Jets leave behind a familiar refrain: ‘next year’

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/04/2016 (3460 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Wait ’til next year.

That was the message — yet again — at MTS Centre Monday morning as the Winnipeg Jets emptied their locker stalls into garbage bags and headed off to do whatever multimillionaires in the prime of their lives do on a five-month vacation.

(I’m thinking there are a lot of boats involved.)

The problem, of course, with telling sports fans in this province to “wait ’til next year” is that next year never seems to come.

Whether it’s the Jets or the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, these annual pledges of better and brighter times to come never seem to materialize in a town that hasn’t seen a championship trophy hoisted in either pro hockey or pro football in over a quarter-century.

Don’t tell me, in other words — show me.

Now, there’s a compelling case to be made that the Jets team that boated off into the sunset on Monday is actually the most talented team this organization has put together since it returned to Winnipeg in 2011.

For all the disappointment that came in a 2015-16 season that saw the Jets post their lowest points total since they returned to Winnipeg, I’d challenge you to name an edition of Jets 2.0 that you would rather have than the current roster.

Would you rather have the Jets team that lost to the Anaheim Ducks in the opening round of the 2015 playoffs? I wouldn’t. Not by a longshot.

The Jets now have depth down to the fourth line, the likes of which Jets 2.0 has never had — and it only promises to get deeper with prospects like NCAA phenom Kyle Connor, who turned pro and signed with the Jets on Monday.

Add to that a bonafide elite top line in Nikolaj Ehlers-Mark Scheifele-Blake Wheeler and a troika of right-handed shooting defencemen — Dustin Byfuglien, Jacob Trouba and Tyler Myers — that would be the envy of most NHL teams and you’ve got a Jets team that will head into 2016-17 with the best roster they’ve ever had.

But just because the Jets will be better next year doesn’t mean they’ll be good enough.

With a roster that will get even younger next season, this Jets squad quite literally will be boys playing against men in a Central Division that promises to be just as tough — and maybe even tougher — than it’s ever been.

Jets head coach Paul Maurice admitted as much in his season-ending news conference on Monday. “I’d like to see the best players make our team (next season) and if they’re all young guys, then they’re all young guys,” Maurice told reporters.

“And if that means in the Central Division we’ve got to take a knock or two, I think that’s the best thing for this organization…The best players should be on your team, whether they’re 19, 20, 21 or 32.”

Five of the seven Central Division teams made the playoffs this season — Dallas, St. Louis, Chicago, Nashville and Minnesota. And even in missing the playoffs this season, Colorado still finished at .500 with 82 points.

So let’s say you like this Jets roster better than any other you’ve seen so far — which of those six other Central teams do next year’s Jets finish ahead of? Colorado? Maybe. Minnesota? Possibly, but it’d be a stretch? Nashville? Hmmmm.

And the rest? Good luck.

The Jets had the worst division record in the Central this season and nothing changes for this franchise until they prove they can play with the biggest of the big boys in the NHL.

That’s no easy fix and it looks, at least from this vantage point, like a task that is going to demand even more patience from a fan base that has already demonstrated infinite amounts of the stuff through this club’s first five years.

If you’re getting a little impatient with the whole “Please bear with us” mantra, you’re not the only one. Blake Wheeler — who had the best season of any Jets player and is, for my money, a no-brainer as this club’s next captain — expressed frustration earlier this season with the fact he’s not getting any younger and would like to win a Stanley Cup sooner than later.

Asked Monday morning what he thought about the prospect of playing next season on a Jets team that will be even younger, Wheeler almost bit his tongue in half.

“I’m getting older. You know, I guess it’s tough to really have a meaningful comment on that. That’s out of my control.”

Translation: If you’re getting impatient with this team as a fan, imagine what it’s like to be a player.

Wait ’til next year? Sure. But don’t have illusions that the waiting game will end there.

Patience may be a virtue, but in this town it is also prerequisite for fans and players alike.

 

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @PaulWiecek