Homestand creeping into must-win territory Jets need to play fast, crisper to stop standings free fall By: Ken Wiebe Posted: 6:01 PM CST Monday, Dec. 8, 2025

We live in a society where there is a tendency to overreact when it comes to placing an unrealistic — and often inflated — value on certain moments on the sporting landscape. In a world where hot takes are far too frequent, the throwing out of terms like “must-win” games taking place when more than half a season remains is far too commonplace.

But when it comes to the next two weeks for the Winnipeg Jets, it’s not a wild stretch to suggest they could be season defining.

Things haven’t exactly been going smoothly for the Jets of late, as they’ve gone from sporting a 9-3 record out of the gate — one that had them in hot pursuit of the Colorado Avalanche for first overall in the NHL — to limping home to open a pivotal four-game homestand with a record barely over the .500 mark at 14-13-1.

The Avalanche went into Monday’s action with a 19-point lead over the Jets in the chase for top spot.

As the Dallas Stars stroll into Canada Life Centre on Tuesday, they’ve built a 16-point cushion on the Jets, who have just five wins during their past 16 games.

Although we realize there are no free spots on the bingo card in this age of parity, the Jets haven’t earned a win against a team that is currently over the playoff line since Nov. 1 — and that one came against Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins.

We get it.

You can only play the teams on the schedule, but the degree of difficulty is about to rise dramatically here for the Jets during this next stretch.

After Tuesday, there will be three tough Eastern Conference clubs — the Boston Bruins, Washington Capitals and Ottawa Senators (who slipped below the playoff line but have consistently been above it for a good chunk of the opening third of the campaign).

“Obviously, changes have been made and that’s just how it goes.”

That’s followed by a three-game road trip against Central Division opponents: the St. Louis Blues, league-leading Avalanche and the Utah Mammoth.

What’s clear is this: while the Jets remain very much in the mix of the wild-card chase in the Western Conference, another tough stretch here would leave them in a precarious position.

This isn’t about looking into the crystal ball and wondering what record the Jets can deliver before coming back to work to face the Minnesota Wild on Dec. 27, it’s about identifying a pathway to the consistent play that has been nothing more than a figment of the Jets’ imagination to this stage of the season.

Some of the challenges the Jets have faced are well-documented, but finding solutions is the only thing that matters to them at this stage.

Jets head coach Scott Arniel is going with another turn of the blender in his search for complementary offence, this time moving Gabriel Vilardi off the top line to try him with captain Adam Lowry and Nino Niederreiter.

That moves Alex Iafallo back onto the top trio with Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor, Vladislav Namestnikov between Cole Perfetti and Tanner Pearson and Morgan Barron anchoring the fourth line with Jonathan Toews and Cole Koepke, who has two goals and three points over his past two games.

“Obviously, changes have been made and that’s just how it goes,” said Iafallo, who has past experience skating with Scheifele and Connor when Vilardi was injured. “It’s a roller coaster sometimes.”

At this point, it doesn’t matter where the offence is going to come from, the Jets need to spread the wealth to become a more dangerous team to defend against.

“I’m just trying to spark some people, spark some lines, spark some consistency, on the offensive side of things,” said Arniel. “Just trying to find something that works here.”

“I’m just trying to spark some people, spark some lines, spark some consistency.”

Although he hasn’t gone to the nuclear option of breaking up Scheifele and Connor yet to try and drive their own lines, it’s obvious the Jets need more from a whole host of players.

The stat lines don’t lie and there are just too many individuals underperforming in the middle-six right now.

If that doesn’t change quickly, the Jets will have no choice but to try and address the shortage of speed and scoring via trade — even though general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff told the Free Press in an interview recently that the answers have to come from within.

Cheveldayoff is a patient person — he’s shown that throughout his 15-season tenure with the organization — and he’s not going to make an irrational trade that could have lasting consequences for the future just to say he made a move, but given the expectations this group has, it’s something that might have to be done for the sake of course correction.

Not just for the future, but also for the present.

In the meantime, the Jets can’t wait around for the cavalry either.

Sure, there’s an outside chance Connor Hellebuyck (who was back on the ice for the first time since arthroscopic surgery on his knee last month) could return to action in late December if things continue to progress, but the Jets need to do a far better job in front of their masked men.

Multiple times during the past week, the Jets hung Eric Comrie out to dry in the first period of games.

In one of them, against the Montreal Canadiens, Comrie did enough to awaken from its collective slumber and helped them earn a point in a shootout loss.

In two others, Comrie was mercy pulled after just 20 minutes of work.

Comrie is set to make his 10th start in 11 games on Tuesday against the Stars and the main task for the Jets is to clean up some of the mistakes that have been far too commonplace this season no matter who is tending goal.

Whether that’s the breakdowns in coverage or the reluctance to adhere to the structure, the Jets are having as much difficulty playing without the puck as they are in terms of generating ancillary offence when they’re on the attack.

The Jets aren’t playing fast enough to play their aggressive system in three zones that was such a well-oiled machine last season.

Finding a way to play faster and execute more crisply is at the top of the Jets’ to-do list.

“Confidence is a funny word. At the end of the day, you get hesitant when you don’t have it, you slow down when you don’t have it, and you think too much when you don’t have it,” said Arniel. “And I think when you’re feeling good about it, you’re very instinctive, you’re very reactive, and you’re very quick about what you do.

“When you start to think too much and you start waiting to see if something’s going to happen, you’re late to the party.”

That’s been happening far too much for the Jets to date and if they don’t turn the tables soon, the path to the post-season party is going to be even more difficult than it already is.

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