Winnipeg Jets: Top Three Ways the Jets can Bounce Back in 2021
The Winnipeg Jets had somewhat of a rough 2019-2020 season that ended in disappointment. Here are three ways the Jets can bounce back in 2021.
Most would agree that the Winnipeg Jets getting eliminated by the Calgary Flames in the Stanley Cup Qualifiers was a disappointment for the Jets. There is a general consensus that with the roster the Jets have now, they must challenge for the Stanley Cup and any finish less than the second round of the playoffs in 2021 will be another disappointment.
The question is, how can the Jets adjust their game to be more successful in the upcoming season. Here are three adjustments that will help them bounce back in the upcoming campaign:
3. More Efficient Penalty Kill
Special teams can be the difference in a hockey game. If a team wins the special team’s battle they usually have an extremely good chance to win the game. The Jets’ powerplay is stacked and played well last year, but their penalty kill was a different story.
In 2019-2020 the Jets finished the regular season with a 77.6 penalty kill percentage, which gave them the tenth worst rating in the league. The playoffs did not treat the Jets any better, they finished their four-game series against Calgary with a 67.7 PK%.
Any hockey fan knows that these numbers are definitely not good enough and it is tough for a team to be successful with a bad penalty kill.
For the Jets to bounce back they need to have a better penalty kill in 2021. It is great to know that the Jets have brought in Nate Thompson and have re-acquired Paul Stastny. Both of these players are good penalty killers and this should definitely improve the Jets’ PK in the new season.
2. Limit Shots Faced
The Winnipeg Jets currently have the best goaltender in the NHL. At the end of last year, Connor Hellebuyck was rewarded for his efforts and was given the Vezina Trophy as the best goalie in the league.
Even though the Jets do have Hellebuyck between the pipes, they need to limit the number of shots Hellebuyck and the rest of the Jets’ netminders see per game.
In 2019-2020 the Jets averaged 32.7 shots faced per game while averaging 31.3 shots per game. The Jets finished in the bottom half of the league in shot differential per game with a -1.3.
Two stats that go hand in hand are shots and offensive zone time. Obviously, if you are shooting the puck you are spending time in the opposition team’s zone.
The Jets need to focus on this. The Jets need to start controlling the games in their offensive zone rather than have teams bring the game to them.
If the Jets can impose their gameplan on their north division opponents in 2021, they will have success and finish in playoff position.
1. Secondary Scoring
In the NHL a team can only rely on their top players so much. If you look at the Jets statistics from the 2019-2020 season, there was a big drop off in scoring from the top-two lines of forwards to the bottom-six forwards.
There was a big dropoff between Nikolaj Ehlers who was the fifth leading scorer on the team to Jack Roslovic, who finished in sixth among Jets’ forwards. Ehlers had 58 points, while Roslovic had 29, then right behind him was Andrew Copp with 26.
For the Jets to be successful in 2021, they need more secondary scoring. They cannot keep relying on their top-six forwards because teams know that if they can shut those lines down, they can beat the Jets.
With some secondary scoring, the Jets will become a headache for opposition coaches to matchup their lines against. Secondary scoring will make the Jets a more dynamic team and will be one of the main reasons they can bounce back this season.
There is no doubt in my mind that the Jets can bounce back this upcoming season and find themselves challenging for the Stanley Cup when the campaign concludes.
Winnipeg Jets Fans: Which area of the Jets roster do they need the biggest improvement compared to last year to be successful in 2021? Leave your comments below!
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*All Stats Provided by the NHL*