It feels like a long time since the Winnipeg Jets got swept out of the second round of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs by the Montreal Canadiens, but Jets supporters will only have to wait about another month till their beloved team hits the ice for training camp in the latter half of September.
As we begin to look ahead to the upcoming season, we now turn our attention to the current group of Jets forwards. Currently, the Jets have thirteen forwards on their roster for the upcoming season.
Winnipeg will have eight out of nine players return from their top-three lines from last season, with the lone player not coming back being Mason Appleton who got selected by the Seattle Kraken in the Expansion Draft.
On the other hand, the Jets’ fourth line will have a completely new look because the three mainstays from that line last season (Mathieu Perreault, Nate Thompson, and Trevor Lewis) have all signed with different franchises this offseason as unrestricted free agents.
The Winnipeg Jets top-three lines may look awfully similar, but their fourth line will have a different look for the 2021-2022 season
Our current projection has the Jets’ top-line from the 2021 season remaining the exact same for the next season with Mark Scheifele centering Kyle Connor and Blake Wheeler.
One change we could see on Winnipeg’s second line is Andrew Copp get promoted to the wing, while Paul Stastny gets moved to the third line. Copp played outstanding last season and could be a better option with the speedy, Nikolaj Ehlers. This may, in turn, get the most out of Pierre-Luc Dubois who struggled last season after arriving from the Columbus Blue Jackets in a trade.
Then, Stastny will feature on Winnipeg’s third line alongside Adam Lowry and Kristian Vesalainen. Vesalainen is someone who Paul Maurice relied on at the end of the last season and could get this opportunity to become a mainstay in the Jets’ lineup due to Appleton’s departure.
New signing, Riley Nash is projected to center the Jets’ fourth line with Dominic Toninato and Jansen Harkins on his wings.
As we stated above, the Jets have only enough forwards on their current roster to have one extra or backup player. As of right now, it is projected that David Gustafsson is the lone forward to miss out on a lineup spot and is projected to be an extra for the Jets.
Here is our first projection of how the Jets will line up on forward for next season:
Connor-Scheifele-Wheeler
Copp-Dubois-Ehlers
Stastny-Lowry-Vesalainen
Toninato-Nash-Harkins
Extra: Gustafsson
As the new season approaches, if and when the Jets make more roster moves, we will release a new depth chart projection. You can read our site’s projection for the Jets’ defense for 2021-2022 by clicking the link here.
Check back to our site for all of your Winnipeg Jets offseason news!
Winnipeg Jets Fans: How do you think the Winnipeg Jets will lineup on forward for the start of the upcoming season? Leave your comments below!