‘I’m not falling on a sword’

Scott Arniel was revealing enough to let you know he was planning to make some important modifications, though he wasn’t quite ready to invite you behind the curtain for the full presentation.

The head coach of the Winnipeg Jets made his way to the podium on Monday morning inside the Matt Frost media centre and gave a revealing glimpse into the type of feedback he was seeking from players during the exit interviews that took place over the weekend.

“There’s areas where I did a pretty good job. There’s areas where I’ve got to do a better job,” said Arniel, who spoke for roughly 35 minutes, including an opening statement. “My first question to the players when I had my one-on-one meeting was, ‘How was I different this year to last year? How can I help you this year? If you had something for me, what would you say?’”

As the microphone made its way around the room, Arniel was asked to share some of the feedback he heard from players, but he raised his eyebrows at the questioner before the query was complete and politely declined to go into any detail.

“Sorry, that one’s for me,” said Arniel, noting that he still had thorough conversations planned with his own coaching staff and management during the coming days. “Once I do have those answers, that’s what I’m working to implement for September.”

Arniel is preparing to tackle an off-season project over the course of the next four-and-a-half months that will help the Jets avoid the inconsistent play that cost them a spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs just one year after capturing the Presidents’ Trophy and bowing out in overtime of Game 6 in the second round of the post-season

He will attack that project with vigour in an effort to come up with the solutions that were tough to come by at various points, including an 11-game losing skid (0-7-4) which left the Jets with a deep hole they were unable to dig out of.

During his opening remarks, Arniel spoke about the importance of being taught by his parents to take responsibility for his actions and expressed his disappointment for the unexpected step back the franchise took in going 35-35-12 this season.

“I don’t have the answers today but at the end of the day that’s part of my job and we’ve got to get back to where we were.”

“I’m not falling on a sword,” said Arniel, who is preparing for his fifth season behind the Jets bench after returning as an associate coach on Rick Bowness’ staff in the summer of 2022. “There’s a lot of things that I need to cover and that’s what happens when you’re not playing at this time of year. You have to have answers, and the players want answers, management — you guys — want answers.

“I don’t have the answers today but at the end of the day that’s part of my job and we’ve got to get back to where we were.”

Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff had an opportunity to provide a clear endorsement for Arniel, but he fell short of ensuring he would be back for a third season as bench boss.

Cheveldayoff praised the work ethic of Arniel and the coaching staff, but because he and Arniel hadn’t gone through their own exit interviews with each other, he wasn’t ready to make an official announcement.

“They’re extremely prepared. They do those kinds of things to make sure that they try to give the best opportunity to the players,” said Cheveldayoff. “I’m not going to sit here and make any bold proclamations because (with) this evaluation process, I owe it to the organization, I owe it to ourselves, I owe it to the fans and I owe it to the players. Like I said, we’re not ready to turn the page on anything yet. We’ll keep on evaluating.”

Since a thorough evaluation of the entire organization is required after a team goes through a 34-point dip in the standings after winning the Presidents’ Trophy, committing to the head coach or potentially offering him a contract extension isn’t something that is usually done just days after a disappointing season comes to a close.

Arniel has one more year left on the three-year pact he signed with the Jets when he was promoted to head coach on May 27 of 2025. In his two seasons as bench boss of the Jets, Arniel boasts a regular-season record of 91-56-22 (.604) and playoff record of 6-7 (.462).

The expectation is that Arniel will be given an opportunity to try and help the organization get back to the Stanley Cup playoffs, even if Cheveldayoff wasn’t ready to announce anything publicly.

What became clear over time was that this version of the Jets strayed from its identity, especially during the first 50 or so games of the season.

Instead of a team that was fast and aggressive in all three zones, the Jets showed plenty of cracks in their defensive structure.

And despite a 9-3 start, Arniel pointed to concerns in the underlying numbers and analytics and it wasn’t long before the expected dropoff in play showed up in the results.

“I don’t regret what I did. I don’t regret that I’ve got two players that have amazing chemistry.”

The Jets had several examples of outstanding production, but there was also a sharp decline in play for a multitude of players, as secondary scoring essentially became a season-long struggle

With some additional time for a mini training camp during the Olympic break, the Jets put together an impressive stretch of hockey that got them back in the race, but they couldn’t quite get over the finish line.

One of the hot button topics for the fan base revolved around why Arniel didn’t try breaking up Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor to see if they could each drive their own line.

“I don’t regret what I did. I don’t regret that I’ve got two players that have amazing chemistry,” said Arniel. “I’ve been a firm believer… it works in twos. There’s pairs that work and the chemistry that happens and then the third guy is always a piece that adds to it. There’s history that these guys have been elite in this league for the last few years. My kind of rationale (for) it was that (the Jets are) already having a tough time scoring goals. Now I’m going to take away the line that actually can give me a chance to stay in a game, to win a game for us? That was more of where I was at with everything.”

Even with several young players — whether it be forward prospects Isak Rosen or Brad Lambert — showing what they can do after the NHL trade deadline, there are still some questions about making room for youth in the effort to augment the core.

“Our group isn’t intimidated by somebody coming and taking their job. They’re not intimidated by young guys,” said Arniel. “They’ve been here long enough, they’ve had small tastes of it — of being the top team. They all want to win.

“I can say this without a doubt. They’re not saying, ‘We don’t want these guys because they infringe on my ice time, infringe on us moving forward.’ We have to make sure that it’s something that compliments what we have. There is a great core there. We just have to make sure we have a supporting cast. We got to continue to build that supporting cast for those guys as well to get back to where we were last year.”

Answering the call 

Jets forward Gabriel Vilardi will join Scheifele and Dylan DeMelo on Team Canada at the upcoming IIHF world men’s hockey championship in Switzerland. Vilardi recently suited up in all 82 games for the first time in his NHL career and also delivered career-highs in goals (30), assists (39) and points (69).

Meanwhile, Jets defenceman Elias Salomonsson (concussion protocol) was back on the ice on Monday and the hope is that he will pass his baseline test on Wednesday and join the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League for the Calder Cup playoffs. Jets forward prospect Nikita Chibrikov got banged up late in the season and still hasn’t been cleared medically to rejoin the Moose.

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