NHL Hockey Season Previews – Winnipeg Jets
Looking for 2019 Winnipeg Jets predictions? The Jets will have the spotlight on them and shining brightly in 2019-20. The team has lost a ton, particularly on defence, in the offseason. How the team can secure the boat in choppy waters will be crucial to how positive or negative the campaign is for this supposed Stanley Cup contender in a ruthless Central division.
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2019-20 NHL Hockey Preview – Winnipeg Jets
Head Coach: Paul Maurice
2019 Record: 47-30-5
Winnipeg Jets Odds to win the 2020 Stanley Cup Championship: 17/1
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Losing a franchise stalwart is a blow for any team, but does skipper Paul Maurice and his staff have enough to shoulder the loss?
2019 Winnipeg Jets Predictions: Team Strengths
It’ll be fascinating to see what happens with the Jets this year; a team that can take pride in being one of the most well-balanced group of forwards in the NHL, but also having the misfortune of playing in easily the toughest division in the league. Winnipeg’s Central division has as many as five clubs that can realistically have designs on winning a Stanley Cup this year. To be fair, the Jets are totally in that group.
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The ‘Peg is led by a couple of consummate professionals in Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler. These two beauties bring talent, experience and work ethic to the table and embody leadership. Elsewhere, the Jets are debating what to do with an altogether different type of player in streaky scorer Patrik Laine. The owner of maybe the best release by anyone not named Alex Ovechkin, Laine can captivate the NHL for weeks at a time, but also disappear for long stretches too. Laine perhaps needs to re-hone his focus and dedication to his craft, because he has oodles of talent to spare.
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There’s also Kyle Connor, who fit like a glove on the top line with Schiefele and Wheeler last year. He finished third on the team in scoring, with 66 points. Definitely nothing to sneeze at. On the blueline, Josh Morrissey is a tantalizing young player, but he’ll have to carry an awfully large load with legend Dustin Byfuglien no longer in the mix and fellow stalwart Jacob Trouba traded to the New York Rangers.
2019 Winnipeg Jets Predictions: Team Weaknesses
In net, the heavy lifting is done by Connor Hellebuyck. He started 63 games last season and had just an OK season by his standard, finishing with a 2.90 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage. Backup Laurent Brossoit’s numbers were actually more impressive – so maybe Brossoit wrestles a few starts away from the American this time around. If either of them get injured or if Brossoit falters, the Jets also have Eric Comrie, who’s had several good seasons in the minors now. Hellebuyck regaining Vezina-calibre form is critical for this team to have Stanley Cup ambitions. It doesn’t help that the blueline is so decimated.
Another thing that hurts this team is the unsure status of veteran leader Dustin Byfuglien. The big-bodied blueliner took a personal leave of absence from the team recently, but as of publishing time has been fined by the team for being away too long, and is allegedly contemplating retirement. He is a titanic-sized playmaker and agitator who has a championship pedigree from his years in Chicago, and ‘Big Buff’ would be sorely missed.
The ‘D’ corps will have to lean on green young pups like Sami Niku and Tucker Poolman, who are unknown quanitities, to say the least. How they can handle the bright lights of the MTS Centre will speak volumes for how the season goes in the ‘Peg.
Winnipeg Jets Prediction: Fifth in Central division, Eighth in Western Conference
Whispers of locker-room discord stem from the fact that star scorer Laine doesn’t pull any punches when he speaks with the media. He shoots from the hip, which is refreshing from a media standpoint, but as it is rare, the pundits start overreacting and making mountains out of molehills. Head coach Paul Maurice is as savvy as they come.
General manager Kevin Cheveldayoff has also done a great job of not working at cross-purposes with Maurice and the rest of the staff in hockey-crazed Manitoba. This trial-by-fire of the defencemen is not what you want in a Stanley Cup contender, however.
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Nashville, Dallas, Colorado and reigning Stanley Cup champ St. Louis all look excellent in the division, and there’s other heavy hitters in the West like Calgary, grizzled playoff force San Jose, and the upstart Vegas Golden Knights. It goes without saying that it’s not an easy road for the Jets in 2019-20. With such a strong leadership corps like Schiefele and Wheeler, and Coach Maurice, who doesn’t suffer fools, anything is possible, however.
What do you think about our 2019 Winnipeg Jets predictions? Please leave us a comment below telling us how you think they’ll do this season!
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