The Winnipeg Jets Might Hit the Panic Button Soon if Losses Pile Up

The Winnipeg Jets were very close to helping ease concerns around their slow start. Then everything fell apart in Edmonton, and the level of concern reached an all-time high.

The Winnipeg Jets were supposed to be runaway contenders for the Stanley Cup. They still could be. It’s only six games, and they still sit at 3-2-1. They have two very winnable games coming up.

If they win both of them, they’ll sit at 5-2-1, and while they’ll still have to worry about their shortcomings, but they’ll be in a decent spot in the standings.

This is the look of an average team, which we know the Jets aren’t, talent-wise. I usually see this in baseball, but it’s true in pretty much all facets of life: Progression isn’t always linear.

The Jets are stacked with young players. Some of these guys are going to have growing pains. Winnipeg has three defenseman who are “Very Good”. Dustin Byfuglien, Josh Morrissey and Jacob Trouba.

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Tyler Myers has been very good with the Jets, too. The problem is, only Morrissey is left handed. Now, right handed defenseman have been in super high demand. I mean, the Oilers traded Taylor Hall (who won the Hart Trophy last season) to the Devils for Adam Freaking Larsson.

Myers, Byfuglien and Trouba are all better than Larsson. Myers on his off-hand side has not gone over well. If the Jets continue to struggle on the back-end, then Trouba or Myers could be on their way out.

Looking at left-handed defenseman who will be free agents this upcoming season is uninspiring. Doesn’t have to be a rental, and I’ll take a deeper dive into this on a post of its own, but still.

Rentals are the easiest place to start. Michael Del Zotto? That’s the only one that didn’t cause me to audibly groan, and he’s available for less than Myers or Trouba. We’ll get to this later.

Either way, the defense is a problem and the offense is a problem. The latter? We can just wait for that to get going, eventually it will. The defense? Eh.

Last night was looking to be a turning point for the Jets. It was, but only because they blew a three goal lead in the third and then lost in overtime. Getting a 4-1 lead was great!

Two goals from Adam Lowry, one from Ben Chiarot and one from Mark Scheifele. The good news in losing a game that you led by three entering the third? The Jets only had two penatlies to kill.

The bad news about that? They failed to kill either one of them. Look, I know Connor McDavid is awesome, but that’s no excuse. Connor Hellebuyck fell apart there at the end.

That game was pathetic. Winnipeg is in this whole “Figuring out new ways to lose” phase that some teams love to wander into every once in a while. Well, they better figure out how to piece together a few wins before the panic button is getting slammed.