It would be surprising to see the same eight teams from last season make the playoffs in the Western Conference, especially since the seven teams that did not make it last year (including the expansion Vegas Golden Knights) made some big improvements in the offseason.
While the Dallas Stars made some notable moves to signal a win-now attitude, the Winnipeg Jets may be the dark horse of both the Central Division and Western Conference. While they did not pick up top free agents like the Stars did, they have a load of young players that should make a big impact next season, and that may be enough to reach the playoffs for just the second time since the team relocated from Atlanta in 2011.
Let us ignore 19-year-old All-Star Patrik Laine and 24-year-old first line center Mark Scheifele for a moment because they are going to be constant scoring threats regardless of the team’s success. The Jets have one of the youngest teams in the NHL, with just four players (Blake Wheeler, Toby Enstrom, Dustin Byfuglien, and Mark Stuart) that are at least 30 years old after Vegas took Chris Thorburn in the expansion draft.
Despite finishing with seven more points than Edmonton in 2015-2016, Winnipeg got lucky in the draft lottery and picked up the second overall pick, which resulted in drafting Laine. After 36 goals and 28 assists in his rookie campaign, Laine has accelerated the youth movement’s success after just two seasons without a playoff appearance. The Jets finished with the most points for a non-playoff team in the Western Conference in Laine’s first season, and the breakouts have and should continued from there.
Besides Laine and Scheifele, Nikolaj Ehlers also picked apart defenses at an alarming rate. A Top-10 pick in 2014, the Danish product played in all 82 games after being in 72 in his first NHL season, and an outstanding first half helped him reach 25 goals and 39 assists for the season, and that included 14 assists in November. He had a career night on November 4 in Detroit, when he had a goal and three assists while being on the same line as Laine and Scheifele in a 5-3 victory.
Those three would surely be a dangerous top line for the present and the future, but there is the potential for line switches this upcoming season. Wheeler, Bryan Little, and Mathieu Perrault could be the second/veteran line, but mixing the top two lines would also further Ehlers’ and Laine’s development without ruining chemistry, especially since Wheeler is highly respected as the team’s captain.
The rest of the roster is up in the air, which is actually a good thing. The Jets can afford to be patient with their top prospects while starting young players who can make an impact at the NHL level. Adam Lowry, Marko Dano, and Andrew Copp saw plenty of time with Winnipeg last season, and recent signing Michael Sgarbossa would join Brandon Tanev and Nic Petan to round out the bottom two lines. With injuries bound to happen, the Jets can then call up highly touted prospects Jack Roslovic, Kyle Connor, and Chase De Leo when they feel they are ready. While neither player is expected to see significant playing time this season, 2017 draft picks Kristian Vesalainen and defenseman Dylan Samberg are projected to very high on the prospects list in the near future.
On the blue line, Josh Morrissey had an outstanding rookie season, playing in all 82 games and contributing 20 points and a +/- of +6. If he can build off his rookie campaign in 2017-2018, he could slot in with Byfuglien and given veterans Enstrom, Tyler Myers, and free agent signing Dmitry Kulikov less of a workload in the lower lines. Ben Chiarot and Jacob Trouba should also be constants in the roster with double-digit assist totals from last season. In the event of injuries, which have been an issue for Kulikov and Myers in recent years, 2014 fourth-round pick Nelson Nogier has developed quickly after spending two years in the WHL after being drafted. While he is not a heavy scorer, he has held his own in the AHL and 10 games in the NHL.
The biggest question will be whether Connor Hellebuyck will be the goalie of the future. In 56 starts last season, Hellebuyck had 26 wins, but his GAA of 2.89 is not what the Jets were hoping to see. The Michigan native signed a one-year, $2.25 million contract during the offseason, and Steve Mason was signed for two years. Ideally, the front office would like Hellebuyck to have a big year to crystallize the goalie situation in the future, but a strong season from Mason would also be acceptable.
The Winnipeg Jets have essentially reloaded to form a core that can beat any team on any given night. It may have taken some luck to find the new face of the franchise, but there is more to this young team than Laine. There are bound to be more breakouts because of all the young players in the system, and that should be enough to make the playoffs considering how close they came last season.