would be forgiven to hold into some skepticism until the Jets prove they have the strength of character to avoid a second-half slump.
