Winnipeg Jets: Ten Bold Predictions for 2018-2019 NHL Season

The Winnipeg Jets are coming. We’re almost to the season. Preseason will be here before you know it. Once you see football, you know hockey is right around the corner. About the only thing that gets me interested in football’s opening week.

The Winnipeg Jets will be a good team. There’s no doubt about that one. I mean, I suppose they could face a very unexpected collapse, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Well, hopefully we don’t. But the Jets should probably be okay. But, if sports were predictable, we wouldn’t watch them (well, I don’t really follow the NBA for that reason exactly, but still).

The fact that sports, specifically baseball and hockey, can have such wild swings in outcomes from game to game and year to year. The Jets themselves surprised everyone last season.

So we know we’ll have surprises, so I’ve put together some Bold Predictions so that we can look back on them later and laugh. Enjoy.

1. Connor Hellebuyck will have a save percentage in the .910s – I know, I’m starting off by irking every Jet fan out there. I know he just signed a big contract, and I know he just put together a fantastic season. But hey, regression hurts sometimes. I think he’ll be fine, and won’t sink the team. And he’ll flash what he did last season. But something like a .917 save percentage is what we’ll see. And hey, with this offense, that’ll  be fine.
2. Patrik Laine hits 50 goals – The Jets ace for lighting the lamp is still so young, and still improving. From 36 to 44 goals in his two seasons, let’s say he keeps the pace going. Hopefully forever, but that sounds unlikely. But eight more goals again? Seems within reach. I’d love to see Laine with 52 goals.
3. The Jets have two 100 point guys – The last pair of teammates to do this were, unsurprisingly, Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby, all the way back in 08-09. It’s time for it again. The two? Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler. I believe in em.
4. Laurent Brossoit makes 25+ starts – With Connor Hellebuyck’s mild regression, and the Jets hopes to go deep in the postseason, they’re going to want to give Helly a rest. Well, that’s a backup goaltender’s job. But also, Brossoit’s gotta be playing pretty well to be worth putting the pads on for 25 games.
5. Winnipeg faces Vegas in the playoffs again – I’m not going to give this one away, but I believe the two will match up again. Vegas is trying to fight their own (inevitable) regression by acquiring Paul Stastny and Max Pacioretty. This should be fun.
6. The powerplay and the offense as a whole are tops in the league – Winnipeg has plenty of scoring touch, and while Tampa will give them a run for their money, I’ll say Winnipeg tops the league.
7. Jacob Trouba plays less than 50 games – I’m not picking on the kid, I’m not. I love Trouba. When he’s on the ice, he’s great. But he’s dealt with injury issues, and I’m thinking, this year will be no different. Also, I can’t have rose-colored glasses in my predictions.
8. Kristian Vesalainen wins the Calder – This one is going way out on a limb, but I’ll swing heavy. Rasmus Dahlin, Eeli Tolvanen and a pair of Rangers (Philp Chytil and Lias Andersson) will be tough competitors. This one’s mostly about playing time, as there’s no elite, obvious choice.
9. Winnipeg makes the Stanley Cup Final – Do they win? I have no idea. This is just as far as I’m willing to go.
10. Patrik Laine sticks clean-shaven – Okay, so, ten predictions ended up being too many. I wrote down a few, figured out I could do this, and then was wrong. But I said ten, I’m doing ten. Next year, maybe 5. Either way, this is the best I could do for ten. I’m sorry to everyone.

Well, there you have it. Bonus prediction? Bonus prediction. I only get one right. Which one? Who knows. Stay tuned.