Jets’ scoring depth continues to keep team at the top of the NHL
With five wins in their first five games, the Winnipeg Jets remain the only undefeated team in the NHL. Key scoring from their best players like Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor and Josh Morrissey, plus elite goaltending from Connor Hellebuyck have fuelled their success.
However, the surprising contributions from the likes of Adam Lowry, Vladislav Namestnikov and Cole Perfetti have been a major source of depth scoring, the kind that’s needed for a team to find success for 82 games and beyond.
On Monday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, former NHL defenseman Colby Cohen and Tyler Yaremchuk discuss the Jets’ red-hot start and if it can sustain beyond October.
Tyler Yaremchuk: Let’s start with the only team that is still perfect on the season: the Winnipeg Jets, who are a sparkling 5-0-0 to start the year. They had a really, really strong weekend, beating up on the San Jose Sharks and the Pittsburgh Penguins, as well.
When I look at this, if you were to tell me that the Jets were allowing just 1.6 goals against per game, I would have said that makes sense. But the 4.8 goals for per game is what really jumps off the page. I know the eight against San Jose balloons the number, but their power play is red hot and they’re getting scoring. I didn’t think I’d like their forward group that much, but they’re proving me wrong.
Colby Cohen: I thought depth scoring was going to be an issue, and even just going down the middle, you don’t see tons and tons of points coming from Lowry, Namestnikov and David Gustafsson. That’s usually where you look for strength on your roster.
Nikolaj Ehlers is off to a career-best start, and you look at a guy like him with seven points in five games, you know what you’re getting from him. When he’s healthy, it’s a guaranteed 20 goals. The question is, can he get to 30 goals? Does Josh Morrissey continue at this pace? I don’t want to sit there and say they’re not quality wins, but we know those are bottom-feeder teams.
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…