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A Jets fan to the end

He was known online as Ice Dragon, a bright and funny young man whose love and loyalty for his hometown Winnipeg Jets ran deep.

But behind Justin Deleau’s charming on-screen persona in numerous online hockey chat rooms and message boards was a fierce personal battle, one he divulged to hockey fans from around the world in a startling post late last month.

“Figure if I’m dying I might as well give y’all a chance to meet me if you want,” Justin typed on April 28 as he lay in palliative care at the Grace Hospice.

“Anyways thanks for everything you guys. I’ve never felt so loved by a community. I’ll keep cheering on the Jets no matter what. I love you guys!! Pour one out for me at Portage and Main when the boys do win the Cup.”

Florida run is no everyday fish story for Maurice

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Paul Maurice never considered himself retired. He was good.

Here’s what that means: When Maurice stepped down as coach of the Winnipeg Jets in December 2021, it wasn’t clear if he would take another job. Some teams called. He'd listen. He'd then hang up the phone still convinced that his time would be better spent continuing to fish for walleye on Lake of the Woods, where he has a little spot.

And then the Florida Panthers called.

“Pardon the pun,” Maurice said. “I was hooked.”

Jets' Hellebuyck named Vezina Trophy finalist

NEW YORK - Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck is a finalist for the Vezina Trophy for the third time

Hellebuyck, Ilya Sorokin of the New York Islanders and Linus Ullmark of the Boston Bruins were named Thursday as the finalists for the award, given out annually to the NHL's top goaltender.

The 29-year-old from Commerce Charter Township, Mich., won the award in 2020 and finished second to Nashville’s Pekka Rinne in 2018.

Hellebuyck posted a 37-25-2 record with a league-leading 64 starts in 2022-23 with a 2.49 goals-against average, .920 save percentage and four shutouts.

Jet prospect DiVincentiis named OHL goaltender of the year

A year ago, Domenic DiVincentiis had no idea where his career was headed. He was coming off a promising rookie season in the Ontario Hockey League, looking forward to the NHL draft and hoping a team might be willing to take a shot at bringing him into the fold.

Now? The seventh-round selection of the Winnipeg Jets is the most intriguing goalie prospect for the organization since Connor Hellebuyck was picked in the fifth round way back in 2012.

“The whole year, from the draft until today, has been a roller-coaster,” DiVincentiis, 19, told the Free Press on Wednesday in a telephone interview from his hometown of Bolton, Ont. “It’s been pretty eye-opening. A very cool year, overall. Something that I have obviously enjoyed and am taking a moment to recap and think about what a year it has been.”

He’s coming off the only low from that ride, a season-ending loss to the Peterborough Petes this past Monday in Game 7 of their OHL semi-final series. His North Bay Battalion ultimately ended up five wins short of getting to the Memorial Cup. The highs, however, were plentiful, including 68 games played (48 in the regular-season, 20 in the playoffs) and a combined 47-15-5 record. His goals-against-average (2.33 in the season, 2.41 in the playoffs) and save percentage (.919 in the season, .926 in the playoffs) were stellar.

Wheeler Jets King Clancy Award nominee

Veteran Winnipeg Jets forward Blake Wheeler is the team’s nominee for the King Clancy Memorial Trophy.

The annual honour is given to the NHL player “who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution in his community.”

The 32 finalists were selected by their respective NHL teams.

The winner will be chosen by a committee of senior NHL executives looking at criteria that includes “clear and measurable positive impact on the community, investment of time and resources, commitment to a particular cause or community, commitment to the league’s community initiatives, creativity of programming and use of influence; engagement of others.”

Morrissey snubbed for Norris consideration

Josh Morrissey’s stellar season wasn’t enough to earn him consideration for some hockey hardware.

The Winnipeg Jets defenceman is not a finalist for the Norris Trophy, which is awarded annually to the league’s best player at that position.

Erik Karlsson of the San Jose Sharks, Adam Fox of the New York Rangers and Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche have the honours, the league announced Thursday evening. The winner will be announced at a ceremony in Nashville on June 26.

Morrissey, 28, had a career high 76 points (16 goals and 60 assists) in 78 regular-season games. That more than doubled his previous best of 37 points and established a new franchise-best for the Jets/Atlanta Thrashers organization.

Jets sign Chibrikov to entry-level contract

WINNIPEG - The Winnipeg Jets have signed forward Nikita Chibrikov to a three-year, entry-level contract worth US$925,000 a year at the NHL level.

The 20-year-old Chibrikov had a goal and an assist in 31 games last season with Spartak Moscow of the Kontinental Hockey League.

The Moscow native has two goals and two assists in 51 career KHL games over three seasons.

Chibrikov was selected by Winnipeg in the second round (50th overall) of the 2021 NHL draft.

Bowness gets comeback

Rick Bowness will be back behind the bench to lead the Winnipeg Jets.

Bowness was given the vote of confidence by Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff during his season-ending press conference on Sunday, confirming the veteran coach will return for a second season. So, too, will his staff, which includes associate coach Scott Arniel and assistants Brad Lauer and Marty Johnston.

“When we talked last year, there’s lots of things that went into those types of discussions. The job that Rick did for us in coming in and taking on this task and giving him a shot at trying to win a Stanley Cup, I thought they a great job,” Cheveldayoff said. “Not just Rick, but the coaching staff. In Rick’s situation, he’s more than comfortable going into the season with his contract the way that it is.”

Bowness was already under contract for next season, signing a two-year deal plus an option for a third. But his future with the club seemed uncertain after he called out his team following a 4-1 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 5 of the first round that officially eliminated the Jets from the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Chevy guns engine, goes nowhere

Kevin Cheveldayoff spoke for more than 40 minutes in his year-end media availability Sunday afternoon. While the general manager of the Winnipeg Jets uttered plenty of words, few provided much insight into the direction his NHL club is headed as they shift gears to a potentially franchise-altering offseason.

The Jets enter the summer after bowing out in five games to the Vegas Golden Knights in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. It seemed like the final shot for a core group of players that, despite being here for some of their prime years, ultimately accomplished little.

Winnipeg has won just three playoff series, two of which came during their run to the Western Conference final in 2018. Still, Cheveldayoff remained confident in his group, leaving one to believe he’s OK with the status quo.

“You can take a collective look on a lot of things, but every team is different, every series it’s a different thing,” Cheveldayoff said. “Ultimately, you’re going to end up with losses if you’re not the Stanley Cup champion. That core (group of players) got us to five of six (years into) playoffs as well. That can’t be lost.”

Rebuild it and they’ll be bummed

While it might be easy to look at the Winnipeg Jets and their years-long stretch of middling results as a reason to tear things down, undergoing any semblance of a rebuild next season was met by players with a hard no.

Several who spoke Saturday – commonly referred to as “garbage bag day,” where players clean out their lockers, do exit interviews with the coach and general manager and have one final visit with the assembled media – said there was no interest in seeing major surgery done to a roster they feel is good enough to win despite significant evidence to the contrary.

“I don’t think anybody in their mid-20s in this organization is at a point in their career where they’d want to be part of a rebuild,” Jets forward Kyle Connor, who is signed through the 2026-27 season, said. “I don’t think anybody in that locker room wants to be part of a rebuild. Or anybody, in general. Everybody wants to play for a Stanley Cup contending team.

“Yeah, we haven’t won a Cup, but we’ve shown that we’re pretty close. That’s not my decision to make. I’ve grown close with all those guys and would love another crack at it. But we’ll see what happens.”

Jets wonder what future may hold

Nobody brought out a crystal ball, nor were any tea leaves or tarot cards read. But the future of four key Winnipeg Jets players remains cloudy with a strong chance of change based on everything we saw and heard on Saturday.

Let’s start with the most important one of all, former Vezina Trophy winning goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, who has just one year left on his current contract and would become an unrestricted free agent by next summer.

“That’s hard to answer,” Hellebuyck said when asked about his future in Winnipeg. “My main goal is to win a Stanley Cup, and I’m starting to run out of time and can feel it.”

Hellebuyck, who will turn 30 next month, likely holds the key to whether the Jets undergo an extreme makeover or something a bit more subdued.

Jets coach visibly frustrated with club after season-ending playoff loss

LAS VEGAS – Rick Bowness entered the media room at T-Mobile Arena on a mission, knowing exactly what he wanted to say before a single question was even asked.

The head coach of the Winnipeg Jets, his eyes watering with rage, had just watched his team put forth a lacklustre effort in a 4-1 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 5 that officially eliminated them from the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

“I’m so disappointed and disgusted right now,” Bowness started.

It was the first answer of a one-minute long post-game media availability by the Jets coach. When Bowness first sat down, he warned the assembled media that his time at the podium would be brief, resulting in just four questions asked by the Free Press.

Jets season ends with 4-1 loss to Golden Knights

LAS VEGAS – Ravaged by injuries and facing a superior opponent, the Winnipeg Jets’ bid to hoist the Stanley Cup came to an early end. The Vegas Golden Knights delivered the final dagger Thursday night, winning 4-1 in Game 5 to end the first-round, best-of-seven NHL series.

Jets’ Barron has stitches removed after facial cut in Game 1

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Jets forward Morgan Barron will go back to his regular visor starting Thursday night after using a full cage on his helmet for most of Winnipeg’s first-round series against the Vegas Golden Knights.

Barron needed more than 75 stitches after he was cut in the face by Vegas goaltender Laurent Brossoit’s skate blade during a goalmouth scramble in Game 1.

The skate was briefly jammed between Barron’s half-visor and the side of his head.

“It feels good, it’s coming along,” Barron said Thursday after a morning practice at T-Mobile Arena. “No real pain with it or anything. I’m just dealing with the scar.”

Jets' Barron to use regular visor again

LAS VEGAS - Jets forward Morgan Barron will go back to his regular visor starting Thursday night after using a full cage on his helmet for most of Winnipeg's first-round series against the Vegas Golden Knights.

Barron needed over 75 stitches after he was cut in the face by Vegas goaltender Laurent Brossoit's skate blade during a goalmouth scramble in Game 1.

The skate was briefly jammed between Barron's half-visor and the side of his head.

"It feels good, it's coming along," Barron said Thursday after a morning practice at T-Mobile Arena. "No real pain with it or anything. I'm just dealing with the scar."