Three Scenarios for the Future of the Winnipeg Jets

Much has already been said, written, theorized, and fantasized about this offseason for the Winnipeg Jets Hockey Club. After a season that can only be described as falling flat on one’s face after last offseason’s perceived promise, fans have once again opined this Summer as the most important Summer of Kevin Cheveldayoff’s tenure as General Manager, prompted mostly by the allure of the available established NHL coaches – headlined by none other than near-hometown kid, Barry Trotz.

Hiring a Head Coach, however, is merely but one step in putting together a team that ideally competes for the Stanley Cup in any given season. That being said, uniquely for the Jets is the idea of how this particular vacancy will be filled – at least, in this author’s opinion – will undoubtedly influence the direction of the Hockey Club for the next 5 years, both in terms of the Hockey Operations personnel (of which I’ve written about before) and the composition of the roster.

Which option will the Winnipeg Jets go with – or, which option will be imposed on the Hockey Club despite their efforts? With the Stanley Cup Finals now underway, we may not know around July 1st, so in the meantime, let’s theorize. 

Winnipeg vs Montreal: 2021 Playoff Preview (according to Chief)

Wow, who knew we would have been here? After sweeping the Oilers? Against the Canadiens? 2021 has certainly been a wild year thus far.

Winnipeg vs Edmonton: 2021 Playoff Preview (according to Chief)

I am going to continue this weird tradition of only doing long-ish articles for playoff previews. I was wrong last year, but that's only because everyone important-ish got injured like 2 seconds into the game. Here's hoping for some actual competitiveness this ye- oh boy, it's the Oilers.

It's probably not a "rift", but...

There has been much ado lately about how far apart Paul Maurice and Kevin Cheveldayoff seem to be on one of the Winnipeg Jets most prized prospects, Ville Heinola. Whereas Chevy has made reference to “internal upgrades on defence” at the start of the season, midseason, and post-trade deadline, Maurice – the person in control of the lineups for games – and Charlie Huddy – the person in charge of the pairings going out onto the ice during play – has only played Heinola twice in a now-84 day span, averaging just around 12 minutes in each game.

Winnipeg vs Calgary: 2019-20 Playoff Preview (according to Chief)

I did one of these before on the infamous HFBoards in preparation for the Jets playoff series against the Blues, and somehow came correct in my prediction of "Blues in 6", so I thought I would do one of these again for the very weird COVID-19 Stanley Cup Qualifiers starting tomorrow (somehow).