Time to give the Jets another look Still plenty of empty seats despite success of hard-working, entertaining team By: Mike McIntyre Posted: 5:00 PM CST Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023 Last Modified: 5:17 PM CST Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023 Updates

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This article was published 28/11/2023 (658 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If you build it, will they come? It’s a question the Winnipeg Jets organization is asking itself these days.

On the ice, the Jets are exciting and entertaining, currently hanging with some of the NHL’s heavyweights through the first quarter of the 2023-24 regular season.

General manager Kevin Cheveldayoff has constructed a deep, highly competitive roster.

Off the ice, the team is struggling at the box office. Through the first 10 games at Canada Life Centre, an average crowd of just 11,897 — that’s 3,428 below capacity — had taken in the action (prior to Tuesday’s battle with the Dallas Stars).

No question there are many factors at play when it comes to attendance, with performance just one of them. With four consecutive games downtown between the red-hot Jets and marquee opponents, it feels as though the next week will be an important barometer to determine whether business might pick up around here.

A Central Division showdown with the Stars. Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night. Dynamic Chicago rookie Connor Bedard for the first time on Saturday afternoon. One of the beasts of the East, the high-flying Carolina Hurricanes, blowing into town next Monday.

The Jets certainly feel these will be shows worth watching.

“We feel we’ve got the scoring, we feel we’ve got the physicality, the hitting. It’s a fun brand of hockey, (a good time) to be a Jets fan. And to be a Jet is a fun time right now,” defenceman Brenden Dillon said Tuesday following the morning skate.

The veteran blue-liner is doing a lot of good things for the club — checking, hitting, fighting and even scoring — but add “marketing” to his resume as well.

No doubt players, especially ones such as Dillon who have been here for a while and grew accustomed to seeing a raucous, packed building on a nightly basis, are hoping the fans will start buying what they’re selling and the hard work will start paying off.

“We’d hope (fans) would enjoy any style but, yeah, I think we’re a competitive team, we’ve played hard, we’ve been in every game and there’s a commitment on both sides of the puck.”–Adam Lowry

“We’ve got a great group of guys in here, we’re having a lot of fun,” Dillon said. “We’ve had some good road trips here where we’ve gotten to bond even more as a team. But I think just everyone is really playing to their identity, each piece of the puzzle is playing to their part and I think that’s what’s given us a lot of success so far.”

Adam Lowry believes the current version of the club represents many of the qualities of the community it represents and should be easy to rally around.

“We’d hope (fans) would enjoy any style but, yeah, I think we’re a competitive team, we’ve played hard, we’ve been in every game and there’s a commitment on both sides of the puck,” said the Jets captain.

“A lot of the chances and a lot of things we’ve created come off of hard work. Whether that’s puck retrievals, winning races, winning battles along the boards, I think a good backcheck leads to good transition.”

There may be some skeptics who still question whether these Jets are for real. After all, they started strong last year before the bloom quickly came off the rose.

Who’s to say recent history won’t repeat itself?

Head coach Rick Bowness was quick to offer up what he feels are night-and-day differences between the two campaigns, while likely raising some eyebrows in the process.

“I think the room is a much better place than last year,” he said.

“There were moves we made back in 2022 training camp. We opened up the room and its starting to show itself why we did that. I think the room is tighter and the culture here is outstanding because of the players and it starts with that off the ice. That’s where it all starts.”

As Bowness noted, a seismic shift occurred when long-time captain Blake Wheeler had his letter removed, then was ultimately bought out this past summer. Pierre-Luc Dubois was the other notable change, as a player who clearly didn’t want to be in Winnipeg long-term was traded to the Los Angeles Kings.

There’s been plenty for the Jets to rally around so far this year, from positive developments such as Connor Hellebuyck and Mark Scheifele inking seven-year contract extensions just prior to training camp, to emotionally challenging ones such as Bowness taking a 13-game leave of absence after his wife, Judy, suffered a seizure, to the tragic death of Adam Johnson, a close friend of several Winnipeg players.

“You’ve got to have that chemistry, you’ve got to have that culture off the ice so this team is a tighter team off the ice and it’s showing itself on the ice,” said Bowness.

A more selfless group, perhaps?

“This team, they don’t care who scores,” Bowness continued.

“I think they recognize when guys are blocking shots and it’s all respect in that locker room. You know guys might not score but if they save a goal that’s just as important as scoring a goal and the guys have learned to recognize all the hard work and things that have to be done by guys who don’t score a lot. They’re doing a lot to keep the puck out of the net and that’s just as important as the guys who score the goals so their roles are different but the status has to be the same.”

Playing in front of so many empty seats so far this season hasn’t hurt the Jets, who entered play on Tuesday with a 6-3-1 record at home.

“This is our home rink. We have a good home record. Usually that’s a good recipe for success in the standings.”–Brenden Dillon

“We want to make sure this is a tough building to play in,” said Dillon. “This is our home rink. We have a good home record. Usually that’s a good recipe for success in the standings.”

They’ll look to keep building on that and, perhaps at the same time, convince some fans who’ve stopped coming to give them another up-close look.

“I think the fans here, they’ve always supported us as long as you’re giving an honest effort and you’re showing up every night and putting your best foot forward,” said Lowry. “I expect that to continue.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

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