The Winnipeg Jets are in total free fall and look destined for the 2026 NHL Draft Lottery. Should they even bother to try and pull the parachute cord?
Woeful Winnipeg
Winnipeg’s hockey team is even more woeful than its weather.
We won’t spend a whole lot of time relitigating how hard and how fast last season’s Presidents’ Trophy winners have fallen, but here’s a brief summary: the team is fragile. It blows down like a cheap tent at the slightest gust of adversity. The secondary scoring is completely nonexistent and everyone not named Kyle Connor, Mark Scheifele, and Gabriel Vilardi is in a deep rut. The much-ballyhooed Jonathan Toews signing has been a failure thus far. Logan Stanley is sixth on the team in goals.
The stout defensive structure that was the backbone of their success in their 56-win 2024-25 is nowhere to be seen. Their power play is an exercise in futility and their penalty kill is leaky. Head coach Scott Arniel, a Jack Adams Award finalist last season, can’t seem to create any line combinations that can do much of anything but watch goals go in their own net.
Connor Hellebuyck is out and Eric Comrie is struggling, but not even a defending Hart and Vezina Trophy winner may be capable of saving this team.
Is The Jets’ Season Worth Saving?
After falling 4-3 to the Dallas Stars Tuesday night in a contest that followed a similar frustrating script as many of their defeats season, the Jets are sixth in the Central Division at 14-14-1, 26th league wide, and have lost 12 of their past 17 games. They are 20 points back of the Central lead, eight points out of its top three, and two points out of the second Western Conference wild-card spot.
Any climb back to relevance is going to be a long and challenging one. Remember, teams that aren’t in the playoff picture by American Thanksgiving only make the postseason 25 per cent of the time, and the Jets were under the playoff line then just like they are now.
Even if they do squeak into the postseason in a wild-card spot, they’d either face the Colorado Avalanche or Stars in the first round. Both those matchups scream “first-round exit” ala 2023 or 2024.
The Siren Song of The Tank is Calling, But Winnipeg Probably Won’t Be Allured
NHL teams can’t tank on purpose anymore to get a guaranteed first-overall pick — you can thank the 1983-84 Pittsburgh Penguins for that. However, teams can still find stealthy ways to play to lose and get themselves as good a chance as possible at bagging the top, or at least a very high, pick.
The Jets probably won’t blow things up by trading away any big stars or firing Arniel or general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff with 53 games to go — the organization nothing if not loyal to a fault and clearly wouldn’t have signed their core to long-term contracts if they believed their contention window was closed.
But the results and the Jets’ current placement are what they are. We can only say “they’re not as bad as they’re playing” for so long before we might have to accept that they might just be that bad.
Related: The Winnipeg Jets Are Too Old and Too Slow
If the Jets wanted to “tank” this season, they could always sit some of the many underperforming veterans and play the youngsters — Nikita Chibrikov, Parker Ford, Brad Lambert, and Elias Salomonsson — currently with the Manitoba Moose. If they can help a turnaround, then great. If not, the four will have gained valuable NHL reps for next season and the organization will have a better chance at snagging a generational talent in Whitehorse-born winger Gavin McKenna.
Then again, the way the Jets are playing right now, they may not need to decide to tank. They might just do it all on their own.
