Happier times abound for Jets

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/12/2019 (2091 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Spend any kind of time around the Winnipeg Jets these days and you’re bound to hear the F-word a lot.

No, not that one. I’m talking about fun, something that went missing when last season went off the rails. The Jets were a miserable bunch to be around down the stretch, choking under the pressure of lofty expectations and coming apart at the seams as a campaign with so much promise ended with a thud.

It’s been a different story so far this year, where a surprising 20-11-2 record heading into action Tuesday has brought plenty of sunshine and rainbows for a reinvigorated group many were counting out before the puck dropped on the new campaign in early October.

They seem to genuinely enjoy being around each other. You see it at the rink during practice, where the friendly rivalries bring out the trash-talking. You see it in the dressing room, where the ribbing spills over. And you’re seeing it play out during games, where cohesion and team unity are among those intangibles difficult to quantify.

“They have had more fun. And I think they’re funnier, in general. We have (a) better team sense of humour, if that’s possible. The jokes are funnier, how about that? And when there’s more guys laughing, I think they’re a funnier group,” head coach Paul Maurice said.

So what changed? It says here the continuing absence of veteran defenceman Dustin Byfuglien has changed the dynamic of this group on and off the ice — not in the gloom-and-doom way many predicted.

The longtime alternate captain has been out of sight and out of mind for quite some time now. Along with the exodus of disgruntled blue-liner Jacob Trouba, that’s created a fresh approach for the team, beginning with captain Blake Wheeler, who has admitted in several interviews, including with colleague Jason Bell, to being a much more relaxed, relatable leader, something he struggled with at times last year.

Wheeler would never say it, but I will: not having another alpha male like Byfuglien around to compete with would make anyone breathe a little easier. And that’s a sentiment I’ve heard this year from several people around the team, and around the NHL.

Byfuglien can be a polarizing individual, one who marches to his own beat and pretty much does whatever he feels like.

His inclusion in the leadership group was always a bit strange, considering he regularly balked at interview requests, leaving Wheeler and the other alternate, Mark Scheifele, to face the music on a daily basis. And it wasn’t a very happy tune at times last year.

Enter Josh Morrissey, fresh off signing an eight-year contract extension and now wearing the A on his sweater that previously belonged to Byfuglien. I had advocated for the move long before Byfuglien decided to take a pass on training camp and consider retirement (and later ankle surgery, and a pending arbitration case with the Jets). While circumstances may have forced Winnipeg’s hand, it’s created a much better dynamic.

On the ice, the Jets haven’t missed Byfuglien nearly as much as people thought, but consider this is the 34-year-old version of Byfuglien who missed half of last season with three different injuries, and whose work ethic was often the source of debate.

Morrissey is taking on a bigger role and relishing it. Neal Pionk has come in from the Trouba trade and opened everyone’s eyes. Tucker Poolman is getting an increased opportunity. And journeymen guys with chips on their shoulders and something to prove in the form of Nathan Beaulieu, Anthony Bitetto, Luca Sbisa and Carl Dahlstrom have been more than capable.

“We’ve got a defined kind of game. We’ve rallied around what once was kind of an inexperienced group on the back end and they’ve become a competitive group. And they like each other. That matters, that the guys come to the rink and like to see each other, in terms of how close they grow together,” Maurice said.

Reading between the lines, you can draw the obvious conclusion that they didn’t always like each other, or coming to the rink, last season. Just go back to Maurice’s comments last spring about “ruffled feathers,” about the closed-door players-only meeting a week before the playoffs, as a reminder of just how fractured things had become.

‘So what changed? It says here the continuing absence of veteran defenceman Dustin Byfuglien has changed the dynamic of this group on and off the ice’ 

Adam Lowry, one of the most insightful Jets, told me Tuesday all the outside pressures took a toll on his group last season, with many picking the Jets as their Stanley Cup favourite following a run to the Western Conference final the previous year.

“For whatever reason, it seems like we fought it, we struggled to necessarily gain some of that traction that we had the year before,” he said.

No kidding. But a new season brought a clean slate, one in which many of those same hockey pundits figured the Jets would be in a fight just to make the playoffs.

“Coming into this year, there were a lot of question marks, a lot of people kind of writing off our team. With such big change on the back end. The expectations in this room didn’t change, we still had high expectations of ourselves, but I think the expectations from people outside the room, they might not have been as high as they were previous years,” Lowry said.

“Last year, it was trying to find what was wrong with the Jets. Now, this year, maybe we’re living up to the expectations, maybe we’re exceeding expectations a little bit. You’re trying to put the finger on why is that happening. I think winning hockey games is fun. We’re having a great time this year. We all get along so well, we all battle so hard. The makeup of our team is different. We might not have necessarily the superstars on the back end, but the guys back there are playing great.”

There are many factors involved, of course. The absence of one former superstar on the back end may have been a surprising catalyst for some much-needed change.

The good times continue to roll for this tight-knit club.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg