Jets Notebook: Opening Night roster maintains the status quo

WINNIPEG — Reading the Winnipeg Jets’ 2024-25 Opening Night roster feels like déjà vu.

While the line configurations are slightly different, the same 12 forwards that opened up the Jets’ 2023-24 season will make up the team’s four lines in Wednesday’s season-opener against the Edmonton Oilers. The blue line hasn’t changed much either, with their top-four being identical to what it was this time last year.

Aside from a different third pairing and a new backup goaltender, the Jets personnel remains the same as it was 364 days ago.

Last year’s Jets were ultimately upgraded, though, with GM Kevin Cheveldayoff acquiring Sean Monahan, Tyler Toffoli and Colin Miller. Miller was the only one Cheveldayoff was able to re-sign in a summer where the Jets weren’t able to retain Monahan, Toffoli or Brenden Dillon. 

So now, we’re back to square one. Will Winnipeg need to make mid-year upgrades once again? That remains to be seen. But here’s a look at the Jets depth chart. 

Forwards

Kyle Connor — Mark Scheifele — Gabriel Vilardi
Nikolaj Ehlers — Vladislav Namestnikov — Cole Perfetti
Nino Niederreiter — Adam Lowry — Mason Appleton 
Morgan Barron — Rasmus Kupari — Alex Iafallo 
David Gustafsson

• Unsurprisingly, Scheifele and Connor remain intact on the top line. The duo has undeniable chemistry — they both like to slow the game down and move east-west, rather than north-south in the defensive and neutral zone — but they posted poor on-ice results last year. Winnipeg was significantly outshot and out-chanced when those two were on the ice, compared to when they weren’t. Vilardi — a dual-threat who makes the net-front his kitchen — compliments the two well in the offensive zone, although he doesn’t solve the issues the two have in the defensive and neutral zone.

• Jets coach Scott Arniel made it clear early into camp that he wanted to see Ehlers, Namestnikov and Perfetti together. The trio spent extended time last year together before Cheveldayoff acquired Monahan and Toffoli to bolster the top six. Perfetti seems poised to become a surefire top-six forward this year, but what about Namestnikov as the ‘2C’? It’s not ideal. While he adds some ‘bite’ to a line that’s driven by two undersized wingers, Namestnikov — who scored 37 points last year — is better suited in a fourth-line role. Yet again, the Jets appear to be in the market for a second-line centre.

• The Niederreiter — Lowry — Appleton line is staying intact and for good reason. They were Rick Bowness’ most trusted line last year and one of the NHL’s best shutdown lines, posting an incredible 58.8 per cent expected goals-for percentage during 682 minutes together. According to MoneyPuck.com, that figure ranked sixth league-wide among the 41 lines that played over 300 minutes together. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

• Alex Iafallo and Morgan Barron are solid bottom-six players and high-end fourth-liners at that. The real mystery with that line is Rasmus Kupari. Acquired in the Pierre-Luc Dubois blockbuster, Kupari is one of the NHL’s fastest players but he’s only recorded nine goals and 30 points in 158 NHL games. Injuries hampered the 2018 first-round pick's ability to make an impact last year, so it’s not shocking that Winnipeg is giving him some runway. However, he’ll need to be a lot better at faceoffs than he was in the pre-season, where he won just 38 per cent of his draws. David Gustafsson, who posted a 54.6 faceoff percentage last year, might not be the team’s 13th forward for long.

Defencemen

Josh Morrissey — Dylan DeMelo 
Dylan Samberg — Neal Pionk 
Haydn Fleury — Colin Miller
Dylan Coghlan

• Together, Morrissey and DeMelo are like peanut butter and jelly, with the latter establishing himself as a dependable defensive counterpart to one of the NHL’s elite offensive defensemen. DeMelo may not be a textbook first-pairing guy but he’s the clear best choice to play with Morrissey.

• The Samberg and Pionk pairing is arguably the biggest X-factor to Winnipeg’s success. Neither looked overly comfortable whenever they were deployed in a top-pairing role last year.

• Fleury and Miller could see sheltered deployment. The latter entered camp as the Jets’ eighth defencemen but after Ville Heinola and Logan Stanley got hurt, Fleury won the sixth spot by default.

Goaltenders

Connor Hellebuyck
Kaapo Kahkonen
Eric Comrie

• Connor Hellebuyck missed Monday’s practice due to a personal family matter. The Jets wouldn’t disclose much information, although they said that Hellebuyck is expected to be on their plane to Edmonton.

• Odds are Comrie is the one re-assigned to the AHL once Hellebuyck returns. Since posting a .920 save percentage in 19 games with the Jets during the 2021-22 season, Comrie combined for a .882 save percentage in 29 games over the last two seasons with the Buffalo Sabres.

Other Notes

• During his Monday media availability, Arniel said that while Brad Lambert and Nikita Chibrikov took a step forward at training camp, he didn’t want to see them crash and burn by throwing them into the fire of NHL games.

“I told them both, go down and continue to be the best players. This could be a week, this could be a month, I didn’t make them any guarantees,” Arniel told reporters.

• Jaret Anderson-Dolan, one of the team’s final roster cuts, cleared through waivers on Monday. Anderson-Dolan fared well during camp and if there’s an injury to the bottom six, he could fill in seamlessly. In addition to Lambert and Chibrikov, they’ve also got Mason Shaw, Dominic Toninato and Axel Johnsson-Fjällby — three players with loads of NHL experience — waiting in the wings.