Jets Go 1-4-3 in Preseason

After going 1-2 in early pre-season with losses to Washington and Ottawa and a win against the still-hated Edmonton Oilers, the Jets finished up their NHL's pre-season with a 1-4-3 record after a 5-0 shutout loss last night against the Boston Bruins in Saskatoon.

A rematch loss to the Oilers and back-to-back losses to the rival Minnesota Wild put the Jets at 1-5 after six games and even though this is just the pre-season and not all games (including split-squad games) have the full lineup with all guns firing and mostly rookies and minor-leaguers, a team of Winnipeg consisting of  Evander Kane, Dustin Bufuglien, Andrew Ladd, Bryan Little and most of their full squad losing to a Minnesota team minus Mikko Koivu, Zach Parise and Ryan Suter is disconcerting.

Back-to-back losses to the Bruins completed the dismal pre-season record, although losing to the Boston Bruins is no reason for shame, with teams just trying out rookies and line combinations, it would have been nice to have a couple of more wins after waiting all summer.

Both Mark Scheifele and Jacob Trouba look ready to start the season with the Winnipeg Jets.

"I Want Pav To Be In There!"

Many Winnipeg Jets fans love Ondrej Pavelec, even if his numbers do not bare out his overall athleticism, talent and skill.
Many may even question coach Claude Noel's game-time decisions to put in back-up Al Montoya instead of the iron-man Pavelec.

But all that means nothing to one little Pavelec fan who just couldn't contain her disappointment that the Jets coaching staff decided to take a look at Al Montoya against the Minnesota Wild.

Jets Assign Four to AHL; Morrissey to Prince Albert

The Winnipeg Jets cut their roster to 27 with the departure of this summer's first-round pick Josh Morrissey back to the Prince Albert Raiders of the Western Hockey League and Adam Lowry, Ivan Telegin, Eric O'Dell and Andrew Gordon to the AHL's St. John's IceCaps 

This leaves the Jets with the decision of who to re-assign or cut by next week when all NHL clubs must declare their 23-man roster for the start of the regular season.

Jets Cut White, Send 10 to IceCaps

The Winnipeg Jets have cut Manitoba-born Ian White, who was on a tryout contract with the team.  As this article suggests, White may have been casualty of the talent the Jets may already possess in camp and in the system.

Also the team sent 10 prospects down to their AHL affiliate in St. John's, Newfoundland.

Cheveldayoff Signs 2-Year Extension

Winnipeg Jets owner and CEO Mark Chipman said he is pleased by the work of General Manager Kevin Cheveldayoff and wanted him to be around for the long-term to run the team he has put together.  He rewarded Cheveldayoff, who still has two years remaining on his current five-year contract from 2011, to a two-year extension.

Jets Back in Town as Training Camp Kicks Off

The trades and off-season finagling are done.  The draft picks have been evaluated and the rookie camp is done.  Now it is time to get ready for the 2013-2014 National Hockey League season.

As was the situation in all NHL cities, Winnipeg welcomed its Jets back into town for the first day of main training camp.  Head Coach Claude Noel rallied the troops including newcomers Devin Setoguchi, Michael Frolic, Matt Halischuk, Adam Pardy and Andrew Gordon and spoke to the Winnipeg media afterwards.

The coach is looking for depth in this years squad as many Jets fans are salivating at the prospect of finally making the playoffs in the Western Conference.
The Jets themselves say they are hungry for the start of a new season and a playoff birth, as many have yet to taste the post-season

A quick round -up of who's new, who's gone and who the Jets will count on to propel the team into the playoffs for the first time since 2007.

Go Jets Go!

Future Jets Come Home with 2-1 Record in Young Star Tournament

The Winnipeg Jets prospects showed their wares last week as they defeated the San Jose Sharks and Edmonton Oilers prospects in their opening two games against their new conference-mates in the Young Stars Classic in Penticton, Brithish Columbia; hosted by the Vancouver Canucks, 5-3 and 7-2 respectively.   Hopefully, the outcome of the Oiler game will be repeated for many years to come.  The young Jets lost their third and final game to the Canucks, 2-1.  The Jets did not play the Calgary Flames who was also in the tournament.

Mark Scheifele and Jacob Trouba, the predetermined "stars" of the Jets roster going into Penticton, weren't the over-riding factor in their two victories over San Jose and Edmonton.  Scott Kosmachuck made his stock rise with the Jets brass a bit, as he scored four goals in three games as well as Brenden Kichton and Mitch Theoret earning a goal and an assist a piece and Ryan Olsen got noticed by throwing his body around the ice.  Eric Comrie showed poise and athleticism between the pipes in this years tournament and showed why he was selected in the third round.  2013 second-round selection Nicolas Petan showed exactly why he was chosen by the Jets at last June's entry draft.  He speed, shot and hockey sense will be immeasurable in the near future. This year's first-round pick, Joshua Morrissey scored once as well as undrafted Austen Brassard who notched the only Jets goal against the host, Canucks.  Free-agent signing Jussi Olkinuora also got a win in net against the Sharks.  Lukas Sutter and Cody Sol rounded out the stand-outs at this year's tournament.

The future looks bright for the Winnipeg Jets.

Setoguchi Honors Hawerchuck; Won't Wear Number 10

Unlike Evander Kane who received permission personally from Bobby Hull to wear the iconic number nine in Winnipeg, newcomer Devin Setoguchi has decided to change his jersey number from number 10 he wore the past two seasons in Minnesota to 40.
His reasoning?

"Ten kind of has a history here and it's tough to follow up on 50-goal seasons.  Dale Hawerchuck did that pretty well.  I just decided to go with something else and 40 looks like 10 with a little mark on it."

His new teammates say Setoguchi  is fun to watch.

Jets Hire Keane as Player Development Assistant

The Winnipeg Jets have hired three-time Stanley Cup champion and one-time Manitoba Moose, as well as Winnipeg native Mike Keane as an assistant of player development.