The Winnipeg Jets: Five Reasons they Could Collapse in 2018-2019

Look, I know the Winnipeg Jets are young. I know they’re incredibly talented, and I know they might be getting better. But what if they aren’t?

The Winnipeg Jets had 114 points, good for second in the entire NHL. And in the Western Conference. And in the Central Division. Which was a bummer.

That would have won them the President’s Trophy in 2014-2015 and was the fourth highest point total in that time. They won the series that they didn’t have home ice for anyway, and then lost one that they did.

Womp womp. But! Things are looking up, huh? A young core, a newly signed long-term goalie, great defense. What’s not to like?  Well, turns out, if you really want to, you can find some things.

My dad taught me it’s always easy to be a pessimist about your favorite sports team. It wasn’t a lesson he was imparting, he just always thinks his team is going to lose. It’s ingrained in fans to believe their team is worse than another team.

Best record? They’ll choke. They always choke to [insert literally any team in any sport]. Make the playoffs on a hot streak? Their luck will run out.

Look, I’m certain that there is a psychological explanation for all of this, but as people, we always are searching for reasons not to believe in a good thing. It’s there. It’s in me. I want to know what will stop the Winnipeg Jets from winning the cup next season.

I know why they could win it, but why won’t they win? There are 30 other teams, after all. Why don’t we allow the darkness to envelop us for a moment and look at some grim scenarios for our boys from Manitoba this coming season?

The Winnipeg Jets had decent injury luck in 2017-2018. A few core players did miss time, yes, but mostly everyone was around for the playoffs. Nobody needed major surgery or missed an entire season.

So, the story goes that the best predictor of future injury is past injury, right? Well, Tyler Myers, Bryan Little, Mark Scheifele, Dustin Byfuglien and Jacob Trouba have dealt with injuries in the past.

Well, in all fairness, just about everyone in the NHL has been dealing with an injury at some point in their careers. Dudes skating around in the playoffs on broken ankles. Unreal.

Steve Mason dealt with a couple concussions and Mark Scheifele and Jacob Trouba missed 20 or so games, Byfuglien was out for a dozen or so. Bryan Little was healthy! Maybe.

But these things can go south in a hurry. You don’t have to squint to see how this is a reality. Mark Scheifele misses more time, Connor Hellebuyck gets injured. Patrik Laine could go down. Anyone could!

Blake Wheeler has been a paragon of health, but he’s been playing a lot. Maybe it wears on him and he finally succumbs to an injury. Fluke things could happen too. Always be worried about an injury. Always.

Even if everyone is healthy and perfect and the playoffs roll around, what if Hellebuyck goes down then? Do you want Laurent Brossoit starting a playoff game? No, no you do not.

Steve Mason struggled after presumably being signed to become the starter of the Winnipeg Jets. We could see someone follow the path of Mason, but not the way you would think.

Steve Mason started his career with a bang with the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2008. Mason walked away with a Vezina nomination and a Calder Trophy at the end of the season.

Know anyone else around here with a second place Vezina finish? Mason was a capable starting goaltender after that season (and his subsequent trade to Philadelphia), but that’s it.

I always thought of him as a Mike Smith type dude. A top 20ish starter. Not great. Not going to kill you. Someone you can make the playoffs with, if your defense and offense are solid.

Well, the Winnipeg Jets could probably make the playoffs with that guy. But I doubt they can win a Stanley Cup with him. The offense is good and the defense is good. The goaltending? It was really good last season.

But Connor Hellebuyck has one season of stud-level play in his pocket, just like a lot of goalies. Look, goaltending is fickle. It would be foolish to assume Helly will compete for the Vezina year after year.

He could be Steve Mason reincarnated. Maybe Mason rubbed off on him in the locker room and during goaltending drills. You never know how these things go down until they’ve gone down. And maybe Hellebuyck will too.

I’m not saying he’s a one-year wonder. He looks really good, he does. But I’ve seen lots of goalies look good. And if he doesn’t, suddenly the Jets look a lot less promising.

The Winnipeg Jets had bad goaltending from their backups last season. Pure and simple. Connor Hellebuyck had to start 64 games and come in on relief in three others. He was pulled for a backup exactly once during the regular season.

We know Connor Hellebuyck is good, maybe. Or he was last season. But having him play in damn near 70 games before your team intends to make a deep playoff run.

Connor Hellebuyck started 81 games between the playoffs and the regular season. That is a bit too many, especially when you don’t have a Cup to show for it.

So, I suppose you can’t really anticipate that the backups for the Jets will be worse this season than they were last season. But you can anticipate that Paul Maurice might write their name in the lineup a bit more often.

They made the playoffs, they tried to keep up with Nashville, and it didn’t work. Maybe they’ll play a bit less for home ice and try to rest Hellebuyck. They should still handily make the playoffs that way.

The Jets could have played a game without a goaltender eight times and still made the playoffs. They had a 19 point cushion. I know they wanted to win the President’s Trophy and secure home ice. I sure wanted them to do that. But they didn’t, and they may have paid for it.

But while the 18 games that Jets backups started carried a save percentage that was in the .800s, things could get worse. Well, the performance might night. Eric Comrie and Laurent Brossoit appear to be competing (or perhaps sharing) the backup duties.

Maybe they play 25 games instead of 18. Maybe the Jets don’t get the same luck or level of play with Hellebuyck, and those games really hurt them. Goalies will break your heart, kids.

The Stanley Cup hangover is a real thing, so they tell me. We see playoff teams in all sports struggle to reach the levels they did the previous season. It happens.

You don’t have to play in the Stanley Cup Final to be eligible for a Stanley Cup hangover. We saw in the playoffs, the Winnipeg Jets seemingly ran out of gas.

Patrik Laine was skating like their was a thin layer of molasses on the ice. Some of the youngsters just stopped scoring. They looked amazing in that series against Nashville (and Minnesota), but when the Vegas series rolled around, they were gassed.

Am I making excuses? Kind of, but they might have lost anyway. It was just clear that they had run out of gas. Well, guess what? That isn’t just limited to the playoff run. They now have a shorter offseason after they got bounced in the playoffs.

They played full month and change (About ten days worth) after what they would have had they missed out on the playoffs. And they were playing, for most guys, in the most games they had ever played in during one year.

So instead of recovering from the beginning of April until the season starts, they now were at the end of May. All those games wore on the Jets, as we saw. And they will continue to, because they didn’t have a full offseason.

Teams get used to this, they do. But the young Jets clearly weren’t this past season. There’s no certainty that they will be this coming season, either.