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What now? Should be the question most Winnipeg Jets fans ask as the team is now home from a disastrous 3 game road trip. It had all re ingredients to make a disastrous recipe for the Jets, time change, huge travel distance and back-to-back games. Chef… err coach Claude Noel could not have been given a better basket of food if he were on the cooking show Chopped. That’s just what happened to the Jets when they met the division leading Lightning- they got chopped right down to size.
Fire the coach; make a trade, do something right? Why? What good comes from any kind of reactionary move right now- just 8 games into the season?
What should be woefully clear is the sum of the parts of the Winnipeg Jets is inadequate. Do you place fault on Chevy? Do you accept that TNSE is still trying to purge the mistakes of Atlanta ownership and management? Do you just sit back and cheer then groan for another season?
First and foremost this team has always been about looking to the future. That future is in three years, perhaps sooner but the beginning will start after the Stanley Cup is awarded this year. The Jets have seven UFA players at the end of this year and 7 RFA players to either trade, sign or release.
UFA
Hainsey, Antropov, Ponikarovsky, Clitsome, Wellwood, Miettinen, Gagnon (who?)
RFA
Bogosian, Wheeler, Little, Burmistrov, Peluso, Redmond, Postma
Look with the most objective eye Winnipeg Jets fan, who do you keep?
Wheeler and Bogosian certainly are assets the team cannot afford to be without. Burmistrov has all the tools but was brought into the league far too soon and it’s doubtful the team gives up just yet on Postma or Redmond.
What about Bryan Little? Does he fit into the long-term plan of the Jets?
Consider the UFAs listed above and ask the same question with the same level of objectiveness. Perhaps Hainsey is the only one who makes sense to keep and short term at that.
Forget what happens now through the remaining 40 games it’s the off-season where the test and overall understanding of TNSE comes from. Should the Jets fall out of the race any further moves could and should be made but right now, in the short term it’s doubtful any fix can be made.
There is not one deal that will dramatically alter the fortune of the team which can be made right now, nor should a move be made right now. This team was always about a patchwork quilt-type assembly since it was acquired from Atlanta. To undo that mess and build with a proper pattern requires strategy, planning and time.
On Jun 1st 2011 the Winnipeg Jets faithful committed to five years of sellouts at the MTS Centre. Those same fans also committed to five years of support for TNSE to build a balanced and competitive team. Remember nothing can happen quickly- there was a reason away from the economics in Atlanta as to why the team struggled. It’s a bigger job than most fans realized.
So there are no trades coming but that does not rule out future moves as the season inches towards a trade deadline. The Jets have some assets to move but are they willing to do so but there is no way they do it to try and salvage a season only 8 games old.
Winnipeg Jets Blogger •Winnipeg Jets Writer • 
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