Jets have to pick a lane Direction of franchise at stake as inconsistent team enters stretch run By: Mike McIntyre Posted: 7:00 PM CST Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/02/2022 (952 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

DALLAS — They say everything is bigger down here in Texas. The land. The sky. The hair. The sass. And, of course, the heaping portions of world-famous BBQ.

Pass the Tums. And the wet naps.

You can add “hockey games” to that local list, at least for the Winnipeg Jets. Their looming showdown with the Dallas Stars, under the Friday Night Lights at American Airlines Center, is a super-sized one, to say the least.

At the risk of overstating the importance of Game 44 of an 82-game schedule, exactly what version of the team shows up will be quite telling.

Will it be the club that looked so poised and confident in a rock-solid 2-0 victory over high-flying Minnesota on Tuesday. Or the one that laid an egg a week earlier in a lacklustre 3-1 loss to lowly Philadelphia? Might we see the same crew that imposed their will on a tough St. Louis squad in an impressive 4-1 road win back on Jan. 29? Or the uninspired bunch that spilled sauce all over themselves in an ugly 5-1 home defeat two nights prior to Vancouver?

Winnipeg’s play has been all over the map lately, both figuratively and literally. And it’s a great source of mystery, not to mention frustration, for those with a vested interest in the team’s performance. At some point, the roller-coaster ride has to end, right? The Jets are going to have to pick a lane.

And general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff will have to decide if he’s going to fish or cut bait.

You could see and hear some of the bewilderment from the team’s architect during his mid-season “State of the Union” session with us local scribes on Wednesday. The recent pattern of bad game followed by a good game had played out at Canada Life Centre less than 24 hours earlier, and Cheveldayoff clearly expected more from a group that many had pegged as a legitimate Stanley Cup contender when the puck dropped on the shiny new season last fall.

Now? They’re closer to dead-last in their division (and the Western Conference) than they are to first place, and face the daunting challenge of not only having to overcome what is currently a nine-point deficit for the final wildcard playoff spot, but leap-frog four other teams currently ahead of them who are also fighting to try to get back into the post-season picture.

One of those happens to be the Dallas Stars, which is why this proverbial “four-pointer” against a Central rival looms large. It’s the most important game of the year. Until the next one, of course, which happens to be Saturday night in Nashville against a Predators team threatening to leave them in their dust.

The heat is certainly on, with Cheveldayoff spelling out just how critical the next few weeks are going to be.

“We talked at the beginning of the year what the expectations for this group are. There’s no greater expectation than those players,” Cheveldayoff said in one of his more noteworthy soundbites, before adding this juicy little disclaimer at the end. “We’ll deal with whatever we have to deal with at that point in time.”

“We talked at the beginning of the year what the expectations for this group are. There’s no greater expectation than those players.” – Kevin Cheveldayoff

Cue the ominous music.

Two key forwards in Paul Stastny and Andrew Copp are pending unrestricted free agents, and he would be foolish not to see what the pair could fetch by the trade deadline if his wildly inconsistent club can’t quickly start stringing some wins together.

Cheveldayoff also talked about potential “hockey deals” — which is basically industry speak for swaps involving players with term, potentially of the significant variety. The Patrik Laine and Jack Roslovic for Pierre-Luc Dubois blockbuster in January 2021 was one of those foundation-shaking moves, and Cheveldayoff may have no choice but to look at others if this current core that is right up against the salary cap ceiling can’t get it done.

There’s also the significant matter of finding a permanent solution behind the bench. Dave Lowry is wearing the interim label but hasn’t enjoyed any more success than Paul Maurice did in solving the bizarre identity crisis the Jets seem to be suffering from. If he wants to be considered for the full-time role when a thorough job search is conducted this summer, he’s running out of time.

Dave Lowry is wearing the interim label but hasn’t enjoyed any more success than Paul Maurice did in solving the bizarre identity crisis the Jets seem to be suffering from.

Then there’s Cheveldayoff himself, and the question of whether he’s going to be in a position to be making these decisions for much longer.

As loyal as they are, just how much patience will True North have if the Jets fall woefully short of expectations? Especially with all the off-ice issues this season has brought — from the end of a decade-long sellout streak at the downtown rink, the Chicago Blackhawks sexual abuse scandal and Cheveldayoff’s ties to that organization, to millions of dollars in lost revenues caused by public-health orders restricting attendance.

No doubt Mark Chipman and company took notice of the fact they weren’t able to sell-out the building on Tuesday at just 50 per cent capacity, coming up approximately 600 short. That has to be a bit of a canary in the coal mine, regardless of the many factors involved.

Sure, there are plenty of potential explanations for the spotty on-ice results, including injuries to the likes of Blake Wheeler and Nikolaj Ehlers, a slow trickle of COVID-19 infections that is taking a few players out of the lineup at a time and a schedule thrown into chaos by pandemic protocols here in Manitoba. And maybe that all ultimately adds up to a mulligan here.

But in a year that has already seen Paul Maurice walk the plank, nothing should be off the table at this point. Besides, the Jets are hardly unique in facing challenges this season. Every single team has to some extent, especially those north of the border.

“There are no excuses. That’s pro sport. That’s the ups and the downs of it. As a group, we have to find a way,” Cheveldayoff said near the end of his session.

“There are no excuses. That’s pro sport. That’s the ups and the downs of it. As a group, we have to find a way.” – Kevin Cheveldayoff

He’s right. All of which makes this next stretch so fascinating. With each passing game, it feels like a lot more than just two points are at stake, but also the short and long-term direction of the franchise.

Starting tonight, with a huge test here in The Lone Star State.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg