Change should be in the air for Jets While not waving white flag on season yet, club set to be sellers By: Mike McIntyre Posted: 5:02 PM CST Monday, Mar. 2, 2026

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This article was published 02/03/2026 (200 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Welcome to a week of uncertainty — one that could leave the Winnipeg Jets looking a whole lot different by the time it’s over.

A season-long eight-game homestand opens Tuesday under the looming cloud of Friday’s trade deadline, with eight expiring contracts on the books of a struggling hockey club that finds itself well outside the playoff picture.

Change should be in the air. Just how much remains to be seen.

“It’s just kind of wait-and-see,” Jets head coach Scott Arniel said following Monday’s sparsely attended optional practice at Hockey For All Centre.

“For me, it’s what I’ve been saying since we got back from the (Olympic) break — just focus on what we can control, and that’s the games we play. For those guys, I know it’s hard. But those guys have also been in the league for a while and they understand this time of year and what it brings. Just go out and be the best player you can and give us a chance to win.”

Arniel said he speaks daily with general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff about both the short- and long-term direction of the club. While the Jets aren’t waving the white flag, it’s difficult to envision them as anything but sellers. They woke up Monday nine points out of the final Western Conference wild-card spot with just 23 games remaining.

“(Cheveldayoff) is busy on the phone all week here, right up until Friday,” said Arniel.

“I don’t get too much into the conversation in terms of what team he’s talking to or what player or what pick or any of that stuff. It’s more about what my roster is going to look like tomorrow, what it’s going to look like Thursday. I have to say Chevy and I talk lots, it’s just at the end of the day it’s him talking to opposition general managers. That’s his part of the business.”

“I try not to worry about it too much.”

Winnipeg’s list of pending unrestricted free agents is lengthy: backup goaltender Eric Comrie; defencemen Logan Stanley, Luke Schenn and Colin Miller (currently working his way back from injury); and forwards Jonathan Toews, Tanner Pearson, Gustav Nyquist and Cole Koepke.

It would be a shock — not to mention questionable asset management — if all of them remain by the weekend.

“I try not to worry about it too much,” Koepke said Monday.

“I don’t follow the social media stuff a ton anyways, but really, just kind of stay off of it this week. You see so many reports of ‘this could happen, this can happen,’ but that’s all out of my control. And so just try not to read into it, and just focus on the day-to-day and where we are here, what we need to do as a team, and a lot of games coming up.”

Winnipeg also has a handful of players — defenceman Haydn Fleury and forwards Morgan Barron, Nino Niederreiter (currently injured) and Vlad Namestnikov (also hurt) — entering the final year of their deals next season who could attract interest from contenders.

Fleury said the group is doing its best to block out the noise.

“I think the one thing we’ve done a really good job as players — and I think it’s a testament to our leadership — is just try and win the game, win the next day,” he said.

“I think we as a group feel like we’ve underachieved to this point in the season, but there’s still a huge amount of belief in this team. We’re right there… If we can get going on a roll here we’re as confident a group as anybody.”

The Jets (23-26-10) are coming off a three-game road trip that began with a win in Vancouver before consecutive overtime losses in Anaheim and San Jose. They’ll now spend the next two weeks at Canada Life Centre, starting with Tuesday’s visit from the Chicago Blackhawks.

“We’ve got to make hay here. We’ve gotta win this next game. Let’s find a way,” said Arniel.

“We got four of six (points) on the road and we gained one point. So that’s how tough the mountain is that we have to climb here. And we need some help around the league, we need some other teams to lose. But we have to take care of our business. We’ve got all these games at home. If we can win them all, that might be a great sign for us moving forward.”

Most analytics models peg the Jets’ playoff odds between three and five per cent. It will likely take at least 90 points to claim the final Western Conference wild-card berth, meaning Winnipeg needs a minimum of 34 points from its final 23 games — essentially a 17-6-0 run. And even that might not be enough.

The schedule won’t offer many favours. Three games remain against the league-leading Colorado Avalanche, two against the Pacific Division-leading Vegas Golden Knights, plus single matchups with Atlantic Division-leading Tampa Bay, third-overall Dallas, and current playoff teams in Anaheim, Pittsburgh, Utah, Boston and Seattle.

Even a decent stretch run guarantees nothing. The Jets have lost just four of their past 17 games in regulation (8-4-5) but have barely chipped away at the deficit. A disastrous 30-game stretch earlier this season — a 6-19-5 slide — dug the crater.

They’ll now try to snap a three-game winless skid at the downtown rink, which included back-to-back 5-1 losses to Detroit and Montreal before the Olympic break.

“We are all excited to be back at home. We haven’t played at home in a long time now,” said Koepke, who hopes this remains his professional address beyond Friday.

“I’ve enjoyed my time here a lot. I’ve really enjoyed the guys. It’s a really close locker room. The season hasn’t totally panned out as we’ve expected it to. We’ve kind of underachieved so far to this point, but I still believe in what we have in this locker room, and so that’s kind of just what we’re focusing on now.”

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