As the air chills in Canada, it’s understandable some of us might want to close our eyes and cast back to warmer summer days. Beaches. Docks. Shorts. All that good stuff.
If you’re a fan of the Winnipeg Jets, though, the here-and-now seems much more appealing than the early days of hockey’s off-season. And as the team prepares to host Pierre-Luc Dubois and the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday (Sportsnet+, 7 p.m. CT), you have to think Jets supporters are more content at this early juncture of the season than they likely dreamed possible four months ago.
On the ice, Winnipeg is 1-1-0 with a couple strong showings. The Jets threw 37 shots at Calgary’s Jacob Markstrom in their first game of the season, but lost on a goal by Andrew Mangiapane with under two minutes to go. In their home-opener, Winnipeg dusted the defending Eastern Conference-champion Florida Panthers, 6-4.
But, for my money, the story here remains the recent off-ice developments that saw Connor Hellebuyck and Mark Scheifele both forgo the opportunity to become free agents next summer and commit long-term to Manitoba.
I mean, think back to the final days of June. The hockey world was gathering in Nashville for the NHL Draft and no small amount of trade speculation circled around and around the Jets. The team was coming off a disappointing five-game, first-round loss to the Vegas Golden Knights and it was getting easier by the minute to wonder if Dubois, Hellebuyck and Scheifele — each now one year away from UFA status — could all be bound for new homes in the not-too-distant future. You didn’t need a doomsday mentality to feel like the storm clouds had already gathered over Winnipeg and were about to unleash the downpour.
Then, things began to shift a bit.
The day before the draft, Dubois was shipped to the Kings for Gabe Vilardi, Alex Iafallo, Rasmus Kupari and a 2024 second-rounder. Even in the moment, the trade felt like a win for Kevin Cheveldayoff. The GM — without the benefit of a whole lot of leverage — stuck to his guns, got the young, big-league talent he desired over draft picks and brought an end to a saga that had already dragged on for what seemed like forever. Twenty-four hours later, Cheveldayoff got a Day 1 draft steal by taking Colby Barlow 18th overall.
Still, it was a twist-in-the-summer-breeze July and August while the futures of two big-time players remained blurry.
Flash forward to Thanksgiving Monday on the eve of the season, when Winnipeg could tell the world Hellebuyck and Scheifele were inking twin extensions to keep them on the only NHL team they’ve ever known for most of the next 10 years.
Hellebuyck dropping anchor? OK. Both guys staying put? At least from the outside, that felt like a complete 180 from where things were trending.
Sure, losing Dubois hurts. That’s why Jets coach Rick Bowness lobbied the young man to stay, even if he knew it was likely a fool’s errand.
“I had no problem with Dubie,” Bowness told reporters in Winnipeg on Monday. “I talked to him an awful lot. I was trying to convince him to stay, but that wasn’t going to happen no matter what. He made it no secret he wasn’t going to sign a long-term deal here.”
So, you take your lumps and move on. It’s not as though Winnipeg hasn’t had to do this before.
But if Dubois was returning against the backdrop of fretting fans wondering if Hellebuyck and Scheifele would be following him out the door, anxieties would be off the charts. Instead, there’s the comforting knowledge that the two homegrown guys — as opposed to the one who sort of had a mercenary vibe from the time he was acquired via trade — decided to stay.
And, really, you can call that a trend in Winnipeg. The core of this team — Scheifele, Hellebuyck, Josh Morrissey, Kyle Connor — are all locked up through at least 2025-26. There’s still plenty of time for Cole Perfetti to prove he’s worthy of the No. 2 centre slot vacated by Dubois, and Barlow’s sniping ability could be part of this club by next October.
The Kings’ move for Dubois was an all-in play for a team that believes it can win it all. But — with a goalie tandem of Cam Talbot and Pheonix Copley — would you bet all the wheat in the Prairies they finish ahead of Winnipeg, with its perennial Vezina contender in goal?
The bottom line for Jets fans is, if they so choose, they can give Dubois the business on Tuesday night secure in the knowledge their team — at the very least — can compete with his new squad, along with most any other club in the league.
And, best of all, there’s now no reason to believe that will change any time soon.
