Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck blocks a shot by the Dallas Stars during the first period of an NHL hockey game on April 10, in Dallas.Julio Cortez/The Canadian Press
The Winnipeg Jets got shellacked by Utah in late January. This wasn’t part of some huge dip in performance. The loss moved Winnipeg’s record to 31-14-3 – second best in the NHL.
Head coach Scott Arniel came out afterward and ripped his team anyway.
“That was, of all the games this year, the most embarrassing,” Arniel said. “From top to bottom, we did a terrible job.” Except he didn’t say “terrible.”
If you or I had posted the best start in the history of a league, it might be hard to take it very seriously when the guy in charge accuses us of the having the “most” embarrassing game, rather than “an” embarrassing game. But it worked anyway.
Winnipeg beat one of its nemesis teams, Colorado, in overtime two nights later, and then they won 10 more in a row. They almost got out of the month of February without a loss.
The story of this Jets season is uninterrupted success, which must terrify them. Recent history has taught them deep and repeated painful lessons in what pride goeth before.
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In a league more and more in love with the idea of starless teams and grinders who can surprise you, Winnipeg conforms to the pattern. The biggest deal on their roster is the goalie, and he is so reserved he could be a parking spot.
After their fast start and steady pace at the front, the Jets decided that what they needed was another top-tier centre. They spent ages trying to pry Brock Nelson out of New York. At the deadline, he went to Colorado instead. So, the usual slap in the face. Winnipeg is used to it.
The Jets were looking to make a deal, but ended swap day still holding all their first-round picks.
“I tried like heck not to,” Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff said afterward.
Instead, he hired some expensive depth – a winger (Brandon Tanev) and a defenceman (Luke Schenn).
It was a small disaster and, per the usual for this season, Winnipeg got a little better because of it.
When the Boston Bruins had the greatest regular season ever in 2023, it was huge news. Even the never-hockey crowd got interested.
The Jets didn’t have that season, but they weren’t far off. If anything, their problem was that they started so hot (15-1), they had to ease off or risk blowing the engine. Winnipeg’s been throttling down since November.
But when people talk about Winnipeg, it isn’t in terms of superlatives. They’re a good team. Everyone acknowledges that. But are they a winner? Not so as you’d notice.
The second half of their season has seemed like a long game of dodgeball. They wanted to win the Central division, and they’ll do that. But even more, they wanted to not play Dallas or Colorado in the first round. They got their wish and they’ll play St. Louis instead. Vegas bookies still like the Stars and Avalanche better.
This is the trap of parity. If you have a team good enough to win many games, but with no killer instinct, management is tempted hold them mid-air for as long as possible.
You explain it to yourself like this: ‘They’ll figure it out eventually.’
But what you’re really saying is, ‘It’s too hard and too risky to start over.’
Nobody wants to fire the GM of a 100-point team. Everybody wants to fire the guy who trades away an all-star who goes on to win elsewhere.
This is how the hockey market encourages timidity, especially in Canada. It is a main reason teams in this country can’t cross over into hockey’s promised land (i.e. the parts of Florida most vulnerable to climate change).
Nobody wants to risk losing, which is another way of saying they won’t risk winning either. Winnipeg is about to run a controlled experiment in this regard.
The Jets’ approach is to promise nothing, get small and hope no one stares.
The team went quiet after their run to the conference finals in 2018, and have stayed that way ever since. No good club in sports seems more terrified of cursing itself with self-congratulation.
When they do lose in the playoffs, they don’t just get nosed at the finish line. They run straight into the first hurdle, sprain an ankle and then lay there on the track for a week.
Since 2018, Winnipeg’s combined record when losing in a playoff series is 5-19.
‘Avoid humiliation’ is not a great headspace from which to start a postseason, but that’s where the Jets are at.
It won’t help that their main man, Connor Hellebuyck, bombed last year while telling people he felt great.
“I was playing the best hockey of my career,” the Jets’ goalie said, immediately after letting in at least four goals in every game against Colorado. Once you’ve done that, nothing you say will reassure people. So why bother trying?
People filled in their own blanks – Hellebuyck had played too much. That must be the problem. He played 60 regular-season games last year. Counting the pressure cooker of the 4 Nations, he’s played more this year.
So this is the formula – the best goalie in hockey, but one who’s never proven himself a championship-level game stealer, fronted by ensemble talent (Kyle Connor, Mark Scheifele, Josh Morrissey), none of whom have the physical charisma we associate with Stanley Cup winners. It’s a lot of good pieces who have yet to amount to anything.
We talk these days about teams in salary-capped leagues trapped in the middle by their roster and their choices. How about a team trapped at the top? That’s what Winnipeg is trying to shake off.
The Jets will start the playoffs as first-round bookie favourites, and no one else’s. Maybe not even their own. If that seems unfair, then it’s on them to say something about it.