After a quiet off-season, the Winnipeg Jets were expected to be a lottery team.
The Jets didn’t have a franchise player and Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel would be a perfect fit.
But, Paul Maurice’s club has shocked the league in the first half of 2014-15. With improved goaltending and a more resilient group in general, the Jets have been able to cling to a playoff spot despite a myriad of injuries.
Team Record: 20-13-7 (8th in Western Conference)
Goals for: 101 (21st in NHL)
Goals against: 93 (7th in NHL)
Power Play: 18.0 percent (19th in NHL)
Penalty kill: 85.1 percent (7th in NHL)
Pre-season Cup odds: 66/1
Current Cup odds: 50/1
Best surprise: The emergence of Michael Hutchinson. Coming into the season, goaltending was the biggest question mark. Ondrej Pavelec had troubling numbers last season and many were surprised the team didn’t do much to upgrade in the off-season. Clearly, Winnipeg knew they had internal options, but could not have seen this kind of breakout coming from Hutchinson. The 24-year-old has a 10-4-2 record and leads the NHL with an outstanding .932 save percentage.
Grade: A.
Biggest disappointment: The development of Evander Kane. The 23-year-old forward hasn’t had the season he envisioned after a tough 2013-14 campaign. Kane first suffered a knee injury early in the year after a collision with teammate Mark Scheifele and is now dealing with a lower-body injury that he suffered while blocking a shot in late December. He is expected to be out until February. When healthy, his offensive contributions have been limited. He has just six goals in 26 games.
Grade: C-.
Forwards: Andrew Ladd, Bryan Little and Blake Wheeler have all been reliable producers, but for the most part the team doesn’t have a very impressive offence. The Jets rank in the bottom-five of the Western Conference in goal scoring. Losing Kane has hurt them, but they still do not have enough front-end talent in their top-six. At the same time, they have seen recent growth from the second line that consists of Scheifele, Mathieu Perrault, and Michael Frolik.
Grade: C.
Defence: The Jets’ defence corps has tightened up in a big way this season. They’ve been incredibly resilient– considering all the injuries they have sustained on the blue line. Despite that, the Jets rank among the top five in the Western Conference in terms of goals against — and have done so with defencemen Grant Clitsome, Zach Bogosian, Mark Stuart, and Jacob Trouba all dealing with various injuries. Bogosian hasn’t played since early December.
Grade: B+
Goaltending: As we mentioned above, Hutchinson has been a revelation for the Jets. His steadiness is the biggest reason why the Jets are in the playoff conversation. With five starts in his past six games, it’s clear the Jets are transitioning Hutchinson to take over for Pavelec as the No. 1 goalie.
Grade: A
Coaching: Jets coach Paul Maurice has done a heck of a job with this group. Despite a below-average offence and a banged-up blue line, Maurice has helped shore up the team’s consistency issues and has added much-needed energy. The club has bought in and overachieving in a very difficult conference.
Grade: A
Overall: B+
