Golf season for Jets, hunting season for Chevy

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/04/2017 (3094 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Losing teams in the NHL get an early start to the golf season and the Winnipeg Jets are hitting the course prematurely for the fifth time in six years.

And, as if on cue, the organization immediately began talking earlier this week about hope for the future.

Here’s my take on the highs and lows of the 2016-17 NHL season and how things shape up with the club heading into the fall:

The top-six forward group made significant strides because rookie sniper Patrik Laine and sophomore forward Nikolaj Ehlers showed dramatic development, as did centre Mark Scheifele, who had 82 points (32G, 50A) to finish seventh in league scoring.

Long-time veterans Blake Wheeler, Bryan Little and Mathieu Perreault had good years, especially when you consider the latter two players were hampered by injuries. Adam Lowry, Joel Armia and Andrew Copp upped their games, while Marko Dano and Nic Petan somehow landed in head coach Paul Maurice’s doghouse.

Kyle Connor and Jack Roslovic looked good in their brief, late-season call-ups, strengthening the assertion that even better things are on the horizon with this forward group.

The defence, however, is a different story, mainly because of question marks surrounding the group.

The pairing of Jacob Trouba, 23, and Josh Morrissey, 22, has been a blast to watch. The emergence of Trouba as an elite blue-liner blends well with the dependable rookie, who has excelled since the start of the season and added more offensive confidence as the year went on.

The general consensus is that Dustin Byfuglien, the former king of defence, didn’t have his best season but ended up with 52 points while leading the entire league in time on the ice per game (27:26). Trouba (24:57) was 11th.

Now, the question marks: Tobias Enstrom and Tyler Myers had difficult years involving injuries and — most important — personal matters off the ice (of course everyone is hoping for the best, in that regard, for both men).

Myers played only 11 games. Enstrom played 60, but his season deteriorated from the usual steady, dependable play he provides. On top of that, just-signed college star Tucker Poolman will have had surgery to repair both of his shoulders by the time training camp opens.

General manager Kevin Cheveldayoff would be risking disaster by not shoring up this area with one or two quality veterans.

The goaltending situation could be even worse, but if the Jets don’t make a significant move to push Connor Hellebuyck, you can throw hope out the window… even though I’m still a believer in the guy.

While the Jets will lose a player in the expansion draft, there will be ample opportunities to augment the roster.

In past columns, I’ve suggested Maurice should be maximizing the team’s five-on-five transition game and I’ve seen some glimpses of system change, so there’s a bit of hope in that. The power play has had some promising looks, but it’s a work in progress. With the talent up front, there’s reason to believe they could move into one of the top dozen teams in the league when playing with the man advantage.

Penalty-killing is a bigger problem. I like a pressure system, and we saw that too few times, despite some late-season adjustments. The Jets are at their worst when they sit back and allow easy entry into their zone, and then passively watch from there.

Maurice and Cheveldayoff seem to be in this together — both are supposedly going to receive contract extensions this summer.

Cheveldayoff could help Maurice by focusing on acquiring talented players over guys perceived to be good in the room. That’s where the GM has to show some tough love, but moving away from his past may be tough for him.

This season was full of highlights, lowlights and disappointments for Jets fans.

The Heritage Classic was a wonderful way to start the year; a great thing for Winnipeg, Jets fans and alumni. We were treated like royalty by Mark Chipman, True North staff, volunteers and fans. Seeing old friends and making new ones just added to the week.

There was definitely hope then, too, as the Wednesday game preceding the Classic saw the Jets bring us out of our seats as they came back to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-4 in overtime, led by Laine’s hat trick. The Edmonton Oilers got everyone back to reality with a 3-0 win in the outdoor game, and then rubbed fans’ noses in it as they romped into the playoffs.

On a high note, I loved the buzz at MTS Centre every time Laine touched the puck in the offensive zone, no matter how tough a shot he was considering.

When looking at lowlights, remembering Laine’s motionless body on the ice in Buffalo after taking a mid-ice hit from Sabres defenceman Jake McCabe stands out. Thankfully, he missed only eight games.

Fans will have their own best and worst points in the season but Laine is the biggest reason for the increased hope compared to this time last year. The draft lottery jackpot was a dream come true, setting the stage for the Jets to call Laine’s name a few weeks later.

This summer is about Cheveldayoff taking advantage of that gift from the hockey gods. The level of fans’ hope for the 2017-18 NHL season is directly tied to the faith in the GM.

I exit with the Jets, so this is it for me. Thank you for reading and commenting. Many thanks to sports editor Steve Lyons and the Free Press staffers who help deliver this to you.