SPORTS & RECREATIONJets Forced to Rely on Young Guns

I was all set to write a glowing article about the Jets after they finished a 4-0-1 stretch early in November. Coming off impressive home wins over the likes of Chicago and Los Angeles, the Jets had the second most points in the Western Conference, albeit with a few extra games played than most teams. Regardless, the team set off on their longest road trip of the year, a five-gamer with stops in Philadelphia, Boston, Carolina, Minnesota, and Nashville. The Jets would lose all five games in regulation, coming back from the trip with zero points earned and a deflated, tired bunch of players.

So what happened?

The Jets have had arguably the hardest schedule in the NHL through the first quarter of the season. They’ve played the most road games and the most games total. They’ve had injuries… a lot of injuries.

At one point, they had six of their top nine forwards from opening night out of the lineup. Bryan Little, Joel Armia, Matthieu Perreault, Drew Stafford, Kyle Connor, and Shawn Matthias have all missed big chunks of time. The biggest loss was Bryan Little, who got hurt in game one and has yet to return. Losing your number two centre is hard, but it’s even harder when your number three centre (Perreault) goes down as well. Adam Lowry has stepped up his game and played well with an increased role, but it’s incredibly hard to replace what those two players bring to the team.

They’ve also been depleted on the back end, as Jacob Trouba (contract holdout), Tyler Myers (injury), Mark Stuart (injury), and now Toby Enstrom (personal) have been out of the lineup. Rookie Josh Morrissey has looked good, but they’ve had to play Dustin Byfuglien too much. He currently leads the league in minutes played per game. Luckily, the Jets have a much deeper roster this season. Guys have been called up from the Moose and produced almost immediately. Nic Petan, Marko Dano, and Andrew Copp all made significant contributions while seeing their first NHL action of the season.

Unfortunately, they haven’t been able to continue that play over the past five games.

This team is young. With an average age of about 25 years, they are one of the youngest teams in the league. Young players bring upside, energy, and optimism—but also mistakes, inexperience, and inconsistency. One of the Jets’ biggest weaknesses so far has been their struggles in the faceoff circle. They’re currently only winning 44.3 percent of faceoffs, which is the third worst percentage in the last 20 years. Only Tampa Bay in 1997–98 and Edmonton in 2010–11 have been lower. Young players tend to struggle in the faceoff circle, so with their top two veteran centres injured, it’s been extra tough.

The Jets’ youngest player is 18-year-old Patrik Laine. With 12 goals and two hat tricks in his first 18 games, he’s been the talk of the league. The Jets have a bright future with Laine, Nikolaj Ehlers, Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor, and Josh Morrissey leading the way. But right now, they are relying on their young players a little too much to expect consistent results. The plan this season was to let the young guys play, but injuries have forced them into roles they’re not necessarily ready for.

Connor Hellebuyck has been thrust into the number one goalie role with mixed results. With Ondrej Pavelec toiling away in the AHL, Hellebuyck has started the majority of games. He’s definitely the best option Winnipeg has right now, but he’s struggled to provide the elite goaltending that Stanley-Cup-calibre teams need. He’ll be fine in the long run, but for now expectations need to be kept in check. Michael Hutchinson has struggled in his handful of starts and doesn’t look to be a long-term solution. He’s signed until the end of next season, so he’ll most likely keep the backup role until at least then. Ondrej Pavelec’s contract is up at the end of this season and will most likely not be back with the organization.

So how good is this team? Are they the team that rattled off that 4-0-1 stretch or the team that lost all five games on a long road trip? The answer probably falls somewhere in between. Bryan Little is set to return from injury soon, which should help their chances of getting back into the playoff race.

It should also help that their hardest portion of the schedule is over. The team went almost a month without having time for a real practice. Hopefully some quality practice time and the ability to sleep in their own beds again will help this young team get back on track before it’s too late.