Update: If you see some weird formatting stuff at the bottom of this article, just ignore it. I am playing with some of the HTML stuff on the website. If you happen to notice and it looks off, let me know what platform you are on and what the issue is.
Friday night the Winnipeg Jets will take on the Colorado Avalanche. I don' t think I need to remind any of you what happened the last time these two teams met, but in case you forgot, the Jets came out of the first period up 3-0 after dominating the Av's, but the Avalanche came right back and put up 6 unanswered goals to win 6-3. Anything except for that kind of performance will be deemed a win in my books, as it is pretty unreasonable to go up against the leagues top team, and marginally, expecting a win. Sure, the Jets have the capability to keep up with the Av's, but on any given night, I am not sure the Jets will do it.
Before we get into tonight, I just want to start by saying that next Saturday, April 16th, I will be posting the very first Jets Mailbag on this site.
How will this work?
Leave a comment down below on this post, or any other posts that come between now and then, and make sure you have a note at the beginning that this comment is for the mailbag.
What is a mailbag?
I am mostly going to be focusing on questions being asked, that may go more in depth than the average comment box question and answer. So, give me your best questions and I will give you the best answer I can. I look forward to some of the creativity some of you can come up with for this. I can't promise that every question will be answered, but I will try and pick some of the more popular questions, and the most creative. I am looking forward to this!
The lineup I would expect tonight looks something like:
**Updated: Blake Wheeler and Logan Stanley will not play due to injury tonight
Stastny-Scheifele-Ehlers Connor-Dubois-Svechnikov Sanford-Lowry-Appleton Barron-Toninato-Brooks
Morrissey-DeMelo Schmidt-Pionk Samberg-Dillon
Hellebuyck
Missing from practice yesterday was Captain Blake Wheeler. Dave Lowry confirmed after the matter than Wheeler was having a maintenance day. I have liked Wheeler lining up with Connor and Dubois, as the line generates some magnificent offense. While they struggle defensively, they are not as bad as I expected. From the whole line in general, the effort is there, but they are not strong defensive forwards.
Creating offensive chances hasn't been the issue for the Jets. Scheifele can make magic happen on that top line with Ehlers and Stastny putting in great efforts, Connor-Dubois-anybody doesn't need any kind of explanation, and the way Mason Appleton has been driving the play since being re-acquired, has been great. Sure, Appleton and the rest of that line hasn't been productive to the extent some would like, but they do drive play, and have been quite responsible on the ice. The 4th line has seen so many changes it is hard to gauge what to expect any given night, but they are fully capable of playing 12 minutes a night.
Connor Hellebuyck, while not having a Vezina-calibre season, has been great still. With over 10 games to go in the season, this is the most amount of games Hellebuyck has played since 2018-19, where he played 63, which I would expect him to pass this season, as he has 59 right now. A starting goaltender shouldn't be expected to carry this workload. It drains you. Eric Comrie has earned the right to play, and should have been given more opportunity. It is too late now, as the Jets will want to play Hellebuyck as much as they can assuming they haven't given up on the wild-card spot.
Speaking of the wild-card spot, lets have a look at the race:
Pacific: Calgary Flames 43-19-9 - 95pts - 0.669 P% - 11GR Edmonton Oilers 42-25-5 - 89pts - 0.618 P% - 10GR LA Kings 38-25-10 - 86pts - 0.589 P% - 9GR
Central: x-Colorado Avalanche 50-14-6 - 106pts - 0.757 P% - 12GR Minnesota Wild 43-21-5 - 91pts - 0.659 P% - 13GR St. Louis Blues 40-20-10 - 90pts - 0.643 P% - 12GR
Wild Card: Nashville Predators 41-25-4 - 86pts - 0.614 P% - 12GR Dallas Stars 40-26-4 - 84pts - 0.600 P% - 12GR ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Vegas Golden Knights 39-29-4 - 82pts - 0.569 P% - 10GR Vancouver Canucks 34-28-10 - 78pts - 0.542 P% - 10GR Winnipeg Jets 33-28-10 - 76pts - 0.535 P% - 11GR
Unfortunately, it looks like the Jets are not going to make the playoffs. They could close out the year strong, and hope the other 4 teams competing fall off, but it's not looking good. If the Jets go, lets say, 8-2-1, which is probably the best they could do, that would bring them to 93 points, which would mean Dallas would have to go 5-7-0 or worse, and Vegas and Vancouver to also be below-0.500 to close the year. It is possible, for sure, but more and more unlikely by the day.
Let me know your thoughts ahead of tonights game, and be sure to leave your best questions for next weeks mailbag! I hope you all have a great day!
Jacob