The Winnipeg Jets and the Difficulty of Sustained Success
The Winnipeg Jets’ run to the Western Conference Final was as improbable as it will be to follow up. As we’ve learned, the NHL is one of the toughest sports to sustain success.
The Winnipeg Jets have a solid young core, as I have said time and again, but the NHL is cruel. Sometimes you just don’t get there.
Patrik Laine, Connor Hellebuyck, Kyle Connor, Jacob Trouba and Josh Morrissey make for a really good, young group. That’s a group that can get you to the Cup, especially when surrounded by good veterans, as they were this season. The only problem is, things don’t always work out the way you hope.
We’re going to have some examples of success and some that are cautionary tales. Teams with that one big star and good surrounding talent (Pens with Sidney Crosby, Caps with Alex Ovechkin, Chicago with Patrick Kane, Rangers with Henrik Lundqvist, ect) have varying degrees of success.
This is due mostly to the front office surrounding that player with great talent. In the event of Sidney Crosby, a stud goaltender and some depth pieces provided a push for repeat championships. We also have to look at head coach Mike Sullivan, who really turned that team around after they plodded along for half a season.
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But acquiring players like Carl Hagelin and Trevor Daley really helped the team get over the hump. The problem with this blueprint is the fact that, well, there’s only one Sidney Crosby. The Jets are much more like the Capitals.
A strong team surrounding a big sniper in Patrik Laine, the Winnipeg Jets really need his star to shine in the playoffs moving forward.
Alex Ovechkin long had a reputation as a playoff zero. Maybe that all changes this year, but, whatever. Patrik Laine didn’t do himself any favors this past run. He is very young and maybe the moment was too big for him, and maybe he was exhausted. I’m not ready to write him off just yet.
But the recent Capitals are the perfect example of great depth going to waste if a team’s big players don’t step up. This year, Ovechkin has provided some key goals. A more well-rounded star is essential to the team’s success, and Laine isn’t super well-rounded. That doesn’t mean he can’t be a playoff stud.
Look at Rick Nash. He’s probably the reason some of those great Rangers teams didn’t win the Cup. The guy just disappeared in the playoffs, and he’s a very good two-way power forward. The team had young depth, great defense, and an all-world goaltender.
Henrik Lundqvist did all he could and the team never was able to put it together around him. The Rangers tried to retool this offseason and traded their number one center, Derek Stepan, for the seventh overall pick in this year’s draft. They reached for an NHL ready player in Lias Andersson, who wasn’t NHL ready.
The Rangers subsequently fell apart and now are facing a lengthy rebuild. One move can change the course of a franchise, even if it doesn’t seem that way. I realize this seems all over the place, but it’s just to prove what could go wrong.
Laine could fail to step up and the team could toil away in the playoffs. The team could trade a key veteran to ensure they don’t get old and chemistry could fall apart, or their depth could falter. They could have someone go Jonathan Toews.
The Chicago Blackhawks had the makings of a dynasty before their best player, Jonathan Toews, went into full decline in his late twenties. This isn’t something you can plan for, and yet here they are.
Jonathan Toews was a super promising young player. A stud center with a great two-way game, but not an elite offensive one, leading the charge for the Blackhawks dynasty. NHL.com even ranked Toews among their 100 greatest of all time. I’m sorry to get off topic here, but what?
That’s one of the top 100 dumbest things I’ve ever heard. He wasn’t even 30 when that happened. Sure, three Cups is cool, but so is, you know, actually being good. Since the Blackhawks last win, Toews has turned into, roughly, Chris Kreider. Without the speed or strength.
He’s a fine player, sure, but he’s sucking up so much cap space. A star (sure, we’ll call him a star, even though he’s always been vastly overrated) making $10 mil a year and barely cracking fifty points isn’t going to win you anything. Even when Patrick Kane and Corey Crawford are as good as they’ve ever been.
Sudden declines, bad trades, or just not being good enough can fall a team in contention. The Winnipeg Jets look set up for long-term success, sure. But didn’t the Rangers in 2015? Or Chicago in 2013? Hell, it took the Penguins eight years to win a second (and third!) cup with the best player in the NHL. And yet Vegas might fall poop-chute backwards into it.
Next: Jack Roslovic and the Center Vacancy
I know I’ve said time and again the Winnipeg Jets are set up for long-term success, but that can disappear quickly. Or not materialize at all. That’s why I’ve said all along, enjoy this while it lasts. Maybe it’ll last ten or so years.