The Winnipeg Jets were devastated when they gave up the puck and the lead and lost to the Ottawa Senators. Their fans were devastated when Winnipeg couldn\u2019t impose itself against the St. Louis Blues to the point of scoring a single goal.<\/p>\n
But Friday night\u2019s loss to the Colorado Avalanche, as close as it was, drives home a different point.<\/p>\n
The Avalanche are all of the things Winnipeg is not. They have a superstar, best-in-class forward talent in the form of Nathan MacKinnon. They have an even better version of Josh Morrissey in Cale Makar. They\u2019re also deep in the way that Stanley Cup favourites are deep, with 15 skaters who\u2019d be inside the Jets\u2019 top 10 scorers\u2019 list, and fast in a way the Jets simply cannot match. Colorado is also the Jets\u2019 most likely first-round opponent, if the Jets dare to dream of making it that far.<\/p>\n
So Friday night\u2019s game served as a loud, searing, \u201cGo on a run if you can. Make the playoffs. We dare you.\u201d<\/p>\n
For many Jets fans, the loss will feel like the final straw \u2014 of cold realities settling in. Winnipeg is on track to become the fourth team in NHL history to miss the playoffs after winning the Presidents\u2019 Trophy. Winnipeg\u2019s offseason bets on Jonathan Toews, Gustav Nyquist and Tanner Pearson, among others \u2014 along with last season\u2019s deadline day bet on Luke Schenn \u2014 aren\u2019t paying off. It is as if the Jets sized themselves up, gambled that they were Stanley Cup contenders who only needed experience to get over the top, and found they were wrong on all fronts.<\/p>\n
So it makes sense to go scorched earth. It makes sense to sell off every pending UFA \u2014 Toews, Nyquist, Pearson, Cole Koepke, Logan Stanley, Colin Miller and Eric Comrie \u2014 who\u2019d return any amount of NHL Draft capital. Next year\u2019s UFAs shouldn\u2019t be off-limits, either, if contending teams are willing to pay the right prices for Nino Niederreiter, Vladislav Namestnikov, Haydn Fleury or even Morgan Barron. The draft capital can be collected, combined and sent out the door when the Jets are ready to make good decisions about who might help their \u201cwin now\u201d team.<\/p>\n
But this is not a scorched-earth column.<\/p>\n
This is an analysis of where the Jets currently sit, the long odds that face them, and how they might dig themselves out of the hole they\u2019re in.<\/p>\n
As I see it, Winnipeg is more likely to waste excellent seasons by Connor Hellebuyck, Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor and Josh Morrissey than it is to arrive in the postseason with a realistic chance to contend for the Cup. I don\u2019t even think the Jets are a playoff team. It\u2019s a bad sign that they\u2019re 5 points out of a playoff spot, for one, and it\u2019s tough to imagine a team where only one line scores going on the tear it needs to close that gap. Getting clear of the Calgary Flames, Chicago Blackhawks, Utah Mammoth, San Jose Sharks and St. Louis is a daunting concept \u2014 admittedly more due to the number than the quality of teams involved \u2014 and beating Colorado in Round 1 seems next to impossible.<\/p>\n
So, why not set fire to the whole thing?<\/p>\n
The short answer is that there\u2019s plenty of time for the Jets to cut ties with their playoff hopes, lean into the quality of the No. 6 draft pick and call it a wasted season. It might not feel like it, but there are 2 1\/2 months until the trade deadline. This gives Winnipeg an opportunity \u2014 if not to turn itself into an outright contender, then to ride out January and see if Hellebuyck can drag them to striking distance of a wild-card spot. It might not feel like it, given the Jets\u2019 3-10-2 record in their last 15 games \u2014 especially if you\u2019re the type to promote hard tanking \u2014 but there are good reasons for Winnipeg to keep pushing for wins in January.<\/p>\n
The Jets have a good top line and a bad bottom nine, two good defence pairs and one frequently dragged down by Luke Schenn, and Hellebuyck in net. It makes sense for them to go after a mid-tier veteran \u2014 Mason Marchment was briefly one example, as Elliotte Friedman suggested Friday before Marchment got traded<\/a> \u2014 this far in advance of the trade deadline.<\/p>\n In fact, there are several reasons, many of which are designed to help the Jets get more out of next season\u2019s Connor, Scheifele, Morrissey and Hellebuyck.<\/p>\n 1. Winnipeg must try to save its season and not send out a first-round pick<\/p>\n The Jets haven\u2019t drafted inside the top 10 since a lottery win led to Patrik Laine in 2016. Cole Perfetti, taken with the No. 10 pick in 2020, has the 10th-most points in his draft class, but he\u2019s one of just three Jets picks from the last 10 drafts on Winnipeg\u2019s roster right now.<\/p>\n