With the loss tonight against the Montreal Canadiens 4-2, the Winnipeg Jets 2012-2013 season is officially over. With both the New York Rangers and Ottawa Senators winning their games tonight, a victory over the Habs would have been irrelevant.
Inconsistencies throughout the season and a late-season five-game losing streak (followed by, as it turns out, an immediate, though inconsequential five-game winning streak) is what will buy you a final positioning of ninth in the Eastern Conference. A rash of injuries doesn't help either, but then again, that didn't stop the Senators from clinching the last seed.
Now the mantra of Jets fans has to be "wait till next year." They got close last year, they were even closer this year with an overall record of 24-21-3. Good for 51 points. But not good enough. The fact of the matter is, sadly, the Jets just aren't good enough...yet. General Manager Kevin Cheveldayoff made no moves at the trade deadline, for reasons I still cannot fathom. I get they are sticking to their franchise game plan of building through the draft with a few free agents and waiver pick-ups, but a trade or two may have given them a little more pieces to the puzzle and a little spark that may have made the difference this year, at least as far as stumbling into the post-season.
But the building blocks are definitely there and a brighter future almost has to come to fruition. With the nucleus of the likes of Zach Bogosian, Evander Kane, Andrew Ladd, Blake Wheeler, Dustin Byfuglien and Ondrej Pavelec; the future can only get brighter. Add to that the future additions of Mark Scheifele, Jacob Trouba and possibly Adam Lowry.
The Winnipeg Free Press's Gary Lawless had this to say about the immediate future of the Jets:
"Next season, the organization will welcome Mark Scheifele, Jacob
Trouba and Adam Lowry, getting an immediate upgrade of young talent.
GM Kevin Cheveldayoff will have a lot of freedom in terms of
contracts this summer and he'll be able to do some reshaping of the
bottom end of his roster. He'll have to. The group he was left by the
previous administration wasn't good enough, and so far, Cheveldayoff
hasn't had much opportunity to retool. He will this off-season, with
lots of salary-cap flexibility heading into an intriguing marketplace.
Most of the Jets' core pieces got better this season. Ladd, Little
and Zach Bogosian took major steps. The same can be said to a lesser
degree about Kane and Wheeler.
Now Cheveldayoff must get them more help.
Some players will have to go. Cheveldayoff needs to turn the soil this summer and bring in new answers to some of his problems.
Noel got more out of this roster this year than he did the year
before. There have been some obstacles -- or built-in excuses, depending
on one's angle -- that won't be in play next season. No franchise
transfer, no lockout and no shortened season, just a regular off-season
followed by a training camp and an 82-game schedule. It will be time for
Noel to be judged.
Winnipeg has gotten better and if by some turn of fate they get into
the playoffs, there will be tangible evidence to support that assertion.
Even if they don't, they will have played all 48 games of this schedule in meaningful circumstances.
This will have been more than a light rapping on the door.
The Jets banged hard on it and if the great Houston Oilers coach Bum
Phillips were around, his authentic "next year we'll kick the son of a
(expletive) in" speech might resonate well with this group.
The best, Jets fans are forced to hope, is yet to come."
Next season, hope will be renewed, the MTS Centre will once again by very loud and "Go Jets Go!" will once again be ringing from the rafters (as well as Jets fans original and humorous chants directed at the opposing teams) for a beloved Winnipeg Jets team that, judging by their record improving year-by-year and the Winnipeg Jets will be in the NHL playoffs.
One can only hope.
There's only five more months until training camp. It can't get here fast enough. But before then, we have the draft in June and the free agent frenzy in July. I love summer, but I can't wait until next year.
