I’ll take you behind the highlights, Jets fans

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Hello again, Winnipeg. It’s been a while since I appeared in front of a large audience in the 'Peg. I’m remembering those exciting days as a young player joining the Jets of the World Hockey Association.

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Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/01/2016 (3560 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Hello again, Winnipeg. It’s been a while since I appeared in front of a large audience in the ‘Peg. I’m remembering those exciting days as a young player joining the Jets of the World Hockey Association.

Those were heady days, of course, as we won the last Avco Cup championship and were admitted to the NHL all in the space of months. The city was alive and the passionate fan base had lots to savour.

Unfortunately, the greedy NHL owners dismantled that powerful hockey club, allowing GM John Ferguson to protect only two skaters and two goalies. While I joined Morris Lukowich as one of the two skaters, we lost excellent players who returned to the NHL teams that had originally drafted them.

Scott Campbell in his Jets days.
Scott Campbell in his Jets days.

However, Jets fans understood this and supported the team with the same passion, even though there were many growing pains.

While I followed the Jets over the years, once they moved to Phoenix it just wasn’t the same. To me, the team belongs to the people of the city they play in, or played in. While they have Hawerchuk, Hull and Steen banners at whatever the rink is now called in Glendale, the Jets’ history will always belong in Winnipeg.

I know the NHL record book tells us otherwise, but that’s just my feeling. I wish I had a solution that would satisfy both points of view. Maybe some reader can help me here.

Anyway, for that reason I was ecstatic to see Winnipeg fans get an NHL team. Who cares where it came from? That ownership chose to go with the Jets name again was icing on the cake for me. No longer did I have to over-explain to young family members how Phoenix was really Winnipeg, a club I used to play for.

I was able to watch a number of games the first year the Jets were back in town, even more the second year. I’ve been able to enjoy all the games the last couple of seasons via the big-screen TV.

There have been many ups and downs but let’s start with last year’s playoff team — the pinnacle of the team’s success since its return.

After Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff had finished trading at the deadline, a very good hockey club emerged. The team had already shown its resilience the previous December by surviving injuries to its top four defencemen. Of course, this also led to the re-emergence of Dustin Byfuglien as a very good defenceman, which turned into a bonus.

During the stretch drive, I stated a few times I thought the club we were watching would be the best we’d see for a few years.

I based that on two things:

To simplify the first, the Jets had Jiri Tlusty playing on the fourth line. Here was second-line NHL talent playing hard on the fourth line. That was very good depth. I liked that club a lot. The only real worry was the inconsistent goaltending. And while Anaheim swept the series, there are stats out there that show the series was closer than it appeared, and a break here or there could have created a different result.

Secondly, I felt Cheveldayoff had taken his shot, and would likely go back to trying to inject some of his highly rated prospects into the lineup. While I would have preferred Chevy sign a couple of Lee Stempniak/Tlusty-like players to keep that depth and push the young players, it didn’t happen. Being right even for a year isn’t fun at times, especially in these cases. And especially when you lose a player such as Michael Frolik to top things off.

Of course there’s good news, including the emergence of Nikolaj Ehlers. Even though he’s still figuring out the NHL game, he’s an electric player who’ll keep us jumping out of our seats for many years.

This year’s version of the Jets has proven to be very competitive on most nights when they play hockey five on five. A boatload of bad penalties and terrible special teams, however, have put them in a very tough spot.

As this was an introduction, I didn’t get into a lot of the big issues that face not only Cheveldayoff, but also coach Paul Maurice: What to do with Buff and Ladd? Is lack of discipline killing them? to name a couple. Both leaders certainly have their hands full.

We’ll start digging into those issues next Friday.

Over the next few months, I plan on bringing you a look at what I see on the ice, and when possible a look into the dressing room and the life of a player as it relates to the on-ice product you’re looking at.

It’s going to be an interesting and perhaps nerve-wracking few months for Jets fans.

Nice to be back with you.

 

Chosen ninth overall by the NHL’s St. Louis Blues and first overall by the WHA’s Houston Aeros in 1977, Scott Campbell has now been drafted by the Winnipeg Free Press to play a new style of game. Follow Scott Campbell on Twitter: @NHL_Campbell

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