Winnipeg Jets Season Review: Good Old Matt Hendricks

If I told you the Winnipeg Jets lost a center in Free Agency to a team they matched up with in the playoffs last season, I know exactly where your mind would go.

But the Winnipeg Jets didn’t just lose Paul Stastny. Matt Hendricks signed in Free Agency with the Minnesota Wild. The fourth liner inked a one year, $700,00 contract with the Wild.

Being from Minnesota, Hendricks is thrilled. Good for him. At 37, Hendricks doesn’t have a whole lot of hockey left. But that doesn’t mean he’s useless.

He spent six years in the minors after four years in college, spending almost a decade between being drafted and making the NHL. But he got there, at 27, for four games. And then he was in.

People realized while Hendricks was never going to be a star, he could play hockey. He could be useful.  And he was. And he still might be.

Matt Hendricks spent just one year with the Winnipeg Jets, who needed to fulfill the rule that states every team needs a veteran center for the fourth line. And I’m not going to lie and tell you he was transcendent, and the reason the Jets went to the Western Conference Final.

But he helped. A Corsi% just a tick below average, at 49.9, tells you a good amount. Sixty games with five goals and 13 points isn’t world beating, but the defense was solid. He’s steady. He’s Dominic Moore, just slightly worse.

Look, there’s 100 Matt Hendricks in the NHL. He’s not a make or break guy. He’s not even a glue guy. But that doesn’t make him useless. I don’t have to defend Matt Hendricks to you. If he was terrible, you would know about it.

But he was there. And he helped the Winnipeg Jets. Even at fewer than 10 minutes a game. But they let him go.  Because they didn’t need him. He’ll help the Minnesota Wild, now. But you won’t miss Matt Hendricks. And it’ll be sad.