Jets mailbag: chemistry, second line centre, point structure, and looking to the future By: Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe Posted: 10:09 AM CST Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025

We didn’t get any lumps of coal, thankfully, but there wasn’t a ton of joy to be found when we opened the holiday edition of the Winnipeg Jets mailbag.

Not surprisingly, a Scrooge-like run of play from the local hockey club has plenty of fans saying “Bah, humbug” lately. And so this latest batch of questions tackled by Jets beat writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe felt a bit like Festivus.

Without further ado, let’s get to the airing of grievances.

1. With sports fans seemingly always wanting to focus on the negatives, give us reasons to believe this Jets team, as it is currently, is playoff worthy. I realize it only matters nowadays to just get into the post season, as positioning isn’t nearly all it’s cracked up to be. Outside of the obvious (Helly), why should fans believe this team will make the playoffs? BRIAN

MCINTYRE: Three words: One goal games.

Consider this: The Jets have played 14 games so far this year that have been decided by a single goal. They won four of the first seven — and now have dropped seven in a row including all three this past week against Ottawa, St. Louis and Colorado. That overall record of 4-8-2 stinks and is a major reason they’re currently on the outside looking in when it comes to a playoff spot. Think of it this way: They’ve only collected 10 out of a possible 28 points in games which essentially could have gone either way.

Even if they were just .500, that would be an additional four points that Winnipeg sure could use right now.

At some point, you’d think the tide might turn, especially since the Jets were outstanding just a year ago in these tight-knit affairs, going 19-4-4.

Why might it turn? Connor Hellebuyck, as you noted, should theoretically give them a goaltending advantage just about every night, and he’s back now after an 11-game injury absence. But it goes beyond the crease. Getting the power play heated up, as it was at the start of this year and finding some secondary scoring could make a world of difference considering how many contests are being decided by such a slim margin.

There are simply too many good players who produced in those very situations a year ago. Surely they haven’t all collectively forgotten what it takes, have they?

If and when that happens, some of these agonizing losses – like 3-2 in overtime to Ottawa last Monday, 1-0 to St. Louis on Wednesday and 3-2 in regulation to Colorado on Friday – could turn into narrow victories and the Jets might be able to go on a bit of a run.

2. The team this year seems to lack the chemistry of the previous year. Could it be attributed to adding players that are not part of the Jets’ mindset of not having been a part of the organization? JAY

WIEBE: I agree that something is off with the mix this year, but I don’t believe it’s on the personal side of things.

We’ve talked a lot about the Jets choosing to add experience to become the oldest club in the league, but they didn’t bring in guys who lack character or are selfish players.

They brought in a couple of guys that won Stanley Cups in Jonathan Toews and Tanner Pearson, plus a pair of others who spent time in organizations with strong cultures in Cole Koepke and Gustav Nyquist. To this point, the reduction of speed in the Jets’ lineup has more to do with where they sit in the standings than adding players from outside the organization.

Gabe Vilardi and Alex Iafallo came in from outside of the organization and had no trouble fitting in and the same goes for the likes of Neal Pionk, Dylan DeMelo, Luke Schenn, Colin Miller, Haydn Fleury, Morgan Barron, Nino Niederreiter or Vladislav Namestnikov — all of whom were brought in via trade at one point or another.

With the midway point not far away, it seems like some personnel changes are going to need to be made to the roster, which is one of the reasons the Jets were linked to Mason Marchment before he was acquired by the Columbus Blue Jackets right before the holiday roster freeze kicked in.

3. Given the unfortunate fact that if the Jets make the playoffs, they will have to face either Colorado or Dallas in the first or second round, should they become sellers at the trade deadline and plan for the future? SHELDON

MCINTYRE: A valid question. As I wrote earlier this week, I think general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff has to be extremely careful about any moves he makes.

I would not advocate doing anything reckless – such as trading the upcoming first-round pick in a deep draft or a top prospect such as Elias Salomonsson or Brayden Yager – for any type of quick fix. As you point out, the juice may not be worth the squeeze considering a top three spot in the Central is likely out of the picture and it’s wildcard or bust at this point.

I will say, there’s a scenario where you could avoid the Central entirely if you can get into the first wildcard position, which would mean facing whoever happens to win the Pacific. That wouldn’t necessarily be any easier, of course, but just worth noting.

In terms of selling, I’m just not sure the Jets have a ton right now that would be of much value. Do pending UFAs such as Gus Nyquist, Tanner Pearson, Jonathan Toews, Cole Koepke, Colin Miller or Luke Schenn really move the needle or fetch you anything of value?

If they do, sure, go ahead and sell. Logan Stanley might be the one exception, as his current deal also expires on July 1. Given his unique player profile, along with the strong offensive season he’s having so far, I could see there being a potential market for him. And yes, I would advocate cashing in that chip if you could.

4. What is wrong with Cole Perfetti and how can the Jets get him going? MARK

WIEBE: This is a complex question, but a timely one after Perfetti was limited to nine seconds of ice time in the third period after his minor penalty for tripping expired.

In his post-game comments, Arniel didn’t have any interest in expanding on his reasoning for the benching when asked about it. But Perfetti was on the ice for each of the first two goals against on Friday night — and he was beaten in the race up the ice by Martin Necas for the second goal, despite starting the play in the proper defensive position above the puck.

It certainly wasn’t a lack of hustle by Perfetti, he lost the race to a faster skater. But Perfetti hasn’t been able to get back up to speed after returning from the high ankle sprain he suffered in the exhibition game against the Calgary Flames. While he’s technically healthy, the nature of the injury means that he’s not back at the level he’s used to performing.

Perfetti had a stretch of games where he produced three assists in four games, but he’s stuck on two goals and seven points in 20 games. Aside from not producing offence at the level that was expected, Perfetti has been on the ice for far too many even-strength goals against.

Perfetti should benefit from some time off during the Christmas break, but there’s no doubt that he needs to elevate his name quickly.

Going into the season, he was going to be counted on as a primary scorer and right now, he needs to increase his point totals just to be a secondary scorer. I’ve pondered if a few games with Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor might provide an opportunity for Perfetti to get himself going offensively, but he hasn’t done enough to earn a promotion like that.

Perfetti knows that he needs to be better and will be doing everything in his power to get things turned around coming out of the break. Let’s not forget that he’s barely eight months removed from scoring one of the most important goals in Jets 2.0 history.

5. How do you think fans feel about breaking up the first line trying to jump start some of the other struggling forwards? Personally, I like them left intact as other teams have not found a way to stop them. And their skill level together is such that they’re fun to watch driving the team offensively. RICK

MCINTYRE: I’m not sure what the majority of fans think, but I have time for arguments on both sides of the issue. There’s no question the trio of Kyle Connor, Mark Scheifele and Gabe Vilardi have been elite this season with 48 combined goals between them. Every other player on the team have combined for 51.

As the losses have started to pile up and secondary scoring has all but dried up, I’ve been leaning much more towards the “split them up” camp.

What have you got to lose at this point? Why not see if Scheifele and Connor might be able to each drive their own line and maybe get some other struggling scorers going. Coach Scott Arniel has occasionally dropped Vilardi down with other skaters, but I think it’s worth going a step further.

If it doesn’t work, fine. You can always go back to them. But I believe the Jets have become far too easy to defend against most nights, with opponents really loading up against that No. 1 line knowing that if they can mostly keep them in check, it’s probably going to be a relatively easy night at the office.

Desperate times often call for desperate measures, and it feels like we’ve hit that stage of the season.

6. I’m a big Kevin Cheveldayoff fan who recognizes that he has one of the hardest GM jobs in the league. With so many players refusing to play in Winnipeg, it has forced the Jets to draft and develop. The one glaring hole that he has been unable to fill is a second line centre. He has had years to develop (Cole Perfetti), retain a rental (Paul Stastny), resurrect a career (Jonathan Toews), fill internally (Vladislav Namestnikov) and yet the search continues. Does the GM get a pass on this still unfilled position? RICK

WIEBE: The Jets have had pockets where the second-line centre position was in good hands, like before Bryan Little suffered a career-ending injury, when Stastny was brought in via trade from the St. Louis Blues and then brought back from the Vegas Golden Knights.

Bringing in Kevin Hayes was a good idea that didn’t work out, though another trade addition, Pierre Luc Dubois had two 60-plus point seasons after his tough start after the trade for Patrik Laine and before he was moved to the Los Angeles Kings.

But the inability to find an upgrade for Vladislav Namestnikov at the 2025 NHL trade deadline proved costly. The Jets looked into a number of different scenarios, but were unable to close any of those deals. Undoubtedly trade protection played a role in some of those pursuits.

Namestnikov had a great start to this season on the wing and has since moved back to centre, but he’s now gone 22 games without a goal and has only one assist during that span. Toews is currently going through a rough offensive patch of his own and is mostly playing fourth-line minutes these days. So, yes, the search continues.

The hope is that Brayden Yager, who is playing his first pro season with the Manitoba Moose in the American Hockey League, can eventually fill that role but he’s unlikely to be ready for that job until next fall at the earliest.

Cheveldayoff doesn’t get a pass, but he already recognizes the need to upgrade the position. It’s up to him to continue to work on finding the long-range solution, whether that’s via trade or in the 2026 NHL Draft, depending on where the Jets will be picking in the first round.

7. At what point do we call the Gustav Nyquist signing an absolute bust? Seriously. Why is he still in the lineup? JACK

MCINTYRE: I was all but ready to write Nyquist off as well. But then along came Friday’s contest in Colorado, which I thought was his best of the year.

Nyquist earned himself a promotion to the top power play unit and immediately showed off his play-making ability, with a beautiful slap pass to Mark Scheifele to cut the Avalanche lead to 3-2 in the third period.

Jets coach Scott Arniel clearly liked what he saw, throwing Nyquist on the ice as the sixth attacker with Connor Hellebuyck pulled as the Jets pressed for the equalizer.

Fast forward to Saturday’s practice in Salt Lake City, and Nyquist was now taking a regular line rotation with Scheifele and Kyle Connor. He’s going to start Sunday’s game against Utah in that spot and it’s clearly a huge chance for him.

Again, none of this erases the disappointing play to date and he hasn’t scored in 25 games. But there is some offensive creativity there. I’m curious to see if playing beside strong finishers like Connor and Scheifele could lead to something fruitful.

Bottom line: I’m willing to give him a bit more runway before declaring this a complete disaster. But the clock is definitely ticking.

8. I’ve watched the decline of the Jets in November and always I’m asking: Why is Morgan Barron not playing centre on the third line? He was doing so well… strength, skating, defensive responsibility, checking, face-off prowess etc. SHANE

WIEBE: Barron added another item to his highlight-reel on Friday night, showing off his explosive skating ability after recognizing Alex Iafallo had control of the puck in the defensive zone while shorthanded.

Barron made a nifty move to the backhand to score on his partial breakaway, staving off the chasing Cale Makar — which is not an easy task in itself. Barron earned the promotion, as you suggest, and while there is merit to consider moving him back to the middle, he’s looked great alongside captain Adam Lowry on what is essentially the second line right now.

For me, being able to use the Lowry line (with Barron) as a shutdown line that can also chip in secondary scoring is more important than having Barron centre his own line, at least for the time being. He can still take some draws, depending on how the game is going. This doesn’t rule out Barron moving back to the middle at some point, but I foresee some additional time on the wing as the Jets continue the search for the optimal combinations.

9. What are your thoughts on if the NHL should (or will) adopt a points structure like the PWHL? (regulation win = 3; overtime win = 2; overtime loss = 1; regulation loss = 0) That way, every game is worth the same number of points. Seems like that could make a big difference for the Jets this year, who are looking up at teams with fewer wins simply because some teams have a surprising number of OTL points. ADAM

MCINTYRE: Yes!

I love the idea – always have, always will – as I think it’s ridiculous to have a league where games are often worth a different amount of points. In a season such as this one, where more games are going to overtime than ever before, it’s really brought the issue to light.

You’re right about the Jets, who would benefit grately if this were the case. Winnipeg is languishing near the bottom of the NHL standings, but you may be surprised to know that heading into Saturday’s slate of games, only nine teams had more than the 13 regulation wins posted by the Jets. They would be in much better shape if every game was worth three points and a 3-2-1 system was in place.

Here’s the thing, however: I don’t expect this to ever happen, certainly not under Gary Bettman’s watch. The commissioner loves the current system, which creates what some would argue is a false sense of parity and keeps virtually everyone in the race as long as possible. Unfortunately, that means teams will likely continue to be rewarded for going beyond regulation.

10. Do you think that the Jets’ draft and develop strategy has fallen down over the past several seasons? Where are the Scheifele’s, Connor’s and Morrissey’s of the next generation? Several ‘top’ prospects had auditions with the big club this year and none of them showed very much. Perfetti is supposed to be an up and comer but he seems to have regressed. Who is going to replace the top guys as they age out? JOE

WIEBE: There’s little doubt the Jets haven’t been graduating nearly as many homegrown players during the past seven seasons, compared to the first seven.

Some of that is related to opportunity and it’s important to point out that there are two goalies (although Eric Comrie left the organization before coming back), three defencemen and four forwards that remain on the roster that were drafted and developed by the Jets. That number was higher when Nikita Chibrikov and Brad Lambert opened the season on the roster and defenceman Elias Salomonsson got his chance when Pionk was out with an injury.

But your point remains, since the 2017 NHL Draft, the only regulars in the Jets’ lineup are Samberg (second round, 2017) and Perfetti (first round, 2020). By next season, the numbers should be on the rise, since neither Chibrikov, Lambert or Salomonsson are exempt from waivers. They will either be in the Jets’ lineup, traded or with another NHL organization.

Chibrikov didn’t generate much offensively but was coming back from a serious knee injury that cost him nearly half an American Hockey League season of development, so he needs a bit more time before making a judgement on his NHL future. I think he can still be an NHL player.

I don’t see a future Morrissey in the system right now, but 2025 first-rounder Sascha Boumedienne will be suiting up for Sweden at the upcoming World Juniors in the Twin Cities and has high-end potential as a puck-moving D-man with offensive upside.

Salomonsson figures to be a Samberg-type on the back end and he might force his way into the discussion before this season is over.

First-year pro Brayden Yager, who came over in the deal for Rutger McGroarty, could eventually fill that second-line centre role. Then it will be up to the likes of Colby Barlow, Kevin He, Kieron Walton, Zach Nehring, Owen Martin and others from the past four or five drafts to try and get those numbers back up.

There are players in the system that should be important contributors during the next couple of seasons. The other factor is when the Jets have been in a competitive window, they haven’t had as many high picks or picks in general.

They currently don’t have a second-rounder in 2026 or 2027 and they don’t have a fourth-rounder in 2026 either, so there may be some deals to boost draft capital that are on the horizon if the Jets aren’t able to move back above the playoff line in the coming weeks and months before the NHL trade deadline.

11. We can all see that it is a different Logan Stanley this season. What I’ve noticed is that he’s been activating into the offence far more than ever. Is this something the coaches have gotten him to do or is he doing it on his own? BOB

MCINTYRE: Call it the Rick Bowness effect.

When “Bones” went behind the bench at the start of the 2022-23 campaign, he made it a top priority to get his blue line more involved in the play.

“Our D are coming!” he proclaimed.

And they sure did, with Josh Morrissey being the biggest benefactor as he became a super-sized version of himself. He wasn’t the only one, however – guys like Dylan DeMelo, Brenden Dillon and Dylan Samberg all started to chip in more, with everyone on the back-end essentially having the green light to go.

Bowness may now be gone, but Scott Arniel served as an assistant under him for his two seasons and worked directly with the defencemen. It’s not a surprise that Arniel has continued with a similar philosophy, since he had an up-close look at how well it worked.

We are now seeing that with Stanley, where a little bit of confidence can go a long way. But this is a situation I would definitely chalk up to good coaching, and then the player obviously doing well to live up to his end of the bargain.

12. Are Neal Pionk’s offensive struggles tied to the lack of secondary scoring, his play or perhaps an injury? He is on pace for a career low in points. CRAIG

WIEBE: Might I suggest option D on this multiple choice quiz?

It’s definitely all of the above, rather than a single and solitary answer here for Pionk so far. As usual, Pionk’s uneven play has nothing to do with effort level or a willingness to hold himself to a high standard. He’s been his harshest critic since his arrival and there’s little doubt he’s been looking in the mirror in an effort to get back to the level of play he’s shown previously.

With two goals and six points through 30 games going into Sunday, Pionk is going to need to go on an incredible heater to get anywhere close to the career-high 10 goals and 39 points he recorded last season.

Pionk’s timing was perfect as a pending UFA and he cashed in with a lucrative contract extension. But this hasn’t been a matter of complacency for Pionk — he’s as driven as ever. However, he hasn’t been getting as many shots through from the point, either at even strength or on the second power play unit.

He hasn’t been activating as often on the rush and the lack of secondary scoring has contributed to his slow offensive start as well. Although he only missed four games with a lower-body injury, there are times when it looks like either that injury or something unrelated has impacted his skating.

This is not a new development and is related to how hard he plays and his willingness to sacrifice his body. When both Pionk and regular partner Dylan Samberg have been healthy at the same time, they’ve shown stretches of being that highly effective second pairing that can limit the opposition’s top scorers.

It’s also fair to say that Pionk in particular will need to further improve his play — both in terms of his offensive contributions and his defending — for the Jets to dig themselves out of this hole.

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