The Winnipeg Jets are coming off a solid effort against the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday, picking up the franchise’s 6th shutout of the season as they downed their division rivals 3 to 0. That contest saw our squad play an excellent defensive game as they limited the offensively minded Avs to a mere 1.36 expected goals…that is pretty impressive against the 6th best scoring team in the NHL.
After a day off from hockey, the Winnipeg Jets (29-12-3) returned to practice on Monday to get ready for a visit from the Vancouver Canuck (19-13-10). The two Canadian clubs are both currently holding onto a playoff spot, with the Jets tied for 1st and the Nucks sitting in 15th place.
The Jets have gone 6-2-2 over their past 10 contests, but haven’t really taken advantage of their longest home stretch of the season so far (2-1-2 record). The True Northers still have 3 more games to play at the Canada Life Centre in the home stand, all against Pacific Division franchises, so they will be hoping to improve on their 5-3-3 record against the West Coast teams. Winnipeg is not exactly healthy at this point of the season, with 3 or 4 potential starting skaters on the shelf due to various injuries. The Jets’ forward depth is being tested a bit with 3rd liner Mason Appleton and utilityman Vladislav Namestnikov being unable to suit up tonight, while coach Scott Arniel won’t have defensemen Colin Miller and Haydn Fleury as options either.
The Canucks are coming into the Peg on a one game winning streak after they defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-0 on Saturday, ending a 4 game skid that included two contests where Vancouver failed to score a goal. With a 3-3-4 record over their past 10 games, the Nucks are finally starting to get healthy, with only forward Dakota Joshua expected to miss tonight’s clash. The biggest news Vancouver’s coaching staff received is that defenseman Filip Hronek should be able to return from injury that has kept him off the ice since late November.
Here is how PuckPedia is predicting the Canucks & Jets will line up their players this evening at the CLC:


One change to the Jets’ lineup above will be the return of Ville Heinola to the 3rd pairing, as he is expected to take the place of Dylan Coghlan (according to IllegalCurve). I am not that surprised that Cogs got the healthy scratch after a rough outing against the Avalanche, but I really wish young Ville would get the opportunity to play on his correct side. Not that I am suggesting Logan Stanley should play on the right…the big guy can barely handle playing his correct side, so I don’t want to see the nightmare he would become on his off-hand.
Looking at the Match Up stats below, the shot totals peaked my interest when I noticed that both Winnipeg & Vancouver have been low volume shooters in 2024-25. This is a common theme for Jets’ fans, but we rarely go up against a team that has lower numbers than our squad. The special teams battle seems like it should be pretty close, as both franchises are in the top half of the NHL in those categories.
Check out the numbers from this season below:


Since I am WAY behind schedule today….I don’t think I can come up with anything witty or interesting to end the article with. Hopefully my fellow Arctic Ice Hockey members can pick up the slack by getting the discussion going in the Comment section.
Giving the Boost to someone who really needs to find a way to get their name on the scoring sheet tonight…Cole Perfetti. I am certainly not as down on the winger as some of the Jets’ fanbase are, as I think he plays a very effective 2-way game and would do better offensively with some size on his unit. Regardless of that, a multi-point outing would be a great boost to the never-smiling youngster. Since the preview picture also includes the Winnipeg bench, it is possible that some other Jets are impacted as well (since the pic is from last year, watch Sean Monahan go off for the Blue Jackets tonight).
Go Winnipeg!!!!!