2014-15 LEADING SCORERS
LW Andrew Ladd (24 G, 38 A, 62 P)
RW Blake Wheeler (26 G, 35 A, 61 P)
C Bryan Little (24 G, 28 A, 52 P)
LAST SEASON
The Winnipeg Jets were a very exciting team to watch last season. They not only made the playoffs for the first time in their new generation team's history, but they had overwhelming support from their fans in the process. The fans wore white to every home game, and thus, the whiteout tradition from the 80's was reborn.
Trades made during the 2014-15 season kicked off in the month of December, when they acquired veteran defenseman Jay Harrison from the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for a 6th round pick. However, the biggest move came later on in the season, when they traded Evander Kane, Zach Bogosian, and Jason Kasdorf to the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for Tyler Myers, Drew Stafford, Brendan Lemieux, Joel Armia, and a 2015 1st round pick. This trade came after rumours were circulating around Evander Kane and his problems in the locker room. Afterwards, they acquired forward Jiri Tlusty from the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for a conditional 5th or 6th round pick in 2015 and a 3rd round pick in 2016. They finally sent Carl Klingberg to the New York Rangers in exchange for Lee Stempniak, and after making all these moves to boulster their roster, they were ready to come back to the playoffs.
Unfortunately for the Jets, they had a very tough first round matchup in the Anaheim Ducks, and were unfortunately swept, despite the support from the fans and effort put in by the team. There was no reason to panic, however, as the Jets had a solid group of prospects and a young team in place. They looked ahead to the offseason with optimism.
OFFSEASON
IN
Alexander Burmistrov
Matt Fraser
Andrew MacWilliam
OUT
Jiri Tlusty
Julien Brouillette
T.J Galiardi
Patrick Holland
Keaton Ellerby
Jussi Olkinuora
Michael Frolik
Eric O'Dell
Peter Budaj
Will O'Neill
Lee Stempniak
Jim Slater
The Jets entered the 2015 NHL Draft, and while already known to select highly skilled players in the first round, they did the same thing this year, selecting forward Kyle Connor from the Youngstown Phantoms of the USHL. Soon after, they selected forward Jack Roslovic from the USNTDP. In the second round, they added more potential first round talent, by selecting forward Jansen Harkins from the Prince George Cougars of the WHL. In free agency, they did next to nothing to improve their team, besides bringing back young Russian Forward Alex Burmistrov and signing depth forward Matt Fraser. They let go of some veterans in Michael Frolik and Lee Stempniak, but given the amount of near NHL ready prospects they had in the system, this wasn't much of a problem.
NEXT SEASON PT 1. OFFENSE
The Jets will have their offense led by Blake Wheeler and Andrew Ladd, and even though they might suffer a setback after losing Michael Frolik to the Calgary Flames, expect young Russian Alex Burmistrov to make a solid effort to replace him. Expect young Nikolaj Ehlers to emerge as a potential Calder Trophy canidate if he cracks the roster out of training camp.
NEXT SEASON PT 2. DEFENSE
Dustin Byfuglien and Toby Enstrom will do most of the work quarterbacking the Jets defense, with veteran presence close by from Mark Stuart. Look for youngster Jacob Trouba to step into a bigger role, with prospect Josh Morrisey being the leading canidate to crack the roster among others.
NEXT SEASON PT 3. GOALTENDING
There was lots of buzz circulating the Jets goaltending after Michael Hutchinson began to give Ondrej Pavelec a run for his money, so in the following year, expect Hutchinson and Pavelec to share the starts and get a relatively equal amount.
POSSIBLE 2015-16 OPENING NIGHT LINEUP
Andrew Ladd - Bryan Little - Blake Wheeler
Matthew Perrault - Mark Scheifele - Drew Stafford
Nikolaj Ehlers - Alexander Burmistrov - Chris Thorburn
Matt Halischuk - Adam Lowry - Matt Fraser
Tobias Enstrom - Tyler Myers
Ben Chiarot - Dustin Byfuglien
Mark Stuart - Jacob Trouba
Ondrej Pavelec
Michael Hutchinson
No comments:
Post a Comment