The Daily Faceoff Show: Winnipeg Jets’ season beginning to slip away
It’s been a long winter so far in Winnipeg and it has nothing to do with the weather.
The Jets lost 5-1 to the Vancouver Canucks on home ice on Thursday. It was Winnipeg’s sixth straight loss overall and kept the Jets winless at Canada Life Centre since Dec. 19.
Although they’re only five points out of a playoff spot, the Jets have been losing ground quickly and now find themselves in 13th place in the Western Conference.
Which for a team that many expected to contend for a Stanley Cup this season, leaves the Jets franchise searching for an identity.
Mark Scheifele asked if the #NHLJets have an identity: “Probably not.”
— Scott Billeck (@ScottBilleck) January 28, 2022On Friday’s episode of The Daily Faceoff Show, Frank Seravalli spoke about everything that’s been troubling the Jets and the conundrum that general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff now finds himself in.
Seravalli: “I’m really concerned about the comments we’ve heard from Blake Wheeler after last night’s loss. There were a number of different points that raised an eyebrow with me.
“One of them, saying that in his 14 years in the NHL, this is the most adversity a team has ever dealt with that he’s played on. This is a guy that played in Atlanta and has played on some teams that have really struggled. To hear that is concerning.
“It makes you wonder what you don’t know, that is happening behind the scenes.
“You see Paul Maurice’s departure and that is obviously part of it. They’ve dealt with COVID, they’ve dealt injuries, a lot of different things that frankly, a lot of teams have dealt with this season.
“The other part that I think that I really pick a bone of contention would be is, Blake Wheeler said: ‘we have a really young hockey team.’ I don’t buy that for one second.
“You can look at the Winnipeg Jets and their fourth line. You can look at Cole Perfetti and the action that he’s seeing. That team is a ready-made, built, solidified roster. Blake Wheeler, Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor, Andrew Copp – go down the list. Ehlers, Connor Hellebuyck in net, Brenden Dillon, Nate Schmidt, Josh Morrissey. That’s a solidified core.
“That’s a team that is, you mentioned it, I picked them to win the Stanley Cup this year. I thought that the improvements they made on defense, the depth they have at front and one of the top netminders in the league. They’re on pace for an 83 or 84-point season. It’s not near good enough and the math is now becoming daunting for this team to work its way into a playoff spot.
“And I think it raises a lot more significant questions for general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff, who hasn’t been afraid to sell in the past when his team has not been performing.
“What do they do?”
You can watch the full episode of The Daily Faceoff Show here…