This Sunday morning I found myself sitting under the ash tree in my backyard, watching it’s leaves gently drifting to the ground while my cats Moose & Lambo basked in the sun. Taking a deep breath of the slightly chilly air, I realized that I really should enjoy this brief calm period before yet another National Hockey League regular season kicks off. Stretching out on a bench, I tried to think of nothing and just let the sun’s rays top up my vitamin D levels…..but it wasn’t too long before thoughts of the Winnipeg Jets popped into my head. If you want to find out what invasive thoughts interrupted my quiet time, keep on reading….
With the 2024-25 Jets’ regular season schedule set to get underway on Wednesday, October 8th versus the Edmonton Oilers, my feelings about my favourite NHL franchise are similar to most seasons. So what are those feelings? Well, there is…
Excitement about the possibilities. Yes, my level of enthusiasm is a bit muted by the fact that I don’t really consider the Jets a Stanley Cup contender. But I do believe that the True North franchise can still be among the NHL playoff teams this year, something that is backed up by Winnipeg being given between a 61% (MoneyPuck) & 75% (The Athletic) chance of qualifying for the post-season. While the chances of a Cinderella-type run that ends with the lifting of the Stanley Cup are extremely low…they are non-existent if you don’t get an invitation to the dance.
Anxiety about how things may play out. The Jets surprised a lot of people with a staunch defensive game last season that helped them to a top 5 finish, so there are concerns that was just a one off or that without Rick Bowness behind the bench, Winnipeg won’t be able to repeat the performance. The latter is less of a worry in my mind, since it has been well-reported that current head coach Scott Arniel played a huge role in developing the stingy defensive systems that led to the Jets being the only squad to allow less than 200 goals against. That being said, it is probably fair to fret about Winnipeg taking a step back in that regard….after all it required a Vezina-level performance by Connor Hellebuyck to occur and winning that trophy back-to-back is not something that happens too often (Martin Brodeur last did it in 06/07 & 07/08).
Hopefulness that Winnipeg’s young prospects take big steps forward. Since I tend to lean towards a long-term view of how the Jets are doing, I will always be happy with a season if some of the younger players in the True North organization show a lot of promise with their development. The 2024-25 campaign provides a bounty of prospects to keep an eye on….both in and out of the NHL. Of course, there are young players like 22 yr old Cole Perfetti, 25 yr old Gabriel Vilardi, & 25 yr old Dylan Samberg in the big leagues. Winnipeg will need all three of these guys to raise the level of their play if the team hopes to compete in what should be a very tough Central Division.
Since I really enjoy looking a season or two ahead for the possibilities, I am perhaps even more excited about the promising players suiting up in the lower leagues:
AHL: 20 yr old Brad Lambert (C), 21 yr old Nikita Chibrikov (RW/LW), 21 yr old Chaz Lucius (C), 20 yr Elias Salomonsson (RD), 21 yr old Thomas Milic (G), & 23 yr old Simon Lundmark (RD)
With at least six quality prospects in the lineup for the Manitoba Moose, the Jets’ AHL affiliate is likely primed for a competitive season. While there is a good chance we will get to see 3 of the above players in a Winnipeg uniform at some point this season, all of them will make a strong push for a permanent NHL spot during the Jets’ next training camp.
ECHL: 20 yr old Dominic DiVincentiis (G)
The Norfolk Admirals had the 7th best record in the ECHL last year and will be relying on young DiVincenttis to help them remain among the league’s better franchises. If he plays as well as Milic did in a similar situation last season, I expect that he will at least get a sniff of the AHL at some point in 2024-25.
CHL: 19 yr old Brayden Yager (C), 19 yr old Colby Barlow (LW), 20 yr old Jacob Julien (C), 20 yr old Connor Levis (C/RW), 18 yr old Kevin He (LW), 18 yr old Keiron Walton (C/LW), & Marcus Loponen (C/LW)
The Canadian Junior leagues have 7 of the Winnipeg Jets’ draft picks playing in their 3 major leagues, including a couple former 1st round draft picks in Yager (WHL) & Barlow (OHL).
OTHER: 23 yr old Dmitri Rashevsky (KHL – LW/RW), 18 yr old Alfons Freij (HockeyAllsvenskan – RD/LD), & 20 yr old Garrett Brown (NCAA – RD)
A few more Jets’ prospects spread around the world, but the key guy would like be Winnipeg’s most recent 2nd round pick, Freij. The 6’1″ 196 lb Swedish defenseman was selected in the early 2nd round of the most recent NHL Entry Draft and will be on the ice for Bjorkloven this season.
How have the prospects started off their seasons?
Some of them are off to a great start, in particular Brayden Yager (Moose Jaw Warriors), Kevin He (Niagara IceDogs), and Kieron Walton (Sudbury Wolves). Colby Barlow was holding out for a trade and that finally came to pass when he was shipped to the Oshawa Generals, so missed some of the early OHL action and only has 1 game under his belt with his new club. Check out the graphic below for the early scoring production by the prospects already in action….

About the last pre-season game…
With both teams dressing NHL-level lineups, I was less than impressed with the Winnipeg Jets’ intensity in their 3-2 win over the Calgary Flames. If not for a stellar outing by Hellebuyck, our squad would have dropped a contest to a roster that most experts are predicting will end up finishing near the bottom of the standings. Bucky was on his game as he turned aside 32 of 34 shots faced for an impressive .941 save percentage. The big American tender denied 4 out of 5 high danger opportunities from the Flames and 10 out of 11 attempts from medium danger areas.
There were some other positives….Nino Niederreiter & Colin Miller scored goals yet again. Dylan Samberg looked solid with over 20 minutes of ice time, including 6:42 on a penalty kill that went 5 for 5 against Calgary. The trio of Rasmus Kupari, Morgan Barron, & Alex Iafallo looked very good and spent the majority of their 4th line shifts in the Flames’ end.
Here are how the advanced stats looked after the Jets’ final pre-season contest:

Losing the majority of statistical categories against a roster not expected to make the playoffs is not a great sign in the final pre-season contest. The Calgary Flames did have a heavy powerplay advantage, mostly due to the fact that they were moving their feet faster all night…but also due to some questionable officiating in the final period. In the end, Kyle Connor taking advantage of a lucky bounce off an offensive zone face-off with some slick mitts decided things.
The Winnipeg Jets did excel in one key stat, high danger scoring opportunities. That above HDCF% rating means that our boys did a better job at getting to the low slot, especially at even strength where the Jets had almost 65% of high-danger looks. The heatmap from NaturalStatTrick.com displays where Winnipeg had their shots and goals (G’s on map) from against Calgary. FYI – the denser the shot volume, the more the colour moves from green to blue.

The newly revamped powerplay unit had showed some promise in prior exhibition games, but the Jets did very little with their 2 opportunities against the Flames (0.19 expected goals). One potential positive is that the split in ice time between the 1st & 2nd units was pretty good (2:10 to 1:50). While the second group may have less overall talent in it, their shoot-first attitude has been rewarded during the pre-season with Miller’s hard & lethal shot being an early key to that success.
Probably not the last time this season that the Winnipeg Jets will rely on Hellebuyck to steal them a win.
Manitoba Moose training camp update…
The minor league affiliate continues to roll on with its training camp and yesterday saw the coaching staff split the roster in two for some intra-squad action. I was there to watch it unfold with my own eyes and was absolutely delighted when Chaz Lucius pocketed 4 goals at the Hockey For All Centre. The former 1st round pick was looking very good along side some good grinders in Parker Ford & Mason Shaw. Lets just hope the kid can get the healthy season he deserves, cause he is just itching to break out.
Here are the players currently involved with the Manitoba Moose’s training camp, though word is that Jaret Anderson-Dolan may be joining them (if he clears waivers), as the Winnipeg Jets just reduced their roster by one today (courtesy of Illegal Curve.com):

Around the NHL….
I mentioned way up at the top about my anticipation of the start of the NHL’s regular season, but technically the year has already kicked off when the New Jersey Devils swept the Buffalo Sabres in a two game series in Prague, Czechia. Was only able to catch a bit of the action, but I did notice that new acquisition Paul Cotter paid off immediate dividends by netting 2 important goals in the contests.
Jeremy Swayman has a new contract with the Boston Bruins, paying him an average of $8.25M per year over 8 NHL seasons. That moves the young tender into the top 6 in goaltender salaries, something Bruin fans have been vocally pissed off about. The vast majority of the fanbase seems to have decided that Swayman is a greedy SOB and he should have taken an under-market deal like previous players did for Boston. Searching my pockets for the world’s smallest violin to play for them, but since I can’t seem to locate that tiny object I’ll just say they’ll get no sympathy from me (or likely any other Jet fan).
The Edmonton Oilers were on the wrong side of a 4 to 1 game in their last pre-season outing against the Vancouver Canucks, so we will likely get to see a motivated Connor McDavid when the puck officially drops for the Winnipeg Jets’ regular season.
Final NHL roster cuts are due by Monday at 4 pm CST. In order for a waiver-required player to be off a franchise’s roster in time, they must be sent down today. So that means guys like Haydn Fleury, Dylan Coghlan, and both of Eric Comrie & Kaapo Kahkonen will be on the opening day Jets’ roster. It also means that youngsters Brad Lambert, Nikita Chibrikov, & Elias Salomonsson are all Manitoba Moose-bound in the near future if Winnipeg hopes to become roster compliant.
Come back to Arctic Ice Hockey on Wednesday to discuss the clash versus the Edmonton Oilers throughout the day. Enjoy the rest of your weekend………Go Jets!!!! Go Moose!! Go Admirals!!
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