For the Jets, hope is a cheap and universal cure

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/02/2017 (3161 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Where there is life, there is hope.

And with eight out of a possible 10 points in their last five games — including six of eight on a tough four-game road trip — the Winnipeg Jets have a tiny bit of both after what was a very convincing impersonation of a corpse barely a week ago.

With a 5-4 overtime loss Tuesday night to the Toronto Maple Leafs at Air Canada Centre, the Jets head into their league-mandated week-long break with a 12 per cent chance of making the playoffs this season, according to the math whizzes at sportsclubstats.com.

That might not sound like much — and make no mistake, the playoffs remain a steep uphill climb for a team that remains sub-.500 at 28-29-6. But it’s better than the two per cent chance of making the playoffs the same website gave the Jets before they began this run five games ago with a win over the Dallas Stars at the MTS Centre Feb. 14.

The Jets have put together this run despite a rash of injuries — and a two-game suspension to defenceman Jacob Trouba — that had Winnipeg on Tuesday icing a defensive corps held together by twine and AHLers.

The Jets head into a much needed break with at least the start of some momentum and maybe, just maybe, the makings of a moment upon which this enigmatic team can finally forge an identity for something other than being wildly consistent.

Or the complete opposite, of course. This is the Jets we’re talking about, after all, and the surest way to be wrong this season has been to predict the Jets had finally turned a corner, only to learn too late that it led to yet another dead end.

I’ve thrown in the towel on trying to predict what this team will do from one game to the next. And I’m also done trying to interpret how the continuing struggles of this franchise this season is playing in Jets Nation.

I received a lot of feedback over the weekend to my column on Saturday that made the case for Patrik Laine over Auston Matthews as the league’s top rookie this year. Laine had two goals Tuesday night, but Matthews had three assists. The debate continues.

It was my larger point Saturday that it was the Leafs, not the Jets, who are having the last laugh with the better season that seemed to touch a nerve.

There were the usual cranks urging me to leave town if I love Toronto so much. (No — I pay my property taxes for no discernible services just like you. Plus, I want to see just how bad the potholes in my back lane can actually get. It’s like Saigon, circa about ’73, back there right now.)

There was also feedback from readers who thought my column didn’t go nearly far enough and who wonder how on earth it is possible we are talking about giving Jets head coach Paul Maurice a contract extension after three seasons of treading water.

My favourite email came from a reader who said he was sick and tired of reporters like me speaking for the so-called “Jets Nation.”

“Reporters (you among them) are consistently referring to “fans’ frustration” when making a point or posing a question post game,” the reader wrote. “Who are these “fans” you are referring to..?? Certainly not myself nor anyone I know…I get a sense that it’s your frustration more than the fans…”

So, a couple things. First, while I get frustrated by many, many things — the state of my back lane among them — the Jets are way down the list of things that keep me awake at night.

But the larger point is an excellent one. My experience with Jets fans comes primarily through the cesspool that is Twitter, where the angst with this team runs deep but is no more representative of the population at large on the subject of NHL hockey in Winnipeg than it is on any other subject.

Twitter on any given night is either furious with the Jets or deliriously happy, sometimes in the same game — Tuesday night being an excellent example. What gets lost in all that noise is the huge swath of fans in this town who remain happy for the diversion that is NHL hockey and, like a patient, long-term investor, are willing to look past the day-to-day gyrations of this maddening club to see the bigger picture of a young team that just might be building something very special.

They are silent and, I suppose, might still even be the majority. But it is also fair to say their solidarity has been challenged this year like never before.

Take the reader who wrote in this weekend to tell me he’d had enough. “I’ve been a season ticket holder since day 1 (P6 level) and have just declined to renew…

“I was very reluctant to do so as I am an avid Jets fan and supporter. But I feel TNSE is asking too much of its fan base to keep the requirement to renew for 3, 4 and 5 year terms, particularly in light of where this team is at after 5 1/2 years.”

Three wins and two overtime losses in  the last five games has given the Jets a sliver of hope heading into the break.

The question now is whether it’s all too little and too late — for the team and at least some of its fans.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @PaulWiecek