Seattle spark plug remembers Jets fondly

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This article was published 16/04/2024 (536 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brandon Tanev has fond memories of the spring of 2018.

The Seattle Kraken forward, who spent the first four years of his NHL career as a spark plug for the Winnipeg Jets, enjoyed his most productive season (14 goals, 15 assists) to that point and held a crucial checking role on the Jets’ third line.

It’s also the deepest Tanev — and Jets 2.0 — have gone in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

“Playoff time in Winnipeg is something special,” said Tanev, following Seattle’s morning skate Tuesday. “To experience it for the first time, seeing the Whiteout, walking to the rink, how passionate the fans are, it was amazing.

“We had a great team. Obviously, (we) went pretty far down the stretch there. Unfortunately, (we) couldn’t get past Vegas in the conference finals, but that group of guys — that team, that experience, what it meant to the city — was pretty special to us all.”

Indeed, it was a magical spring. While the Jets fell short of their goal, this year’s iteration has a chance to avenge those shortfalls with a group that has had similar success and will have similar expectations when the playoffs begin next week.

The 2017-18 Jets posted a 52-20-10 record during the regular season, were one of the best defensive teams in the league (fifth in goals allowed), and iced one of the deepest rosters in the playoffs after trading for a veteran centre to bolster the forward group (Paul Stastny) and a defenceman (Joe Morrow) to add some insurance on the blue line.

They also had a goaltender playing at an all-world level.

Sound familiar?

“It’s a pretty similar build to what we had in those years but I think it’s a team that understands their identity and it’s been working for them throughout the year,” Tanev said of this year’s Jets squad, which broke the 50-win threshold for the first time since 2017-18, tops the league in goals allowed and added forwards Sean Monahan, Tyler Toffoli and defenceman Colin Miller ahead of this year’s trade deadline.

So, which Jets team would win in a best-of-seven series?

It’s a coin flip, said centre Adam Lowry, who was linemates with Tanev and now-Detroit Red Wing Andrew Copp during that run.

“I look at our (defensive) corps. That (was) one of the best corps I’ve seen in a long time,” Lowry said. “Stylistically, I think we play a little better structurally defensively as a group, but when you have Buff (Dustin Byfuglien), (Tyler) Myers, Troub (Jacob Trouba), JMo (Josh Morrissey), (Dmitry) Kulikov, (Tobias) Enstrom, (Ben) Chiarot— it was so much depth on the back end.

“Obviously, Helle (Connor Hellebuyck) was incredible back then. I think he’s gotten even better now.”

The Winnipeg captain said he relished the time he spent skating alongside an energy guy like Tanev.

“He’s a spark plug, he brings that energy, he brings everyone into that forechecking style, he never quit on pucks.”– Jets captain Adam Lowry

“It’s funny, you see it in Seattle with his energy — it’s kind of infectious,” Lowry said. “He’s a spark plug, he brings that energy, he brings everyone into that forechecking style, he never quit on pucks.

“If you ever have the camera on him, he’s coming back to the bench, he’s cursing, he’s yelling all the time. I was almost playing the middleman between him and Copper. But the way he is on the ice, off the ice he doesn’t turn it off. He’s always just got so much energy — he’s ready, he’s competitive, he’s fun to be around.”

Tanev joined Lowry and some of his former Winnipeg teammates for dinner Monday.

“A lot of fun memories playing with him. He’s a really good friend of mine,” Lowry added.

Only six players are left from the team that came oh, so close to the NHL final that spring. Up front, it’s Lowry, Kyle Connor, Mark Scheifele and Nikolaj Ehlers, plus defenceman Josh Morrissey and Hellebuyck.

Scheifele disagreed that the 2018 team and the 2024 versions are comparable, beyond their lofty position in the standings.

“We had a lot more star power on that team and this year it’s a lot more by collective,” said Scheifele. “That team was obviously tremendously skilled… we had some really big bodies on the backend that can also move the puck and play.

“Our forward corps was younger than we are now. A completely different makeup, a completely different structure. But that’s the cool thing about hockey is there’s not one formula for a winning team. There’s not a whole lot of comparisons other than we’re both very good teams.”

joshua.frey-sam@freepress.mb.ca

X: @jfreysam