Jets’ Morrissey joins two Manitobans on Team Canada

Josh Morrissey is getting another opportunity to represent his country.Only this time, it will be on the grandest stage.

Lack of secondary scoring Jets’ biggest problem, says legendary coach

Bruce Boudreau has seen a lot of things over his professional hockey career. The stunning collapse of the Winnipeg Jets — from first to worst in the NHL standings in the blink of an eye — has the longtime player turned coach turned puck pundit completely perplexed.

“All options should be on the table,” he told the Free Press. “Keep trying everything until you find something that works.”

For now, status quo continues to be the play. The reigning Presidents’ Trophy winners, who are currently dead last in the league with 34 points (15-18-4), boarded their charter Tuesday with the same 23 players in tow. Nobody was placed on waivers. Nobody was called up from the Manitoba Moose. Nobody was traded.

This, despite dropping six consecutive games (0-3-3) and 19 of their last 25 overall (6-15-4) as they begin a three-game road trip on Wednesday night in Detroit. They’ll also play Thursday in Toronto and then wrap up Saturday in Ottawa.

Changes long overdue as Jets’ tailspin continues with loss to Oilers

With each passing game — and each mounting loss — the biggest question surrounding the Winnipeg Jets grows louder:

At what point will enough be enough?

Look, Monday’s 3-1 setback to the Edmonton Oilers before a sold-out crowd at Canada Life Centre would be perfectly acceptable in its own little bubble. The Jets played a strong overall game, outshooting the visitors by a whopping 42-21 margin and doing many of the things that will land you on the right side of the final score more nights than not.

A legitimate argument can be made Winnipeg deserved better.

Former Jet providing much-needed secondary offence for Oilers

There was a distinct tone in Jack Roslovic’s voice when he addressed reporters on Monday morning. Several of those reporters were there when the young and occasionally brash version of him made his debut for the Winnipeg Jets late in the 2016-17 campaign.

Jets still starving for results

Dylan DeMelo knows it’s a fine line and he did his best to straddle it.

The Winnipeg Jets defenceman was smack dab in the middle of a controversial sequence of events in the final minute of Saturday’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Minnesota Wild.

DeMelo was on the ice when his defence partner, Josh Morrissey, was taken into the boards from behind by Wild centre Joel Eriksson Ek — when Morrissey didn’t have the puck.

Once things settled down on the same shift, DeMelo found Eriksson Ek in front and knocked him to the ice, leading officials to assess a cross-checking minor on the play.

‘We deserved a better fate’: Jets suffer heartbreaking loss in OT to Wild

Things were supposed to be different for the Winnipeg Jets coming out of the much-needed holiday break.

After recharging their collective batteries and spending some quality time away from the rink, the Jets came back refreshed and ready, determined to leave a consistently inconsistent stretch of hockey in the rearview mirror.

For 59 minutes and change on Saturday night, the Jets did just that, playing a mostly sound defensive game and keeping the quality scoring chances to a minimum against a red-hot Central Division opponent that had collected at least a point in eight of the previous nine outings.

But after surrendering a power-play marker to Mats Zuccarello with 21.1 seconds to go in regulation time, Matt Boldy scored his second of the contest 39 seconds into three-on-three overtime to seal a 4-3 victory for the Minnesota Wild.

Former Jets blue-liner thriving as psychologist after hanging up his skates

Truth be told, Jay Harrison wasn’t exactly sure where his post-playing days were going to take him. The former Winnipeg Jets defenceman didn’t wait until retirement to find out.

Schenns welcome Winnipeg winter

Luke Schenn is looking forward to switching from professional hockey player to amateur hockey dad for a few days this holiday season.

The Winnipeg Jets defenceman will be spending part of his break the way many parents do: at the rink, cheering on his children. Schenn’s two oldest boys, ages eight and five, will hit the ice in the annual Winnipeg Jets Challenge Cup, an event that draws dozens of teams from around the city, province and beyond.

“With our schedule, obviously I miss a lot of their time. But when I’m able to go… I even took all the coaching certifications this year. That’s 10 hours of my life I’ll never get back,” Schenn joked in a recent chat with the Free Press.

“But yeah, I try to get on the ice with the kids and help out whenever I can, push some pucks around.”

Jets out of excuses

SALT LAKE CITY — It was hard to miss the presence of Winnipeg Jets co-owner Mark Chipman on this just-completed road trip through St. Louis, Denver and Salt Lake City — one that produced a single point and pushed the team further into the NHL abyss.

Chipman doesn’t travel with the club as often as he once did, but his timing couldn’t have been better. He got an up-close look at everything that has gone wrong for the reigning Presidents’ Trophy winners, who have just six wins in the past 23 games to sit at 15-17-3.

“That’s 35 games, for me, of inconsistency throughout the games themselves or that might be individual players. In the remaining 47, that has to change,” Jets coach Scott Arniel told the Free Press on Sunday evening at Delta Center.

Notably, Chipman was standing in the hallway outside the team’s locker room just a short distance away as the bench boss spoke with obvious frustration in his voice.

Jets lose in OT to Mammoth

SALT LAKE CITY — Adam Lowry stood in front of the Winnipeg Jets media backdrop, a grim look on his face, and immediately put on a display of public accountability by pointing the finger of blame at himself.

“That’s on me,” the captain told the Free Press. He was referring to Sunday’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Utah Mammoth inside Delta Center — a game in which his team essentially didn’t show up for the first half, mounted a frantic late rally and then gave away a valuable point just 13 seconds into the three-on-three session.

Lowry was a surprising choice to start the fourth period, given that head coach Scott Arniel typically sends out top-scoring centre Mark Scheifele, along with linemate Kyle Connor and No. 1 defenceman Josh Morrissey. But the bench boss opted to go with a more defensive posture off the hop, hoping Lowry could win the faceoff and gain possession.

“It was a case of hopefully you go out and do the right things and get a chance to get the next group out there,” Arniel explained afterwards of using Lowry, along with Gabe Vilardi and Neal Pionk.

Jets mailbag: chemistry, second line centre, point structure, and looking to the future

Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe answer your Jets questions in this month's Winnipeg Jets mailbag.

Nyquist looks to impress on top line

SALT LAKE CITY — The latest spin of the Winnipeg Jets’ line blender produced a surprising concoction on Saturday.

Step right up, Gustav Nyquist. You’re up next to take a twirl alongside top scorers Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor.

“Hopefully lightning in a bottle here and we get something to build off,” Jets coach Scott Arniel told the Free Press following his team’s practice.

While at first blush this may seem like a curious move — Nyquist has yet to score a single goal in 25 games this year — what do the Jets have to lose at this point? Winnipeg has now dropped 16 of its last 22 games, including the first two stops on this three-game road trip which ends Sunday against the Utah Mammoth.

Jets fall to league-leading Avalanche 3-2

DENVER — It ended up being a nail-biter, rather than the blowout many expected. However, the end result on Friday night was all-too-familiar for the Winnipeg Jets: Another loss.

This one came at the hands of the NHL’s top team, the Colorado Avalanche, who raced out to an early two-goal advantage and hung on for a 3-2 victory at Ball Arena.

“There was a lot more battle, a lot more compete. We had some really good looks, some opportunities. That was a better effort than the last one,” said Jets coach Scott Arniel.

“But we’ve got to find a way to get over that hump of winning those games. Right now, we’re a delicate, fragile group and we’re finding ways to lose games.”

Predictions for Milan-Cortina as men’s hockey roster deadline looms

A weekly lap around the NHL by Free Press hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe

DENVER — There hasn’t been a whole lot to smile about lately for Josh Morrissey, with his Winnipeg Jets experiencing extreme turbulence these days.

But the mere mention of the upcoming Winter Olympics brought an instant glow on Friday morning, especially since he’d be hitting the ice a few hours later with an expected pair of future teammates in Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar.

“They’re both special players. Just what they’re doing is incredible every night,” Morrissey told the Free Press.