Jets GM appears unconcerned about job security despite club’s nosedive of a season

Kevin Cheveldayoff admittedly felt lucky to be meeting the media on Monday to speak about everything that went wrong this season with his Winnipeg Jets.

And for good reason.

The only general manager the Jets have ever known has just wrapped up his 15th season — one that can fairly be described as landing somewhere between disappointing and disastrous — yet appears to have little concern about his job security the way he likely would in other NHL markets where owners tend to have quicker triggers.

“Very fortunate to be able to stand here today and keep on pushing forward. That’s the game. You sign up for this opportunity, you better be ready, willing, and able to take on all that comes with it,” said Cheveldayoff.

Jets’ Lowry, Perfetti determined for team to come back stronger next season

Adam Lowry was quick to point the finger at himself and is planning to be part of the solution.

The Winnipeg Jets’ captain was both thoughtful and accountable when addressing the media for the final time this season over the weekend.

It was clear Lowry had spent plenty of time processing what had transpired over the course of a long and frustrating season, both for himself and for a Jets team that didn’t get to where it wanted to be.

“Criticism of my game is very warranted and very fair,” said Lowry. “I go from 16 goals to 5. That’s a huge dropoff. I felt like, coming out of the Olympic break, I started to find my game, I started to hold on to pucks more but I know there’s another level I need to get to.

Hellebuyck fires shots at club following Jets season exit

Connor Hellebuyck sure sounded like a guy who might not be long for Winnipeg.

The decorated Jets goaltender — and reigning men’s hockey Olympic gold medallist — came out firing on Friday about the current state of the NHL organization following one of its ugliest years on record.

Hellebuyck emerged from what we can only imagine was a fiery face-to-face meeting with the coaching staff and management to speak with the media inside the Jets room, where he lit a few matches before heading into what is now likely to be an extremely newsworthy and unpredictable off-season.

“What we did this year was unacceptable and no one wants to be a part of that. Where do we go from here and what’s the next step?” Hellebuyck began.

Hard personnel decisions aplenty for Winnipeg Jets after missing playoffs

Change is both inevitable and necessary for the next edition of the Winnipeg Jets.

After sorting through the organization-wide disappointment of going from a Presidents’ Trophy-winning regular season to missing out on the Stanley Cup playoffs entirely — and finishing in the bottom third of the standings — some hard decisions are on the horizon for general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff and his management team.

The Jets will close out the regular season at home on Thursday against the San Jose Sharks, but the autopsy is already underway.

Although there were some impressive individual seasons put together by the likes of Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor, Gabriel Vilardi and Josh Morrissey, to name a few, this group was not deep enough or talented enough to earn one of the 16 available spots to the post-season party.

Jets won’t go down without a fight

That was supposed to be the week where the Winnipeg Jets’ playoff dreams went up in smoke. Where the proverbial roof was about to cave in.