The Winnipeg Jets Farm System is Understandably Lacking
Your boy here is obviously not a prospect guru. I’m working on it, and I’m getting there, but it’s a long road of analysis, video and reading. It’s always important to gather information, however, and that information says the Winnipeg Jets farm is nearly barren.
The Winnipeg Jets are not a rebuilding team. If they were a bad team with a bad farm system, it would be a genuine problem. Fortunately for them, then just about won the whole damn thing last year.
Most of their talent is not in the farm system, not because they did a bad job at drafting and developing, but because they’ve graduated much of it to the NHL level.
Corey Pronman, who does a killer job over at the Athletic, has been doing a deep dive on all the NHL farm systems. He ranked the Jets 28th, which came as a surprise to me (while it came as a surprise, trust Corey over me), but nevertheless is the impetus for this article.
It’s behind the paywall, so I don’t want to give away too much, but he says that Kristian Vesalainen is the only “Very Good NHL Prospect” the team possesses.
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The write up did not describe him as a potential call-up this season, however. Hmm. Either way, Pronman included a rundown of the top ten under 23 in the system. The first prospect, Vesalainen, came in at #6.
That says quite a bit about the level of talent the Jets posses within their youth. It’s just mostly in NHL players. If you’re going to have a bad farm system, having one because all your good players are in the NHL is a pretty good reason for it.
Of the bottom four teams, only one is not a contender for the Stanley Cup (Calgary Flames). Washington and Tampa Bay also have incredibly talented, albeit slightly older, rosters to play with. I wouldn’t be surprised if either team took home the trophy next season, and obviously one just did this past year as well.
Dylan Samberg and Mason Appleton got some love, too. Appleton’s a name around these parts, but I feel like we don’t hear about Samberg much. His game is basic and not flashy, but he’s good enough at everything that the whole package is useful.
Look, nobody expected the team to have a top 10 farm system, but 28th isn’t great no matter how you slice it. It’s only one ranking, but still.
Based on where the Jets are currently, plus their incredible collection of talent, I think they’ll be just fine. Look, it’s going to be harder for the team to collect talent through the draft at this point with the team being so competitive.
They won’t be drafting in the top 15 any more, they’re going to be picking in the 25+ range for quite a bit. I love prospects as much as anyone, but that’s a tradeoff I’ll take every time.