Reality of situation sinking in

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/02/2016 (3515 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Their brief road momentum hobbled, the Winnipeg Jets limped home in the wee hours of Sunday morning facing an ever-clearer reality.

With only three points gained from a possible eight on a route through Edmonton, Carolina, Tampa and south Florida, they are running out of games and headed in the wrong direction.

The trip began with the Jets eight points off the playoff line in the NHL’s Western Conference. This morning’s mountain is even taller and steeper — Winnipeg is now 11 points away with just 24 games to go.

Not to mention five teams to pass.

One can never tell when a positive streak may hit, but having waited for something in that category all season long, Jets fans have been rewarded with only back-to-back wins on eight occasions and nothing better.

That’s pretty convincing evidence their team has not survived a schedule that looked from the outset to offer its toughest examinations earlier rather than later.

Worth noting is all teams heading for the post-season will have succeeded in conquering the majority of curveballs the NHL schedule-makers throw 30 ways.

The Jets, staggered by 4-9-1 mark in a road-heavy November, found head coach Paul Maurice speaking near the end of 2015 about staying afloat in the conference race long enough for the team’s helpful stretches of schedule — in January and March — to matter.

No such luck in the first assignment.

January offered a segment of nine of 10 at home yet yielded a record of 3-7-0, and then February kicked in with a whole lot more road games.

The conclusion of that will come this week after one home game Tuesday against the Dallas Stars, then a return trip to Dallas for Thursday and into Pittsburgh on Saturday.

The team’s arrival back home for a March 1 date will mark the 11th consecutive game to which it will have had to travel (3-3-1 so far) and there’s no guarantee even a perfect week ahead would put a dent into the double-digit deficit that exists to the playoff line.

March brings up a massive 11 home games as the season is about to kick into a friendly kind of rhythm but maybe too late to matter. It goes simply every other day to the end of the season once the Jets have their back-to-back home dates March 5 and 6 against Montreal and Edmonton.

After Saturday’s 3-1 loss in Florida, the Jets were in 27th place overall, bringing the draft lottery into a more important focus

But there’s still a ways to go before it’s time for draft picks.

Most notably, general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff has a big week ahead given the major decision that awaits on captain Andrew Ladd.

The veteran left-winger, now 30, has been unable to find a contract extension with the team since the window opened for talks last July.

With defenceman Dustin Byfuglien now signed, Ladd’s the only pressing decision for the next week because he could become an unrestricted free agent July 1.

There seems no avenue for him to stay in Winnipeg beyond next Monday’s NHL trade deadline if he’s not signed.

Pundits around the league tout Ladd as one of the top “rental” players available this year, but what Cheveldayoff could pry from a team looking to take a run for the Cup is a mere guessing game at this point.

One supposes the possibility he could sign a deal with the Jets is still in play, only because nobody has yet said that’s off the table.

In the wake of an expected deal, the Jets would start to look different yet again. This season, Cheveldayoff deliberately moved his team younger, to the point where, as of Sunday, only Edmonton, Carolina and Buffalo have younger rosters. What talking points emerge by the middle of next week is anyone’s guess, but a smart side wager says youth topic will remain among them.

Today’s Jets, still trying to maintain a focus on that playoff berth, won’t want to hear that, but it won’t make it any less true.

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca