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Have the Winnipeg Jets reached the end of their road?
It sure feels like it. As I wrote in my latest game column Monday night, the “try” is certainly there. Unfortunately, the talent is not, due to circumstances beyond their control.
Top-six forwards Nikolaj Ehlers and Cole Perfetti have yet to play. All-Star defenceman Josh Morrissey got hurt in the opening minutes of Game 3. Top scorer Mark Scheifele made a similar early exit in Game 4.
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That’s a whole lot of “ouch.”
Jets centre Mark Scheifele (Luca Peltier / The Associated Press)
And so tonight, on the Las Vegas Strip, a season that began with plenty of promise could end with a painful whimper.
Morrissey, Scheifele and Perfetti won’t play. Ehlers is a question mark. Against a healthy, top-seeded Golden Knights team, what could have been a compelling best-of-seven series has turned into a bit of an unfair fight.
I was in Sin City last week for games 1 and 2, while colleague Jeff Hamilton is on scene for this must-win Game 5. Perhaps the Jets can dig deep and defy the odds. I wouldn’t put it past them, as I wrote in my column that appeared Wednesday.
But if this is it, and the city doesn’t get at least one more Whiteout on Saturday night for Game 6, the 2022-23 season will go down as among the most interesting I’ve covered.
Among the highlights on both a professional and personal basis:
- Going to Banff last October to cover the final days of training camp, under an entirely new coaching staff, and seeing how this group made a concerted effort to come together following a fractured 2021-22 campaign. They even put it in writing, with an official mission statement they all signed, which has hung in their dressing room every day since.
- New bench boss Rick Bowness having to step away from the team just before opening night after he got COVID-19. The 68-year-old was hit hard, struggling with symptoms for weeks, and it was a vivid, up-close reminder that the pandemic isn’t over.
Winnipeg Jets head coach Rick Bowness (Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press files)
- An early dose of adversity, which included Ehlers going down with a serious injury that would turn out to be a sports hernia that required surgery in the second game of the year. Unfortunately for the Jets, this would become a recurring theme, with seven regulars sidelined by Christmas.
- The way the Jets battled through said adversity with a surprisingly strong start and a workmanlike approach that was refreshing to see. Several players were given bigger opportunities, and many excelled. None more so than Michael Eyssimont, who quickly became a fan favourite.
- The wacky waiver wire. Johnathan Kovacevic was lost to Montreal at the end of training camp, while Axel Jonsson-Fjallby was grabbed from Washington and would become a semi-regular. Karson Kuhlman then joined the club from Seattle, while Eyssimont was nabbed by San Jose once all the injured began to heal up.
- The crazy week in late November in which Carolina scored three times with its goalie pulled to force overtime (which Winnipeg went on to win), and then Dallas scored twice four nights later with the netminder out for an extra attacker (which Winnipeg went on to win). Not sure we’ll ever seen something like that again.
- The Jets-Stars game was also one of the more controversial ones of the year, with play allowed to continue despite goalie Connor Hellebuyck losing his mask and being down and out as the tying goal was scored late in regulation. Referee incompetence would become a running theme this year in the NHL.
- My penchant for losing things while on road trips continued. A wallet in Banff (which I recovered), my iPhone in Detroit (later recovered), a credit card in Buffalo (later recovered), a couple of sets of headphones (not recovered) and, at times, my sanity!
- Watching Morrissey, who is someone I’ve long admired, really take a massive step in his career and get noticed by the rest of the NHL. I love it when good things happen to good people.
- Catching up with former interim coach Dave Lowry in Seattle, and longtime bench boss Paul Maurice upon his return to Winnipeg and later in the year at his new hockey home in Florida. Don’t look now, but both of their new teams are trying to pull off big first-round upsets (Seattle is up 3-2 against defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado, while Florida staved off elimination last night against the mighty Boston Bruins, who are coming off the greatest regular-season in NHL history).
- Having my credit card compromised not once, not twice, but three different times by scammers. A troubling sign of the times, one that now has me checking my online statement pretty much every day just waiting for it to happen again. Sigh.
- Seeing the Jets surprisingly climb to near the top of the Western Conference, only to watch them free-fall, which had them scrambling to make the playoffs. This was not a boring team, which is all you can ask for as a scribe.
- A four-road-trip streak in which my return flight to Winnipeg was cancelled, forcing all kinds of travel adventures. Driving through a blizzard from Vancouver to Seattle. Driving through a blizzard from Buffalo to Pittsburgh. Driving through the night from Pittsburgh to Toronto. Likely added a few more grey hairs on those excursions.
- Getting to deal with some first-class humans on a regular basis as part of my job, a list that includes Morrissey, Adam Lowry, Brenden Dillon and Nate Schmidt, among others. They always have time to talk, and always have insightful and meaningful things to say.
- Completing my NHL arena bingo card in March when I got to FLA Live Arena in Sunrise, which was my 32nd and final stop around the league.
- Last, but certainly not least, was getting an up-close reminder about what an incredible, passionate hockey market we have here in Winnipeg, with the long-awaited return of the whiteout last Saturday afternoon (including the surrounding street parties), and an epic, highly entertaining game that is one for the memory books.
The end of the season doesn’t mean the end of our coverage. Not even close. If anything, we’re only getting warmed up.
With no shortage of compelling questions surrounding the club — specifically on the futures of core players such as Scheifele, Hellebuyck, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Blake Wheeler — there will be plenty to talk about and write about between now and the start of a new campaign in the fall.
As always, thanks for joining us on the journey. We truly appreciate it.
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