Winnipeg Jets

[wags_in_the_peg]

They just need to knock on the door of the business community to buy Season Tickets. Just nuts, we have a 15% in that area, when other teams have 45%.

mmmm, they have a dedicated corporate sales team that are knocking extremely hard.

[lotw_wpg]

mmmm, they have a dedicated corporate sales team that are knocking extremely hard.

Ya I assume they would, but 15% is pretty bad. I mean it would be better if it was 25%. You can't just rely on individuals. If COL increases (which it has), Jets tickets would be the first thing to go out the window.

[pspeid]

Below is a recent Globe & Mail article about the Jet's recent on-ice success. Nothing that hasn't been written of in other sources, but nice to see a national reading audience at least exposed to what's happening with the team.

I have to offer a WARNING: This is another positive article about Winnipeg. If positives make you ill, then skip this post, or at least complain that no-one would ever write a positive word about this city without massive bribes being involved.



OPINION
The Jets are in gear, so Winnipeg’s assessing its many blessings
Seeing its team at the top of the NHL standings gives the Manitoba capital more reasons to feel pride and believe in a unique destiny for the city

Roy MacGregor
ROY MACGREGOR
SPECIAL TO THE GLOBE AND MAIL


Five years before the NHL even existed, they were talking destiny at Portage and Main, Canada’s iconic intersection.

The year was 1912, and even the Chicago Tribune was conceding “All roads lead to Winnipeg” as Canada’s most central and youngest metropolitan was bustling with life and construction. “We Canadians all believe,” Dominion Magazine added, “that 1912 will be the greatest year so far, in the history of the City of Winnipeg, of Western Canada and of this Dominion.”

It didn’t quite turn out that way. The biggest political story out of Winnipeg was the province of Manitoba stretching north to the coast of Hudson Bay. The biggest Canadian sports story was George Goulding taking gold in the 10-kilometre race-walk at the Stockholm Olympics.

Jets, for what it’s worth, wouldn’t even take flight for another 27 years …

But this past week the Winnipeg Jets – an NHL franchise once lost to Phoenix, later retrieved from Atlanta – soared to the very top of the NHL standing. When the Jets defeated Chicago 2-1 on Thursday, it marked eight straight victories for the team. For a country that has not hoisted a Stanley Cup in 31 years – the 1992-93 Montreal Canadiens last to claim hockey’s greatest prize – this was a welcome and hopeful sign at the halfway mark of the 2023-24 season.

As a little icing to this surprising cake, the Vancouver Canucks were in second place overall midweek, with the Toronto Maple Leafs standing ninth in the 32-team league, the Edmonton Oilers 20th, Calgary Flames 24th, Montreal Canadiens 25th and Ottawa Senators a lowly 30th.

Winnipeg is an unusual and unique city, much disparaged by those who do not live there, much loved by those who do. Outsiders love to call it “Winter-peg,” yet as The Globe and Mail’s Shannon Proudfoot wrote recently, the city “punches above its weight in art and music and culture and restaurants.”

The city has one of the country’s most charming gathering spots at The Forks, where the Red and Assiniboine rivers join. It has Assiniboine Park Zoo. It has the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, a glorious art gallery with an Inuit art centre, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, a symphony orchestra, the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre and, most recently, the country’s first First Nations premier in Wab Kinew.

The city is also, to repeat, in first place in the NHL standing.


By evening, the weather had reached blizzard-like conditions.

Still, many fans came to the Canada Life Centre to watch the game.
It is more than half a century since the original Jets of the World Hockey Association signed NHL superstar Bobby Hull to a million-dollar contract at the corner of Portage and Main. The WHA merged with the NHL in 1979 and the Jets, often struggling with attendance and with an aging arena, left town in 1996 to become the Phoenix Coyotes.

The franchise was reborn in 2011, when the Atlanta Thrashers decided hockey might be a better proposition in the northern country that invented the game. There was a new downtown rink, now known as the Canada Life Centre, and strong new ownership in True North Sports & Entertainment.

Over the many years, the team has had many stars – Hull and his Swedish teammates Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson, Dale Hawerchuk, Teemu Selanne and several others – but has often struggled for respect, and even for simple notice by the sports media that is mostly based elsewhere.

Tweets on the social-media platform known as X expressed this frustration regularly this past week:

“The timing of [Toronto Maple Leafs star] William Nylander’s contract extension is great because it gives TSN the perfect excuse to continue ignoring the Jets being in 1st place overall.”
“Not a word on @Sportsnet about first place @NHLJets.”
“HNIC in Canada tomorrow night likely won’t even discuss the @NHLJets being in first place because [Toronto’s Auston] Matthews will probably have a new pair of socks.”
“We’re used to getting beat up,” says 80-year-old Joe Daley, a goaltender with the original Jets of the 1970s and today owner of Joe Daley’s Sports and Framing on St. Mary’s Rd.

“If it isn’t mosquitoes it’s 30-below weather. We’re always going to get beat up but it’s nice to be sitting in the standings where we are. It’s nice to see Vancouver up there, as well. The scribes now have to talk about Canadian teams doing well – not just about whether Canada will ever get another Cup.”

There remain weeks and even months to go before the Stanley Cup playoffs begin, but “Canada Destiny” is at least a possibility in 2024. That the Jets are within that realm is a surprise, particularly to those who only months back saw a team on the verge of yet another rebuild.

A year ago, the team had no captain and a new coach in Rick Bowness, who had both played for and coached the first edition of the Jets. Now, nearly 40 years after he left the ice for coaching, Bowness has stood behind the bench for more NHL games than anyone in history. Next month, he’ll surpass 2,700 games behind the bench in several capacities.

That number would be even higher had Bowness not taken a month’s leave in late October after his wife, Judy, suffered a seizure, fell and injured her shoulder. Judy Bowness has fully recovered and next week will undergo surgery in Winnipeg to repair the damaged shoulder. (Bowness was ably replaced by associate coach Scott Arniel, who has since returned to his regular role.)

Bowness has been head coach, associate coach or assistant coach for the Boston Bruins, Ottawa Senators, New York Islanders, Phoenix Coyotes, Vancouver Canucks, Tampa Bay Lightning, Dallas Stars and, of course, the Jets.

For the very first time as a head coach, Bowness finds his team in first place overall.

“Everyone is so excited,” he says. “It’s such a passionate fan base. We had good teams in the ‘80s and ‘90s, as well – everyone gets on board when you’re winning. It’s just fantastic to see. I love it.”


Bowness had stripped veteran Blake Wheeler, now a New York Ranger, of the captaincy and this season gave the ‘C’ to Adam Lowry. Early in October, general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff signed two key players, forward Mark Scheifele and goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, to similar seven-year US$59.5-million deals. Both would have been unrestricted free agents at the end of this season and many believed would be lost to the Jets. Scheifele is now the team’s leading scorer and Hellebuyck has returned to the form with which he won the Vezina Trophy in 2020. The Jets hope to get even stronger next week with the return of high-scoring Kyle Connor, who damaged his knee mid-December during a game against the Anaheim Ducks. Connor scored 47 goals in 2021-22, 31 last year and has 17 this season while missing the past month.

When the Jets defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-0 on Tuesday, it marked seven successive victories for the team, with Hellebuyck winning his fifth in a row. Incredibly, the Jets were at that point undefeated in regulation while playing teams from the Eastern Conference.

“The attitude right now is as good as it’s ever been,” Joe Daley says. “Everyone has bought into Rick Bowness’s program. This is the way we have to play.

“Heck! – I get excited watching the fourth line of the Winnipeg Jets. I don’t think there’s many who can say that. But they give it all they’ve got, every single one of them.”

“Being in first place is a challenge to any team,” Bowness says. “You are going to get everyone else’s ‘A’ team when you’re at the top. Teams don’t want to get embarrassed, so you get their best.

“I love it whenever a Canadian market does well. Vancouver … Edmonton on a roll. In Canada, the vibe of the city revolves around the team. It’s always better when the Canadian teams do well.”

“I’m ready to be a Jet for life,” Hellebuyck said when he signed his long-term contract extension, “and bring a Cup to this city – because I truly believe we can get it done here.”

Sounds like “Winnipeg Destiny.”

[lotw_wpg]

I have to offer a WARNING: This is another positive article about Winnipeg. If positives make you ill, then skip this post, or at least complain that no-one would ever write a positive word about this city without massive bribes being involved.


Lmao

[BlackDog204]

All good things must come to an end.

The Flyers defeated the Jets 2-0, ending the Jets franchise record 14 game undefeated streak.

Perfetti and Vilardi are great, but the Flyers goalie was unreal.

Jets two best forwards Scheifele and Connor were injured, and hopefully will return soon.

28-10-4

[optimusREIM]

Jets acquire Monohan, pretty solid addition, wonder what else Chevy has up his sleeve?

I imagine with everyone healthy, lines would look like this:

Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi
Perfetti-Monohan-Ehlers
Niederreiter-Lowry-Appleton
Barron-Namestnikov-Iafallo

[wags_in_the_peg]

best solid 4 lines in all the league

[bomberjet]

Let's hope the conditional 3rd round pick in the Monahan deal goes through. :notacrook:

[pspeid]

Let's hope the conditional 3rd round pick in the Monahan deal goes through. :notacrook:

Oh yeah :tup:

[pspeid]

Jets acquire Monohan, pretty solid addition, wonder what else Chevy has up his sleeve?



I know he's been the subject of some pretty heavy fan criticism in the past, but i really can't fault Chevy for the job he's done here. He's managed to build competitive teams that give the fans a realistic shot at the playoffs many years. He's done this without a bottomless bank account and without the team being based in the sexiest market in the league. It'll be interesting to see what else happens in the next few days.

[bomberjet]

Coach fired himself a couple years back. Seems like the locker room issues have been sorted out. Since then seems like things have gone well. Give Chevy credit for what he has done recently with the PLD trade, Scheifele / Hellebuyck signings to solidify that the team will not in fact need to be blown up.

Monahan deal and maybe still things to come. Could be in the case for GM of the year?

I still do believe at some point changing GM will need to be done.

And what about Bowness for coach of the year? Things have gone very well so far. If Jets can pick up steam again after the break, looking good on all fronts! Just need butts in the seats.

[optimusREIM]

Coach fired himself a couple years back. Seems like the locker room issues have been sorted out. Since then seems like things have gone well. Give Chevy credit for what he has done recently with the PLD trade, Scheifele / Hellebuyck signings to solidify that the team will not in fact need to be blown up.

Monahan deal and maybe still things to come. Could be in the case for GM of the year?

I still do believe at some point changing GM will need to be done.

And what about Bowness for coach of the year? Things have gone very well so far. If Jets can pick up steam again after the break, looking good on all fronts! Just need butts in the seats.

I did hear the word "sellout" actually come up a few times recently, so it seems as though it has improved, not great still, but definitely not as bad as at the beginning of the season.

[WinCitySparky]

Yikes

[bomberjet]

Here we go. Mid season, post break spiral. Hopefully they can right the ship this year.

[FactaNV]

Looks like some "game management" is in full swing by the refs tonight. Two MIN dives draw two penalties. That said, the was a crosscheck, they both should have received penalties.

[The Jabroni]

After yesterday's failed attempt at winning in Calgary, despite Monahan's amazing natural hat trick, tonight's game against Minnesota was quite the win, and the power play is finally producing over the last couple games, including tonight. The line blenders actually worked in our favour, without the desperation and while we are leading.

Still chasing Colorado and Dallas for top spot in the central with a couple games on hand.

[Malcsta]

After yesterday's failed attempt at winning in Calgary, despite Monahan's amazing natural hat trick, tonight's game against Minnesota was quite the win, and the power play is finally producing over the last couple games, including tonight. The line blenders actually worked in our favour, without the desperation and while we are leading.

Still chasing Colorado and Dallas for top spot in the central with a couple games on hand.

That game against the wild was one of the most entertaining games to watch in recent memory

[FactaNV]

That game against the wild was one of the most entertaining games to watch in recent memory

Was it ever a blast live. Absolutely electric. I hope we can build a good rivalry with the Wild.

[optimusREIM]

Was it ever a blast live. Absolutely electric. I hope we can build a good rivalry with the Wild.

I would argue that there is a very real and already existing rivalry there. Closest geograhic team, have played them in the playoffs, have had a ton of high intensity games against them. Love when they play each other, even if it doesn't always go our way.

[wags_in_the_peg]

i was there in 303 and i found it a real sloppy game to watch. yeah there was some boo'ing of Hartman and a few chants, but I wouldnt say it crazy fun. but i'm an old guy

[FactaNV]

i was there in 303 and i found it a real sloppy game to watch. yeah there was some boo'ing of Hartman and a few chants, but I wouldnt say it crazy fun. but i'm an old guy

Sounds like you're just old 😂

[lotw_wpg]

I was at the game, probably the best game I saw this year and I've been to a few.

[The Jabroni]

I was at the game when we played Columbus back on January 9. That was fun!

[bomberjet]

So Bettman is in town begging corporate sponsors to increase their commitment to the Jets.

Season ticket base is down 30%. TNSE said this is not sustainable long term.

[drew]

^ It's demonstrated that the NHL can exist at far few numbers than this over the long term (see Phoenix/Arizona, Florida, etc.)

[FactaNV]

^ It's demonstrated that the NHL can exist at far few numbers than this over the long term (see Phoenix/Arizona, Florida, etc.)

The hypocrisy is disgusting. Bettman will allow Southern teams to remain at half capacity or worse for years but as soon as Winnipeg is hitting 70-75% capacity, it's all doom and gloom and warnings they'll move the team. Customary FUCK Bettman.

[Ozabald]

The hypocrisy is disgusting. Bettman will allow Southern teams to remain at half capacity or worse for years but as soon as Winnipeg is hitting 70-75% capacity, it's all doom and gloom and warnings they'll move the team. Customary FUCK Bettman.

Though no fan of Bettman, to be fair, if he didn't support the relocation of the Thrashers, there would be no NHL in Winnipeg.

Now that Chipman is commenting on poor attendance, I think that speaks volumes. Maybe Thomson wants out; who knows. There may be the day where small markets like Winnipeg will no longer, financially, be able to support Tier-1 pro sports teams. Starting to see it in the NFL where small market teams such as Jacksonville may be considering relocation.

There needs to be a team back in Atlanta. It will fail, again, and relocate to Canada as history has shown! :haha:

[drew]

^ Does Chipman have his glasses on or off? If the glasses are off, it is indeed dire.

But honestly, this is a conversation between the Jets and local business owners who need to step up. And also an overhaul with the sales department at TNSE. They dropped the ball big time over the past 3 or 4 years - and they are going to have to put some work in to get things back on track.

[BlackDog204]

The hypocrisy is disgusting. Bettman will allow Southern teams to remain at half capacity or worse for years but as soon as Winnipeg is hitting 70-75% capacity, it's all doom and gloom and warnings they'll move the team. Customary FUCK Bettman.

I.believe the difference between Winnipeg and many US markets is that the southern markets have the potential to sellout every game, due to large population in the metro area. In Winnipeg, the Jets are the #1 draw in terms of entertainment. Unfortunately, the threshold of the market is being tested.

In the aftermath of COVID, and the increase in cost of living, many Manitobans have made paying mortgages off, and other essentials more of a priority. The only thing I would change, is to sack the TNSE marketing team.

"Go ahead and give up your season tickets, we could not care less!" is a horrible way to treat loyal Jets fans.

[BlackDog204]

There needs to be a team back in Atlanta. It will fail, again, and relocate to Canada as history has shown! :haha:

Atlanta and Salt Lake City are the favorites to becomes teams # 33 and 34.

[dmacc]

Attendance for last Tuesdays game was 14,700. I think people were really disappointed and uncertain over the summer after another player demanded a trade and we weren't sure what we would have this year. That on top of covid made for very poor attendance at the beginning of this season. Now that the team has proven to be a contender, I think things will turn around.

I do admit the marketing team should be revamped as they more then dropped the ball over the last few years. They never made an effort from the get go because they didn't have to. Their hubris has just finally caught up with them.

[Wpg_Guy]

Winnipeg Jets ownership sounds the alarm on attendance: ‘Not going to work over the long haul’
http://www. theathletic.com/5293782/2024/02/23/winnipeg-jets-attendance-issues-nhl/ (http://www.theathletic.com/5293782/2024/02/23/winnipeg-jets-attendance-issues-nhl/)
Chris Johnston Feb 23, 2024

WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Behind a large desk in an office tower with a view out over True North Square, Mark Chipman is working the phones.
Chipman is chairman of the Winnipeg Jets. A local businessman who got caught up in the failed movement to save his city’s NHL team three decades ago, he later fixed his gaze on bringing big-league hockey back to one of the smallest markets in North American professional sports and defied the odds by actually making it happen.
On this day, he’s still fighting to ensure the Jets work in Winnipeg by taking on a cumbersome task: making personal calls to those who have let their season tickets lapse.
The organization’s once-solid foundation seems to again be quaking beneath Chipman’s feet. Even playing out of the NHL’s smallest permanent arena, which holds 15,225 fans for hockey games, the Jets are drawing just 87.4 percent of capacity this season, the third-lowest mark in the 32-team league. Their overall average attendance of 13,306 is the lowest of any NHL team other than the Arizona Coyotes, who are playing in a college arena. And that’s despite the Jets being one of the top-performing teams in the Western Conference.
Winnipeg’s season-ticket base has suffered a 27 percent decline in just three years, falling from approximately 13,000 to just under 9,500, according to the Jets.
“I wouldn’t be honest with you if I didn’t say, ‘We’ve got to get back to 13,000,’” Chipman said. “This place we find ourselves in right now, it’s not going to work over the long haul. It just isn’t.”
One by one, Chipman gathers first-hand information from the people who are no longer walking through the doors of Canada Life Centre after filling the building for 332 straight sellouts upon the Jets’ return in October 2011.
Why did they stop coming?
What would convince them to return?
It’s difficult to imagine another member of the NHL’s Board of Governors rolling up their sleeves to this degree, but failure to turn the situation around could threaten the 2.0 version of the Jets’ ability to remain healthy and competitive in the long-term, Chipman said.
The Jets’ health, on and off the ice, is an extremely sensitive subject in a city where heartbreak has been felt before. The Jets left town once already — for Arizona, perhaps the ultimate symbol of hockey’s southern expansion — only to be reborn with a second chance. Losing the team again would likely mean the end for top-tier pro sports in Winnipeg.
So Chipman is looking for opportunities to win back business by offering invitations to former ticket buyers to return for a game of their choice before the end of this regular season.
“They’ve been really very friendly,” Chipman said of his calls during an exclusive interview with The Athletic this week. “When I first started making them, I wasn’t sure what I would encounter, but they weren’t hard calls. They were, ‘Look, I want to come back, but I’ve got two kids, 9 and 11. They’re playing hockey. I can’t come to that many games.’ And I get it. We understand.
“Had another guy annoyed over the fact that we had a discounted ticket and beer offering last year. Fair enough. You’re a full-season ticket holder. Somebody in your section got in on a promotion we did. Our bad.
“It’s a whole range of stuff, but pretty much everyone I spoke to today is coming back to a game.”

Amid the swirl of excitement that accompanied Winnipeg’s return to the league after a 15-year hiatus was a warning from NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.
“It isn’t going to work very well unless this building is sold out every night,” he said.
That statement didn’t initially pop the way it does when read in the current context, because in the spring of 2011, there was a fervor around the reborn Jets. When it was announced that the Atlanta Thrashers were migrating north to Manitoba, 13,500 season tickets were sold in 17 minutes on a Saturday.
Much had changed since the original Jets left town, starting with the construction of a well-appointed downtown arena and the introduction of a league-wide salary cap that tied player salaries to overall revenue.

What remained the same was the fact that Winnipeg would need to punch above its weight to compete with teams based out of much larger markets like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Toronto. With a population of 749,607, according to the 2021 Canadian Census, there’s a friendly feel in the air here: the kind of place where Chipman routinely hears opinions on the team’s roster while pumping gas and where, yes, you may end up receiving a phone call from the NHL franchise’s chairman about renewing your season tickets.
Chipman said he feels “indebted” to the NHL for the city’s second chance.
He first made a presentation to top league officials in January 2007 during a meeting that included representatives from Las Vegas, Seattle, Houston and Kansas City, and ultimately saw Winnipeg pushed to the front of the queue when the Thrashers came up for sale and relocation four years later.
While NHL officials continue to believe in the viability of the market — “We wish all of our clubs were selling all of their tickets for every game, but I can’t say there’s a level of concern,” deputy commissioner Bill Daly told The Athletic during the NHL’s Board of Governors meeting in December — Chipman acknowledged that the Jets are on the radar at league’s head office for reasons they’d rather not be.
“They pay attention,” he said. “They see the numbers. They see where the league’s at and where we’re at. And we’re an outlier right now. So, rightfully, they want to know, what are you doing? What’s going on? What happened and what are you doing about it?”
Bettman is scheduled to visit Winnipeg on Tuesday and get a firsthand look at the situation, meeting with key corporate sponsors and potentially even addressing fans directly before that night’s game against the St. Louis Blues.
That comes as the organization’s sales team has started shifting its attention to the 2024-25 season. For the first time this season, the Jets will give priority on playoff ticket purchases to those who put down a deposit on season seats for next season. And they’ve grown more flexible with options covering a select number of games.

Currently, the team has a season-ticket base of roughly 9,500 — an unsustainably low number, according to Chipman. The team saw a big decline in renewals when the pandemic hit and has endured subsequent drops after the past two seasons.
They are now feverishly trying to reverse the tide.

To understand how the Jets got here, you must first understand what made their lengthy sellout streak unique to begin with.
They managed to fill the building for more than a decade despite having just 15 percent of their season seats purchased by businesses. That lags well below the norm in a league in which some teams sell 50 percent of their tickets to corporate interests, according to Chipman.
What that means in practical terms is, in Winnipeg you need real people to spend real money on 41 home dates per year. And the way they did that initially was through a significant number of individuals going in on shared season-ticket packages with friends and family — a market reality that Chipman viewed as a strength until seeing what happened when a member or two of each group moved out of town or ran into a situation in which they could no longer afford to keep up their end of the arrangement.
“It was like a bubble that burst on us,” Chipman said. “We had what I thought was this strength in numbers that didn’t turn out to be.”
In response, they’ve tried to rally local business leaders.
The Jets have recently recruited 34 well-connected men and women and asked them to tap into their networks to try and generate new business. Chipman said he’s been extremely forthcoming with that group about the challenges of operating an NHL team. The idea is to not only tug at civic pride but also reinforce the positive economic and psychological benefits that the presence of the Jets brings to the community.

“What we try to convey to those people is, we’re trying to win,” Chipman said. “And in order to win or be competitive, we’ve got to keep up. We will never match the Leafs’ gate. It’s really remarkable. We can’t match that. But Edmonton really outperforms us, and that’s harder to accept, right? Because we think of ourselves as equals.
“I know Edmonton is a bigger city and they have that pedigree of all those Stanley Cups, but I think most people in Winnipeg and most people in Edmonton look at one another (with) a healthy respect.”
There’s a natural inclination for him to look around the league and draw these comparisons. Unlike the NFL or NBA, which have massive national television rights deals, the NHL remains a gate-driven league. And elsewhere, business is booming.
Chipman specifically mentions the success of markets that were once referred to as “non-traditional,” like Nashville, Dallas, Carolina, Florida and Las Vegas.
“The game’s growing,” he said. “You’ve seen it. You’ve had a front-row seat. Those markets in the U.S. that we used to look down upon, they’re fun, and they’re alive.”
To some degree, the lingering effects of the pandemic and an inflationary environment account for what’s happened in his own backyard, but that doesn’t tell the entire story. The Jets have the second-cheapest tickets in Canada, according to Chipman, and they plan to institute only a negligible bump in cost for some sections, with a decrease in others, next season.
Chipman doesn’t shy away from the organization’s role in the current state of affairs.
They’ve heard complaints from customers ranging from the high costs associated with transferring tickets between members of a group to frustrations about the Jets’ previous unwillingness to sell smaller packages. They’ve also had to build up a sales staff that wasn’t needed in the days when the tickets basically sold themselves.

“We’ve had to reinvent ourselves,” Chipman said. “For 10 years, we weren’t a sales organization; we were a service organization, and I’m not sure we were that good of a service organization, to be honest with you.”
As the Jets’ business took a turn in recent years, one of the toughest parts about addressing the problem has been talking about it at all.
There’s a sensitivity to the fact that people in the community are struggling. There are more important things than professional hockey. And as the team found out when it evoked images of the 1996 Jets departure as part of a ticket-selling campaign dubbed “Forever Winnipeg” last spring, even the vague notion of a looming threat to its viability wasn’t received well.
“Because of the history, it’s a bit of a tinderbox,” Chipman said. “In retrospect, we weren’t trying to be dramatic, but it got people’s hair up. That wasn’t the intent, but our bad. So it is not just the issue of not wanting to appear to be whining about this or evoking sympathy, it’s also the issue of not wanting to appear to be in any way threatening.
“And that’s hard given the history.”

Chipman himself is still searching for the right words here. He remembers first-hand the emotional roller coaster those involved with the “Save the Jets” campaign rode in the mid-1990s and said, “I can honestly say to our fan base, I understand whatever that is — whatever that feeling is.”
If not by his words, he should be judged by his actions.
In the face of declining ticket revenues, the Jets have continually upgraded and modernized Canada Life Centre and have now invested as much in building improvements as they spent on building it, according to Chipman. They also handed out $119 million in long-term contract extensions to Connor Hellebuyck and Mark Scheifele in October. They extended Nino Niederreiter in December. And they got a jump on the competition by trading a first-round pick to Montreal for Sean Monahan during the All-Star break.
They are a team spending to the salary-cap ceiling and turning over every rock necessary to build a Stanley Cup contender. They’re doing so with the belief that fans will see the promise in what they’re building and start returning in greater numbers. And they’ve been encouraged by some recent numbers, including 13,786 against San Jose on Feb. 14 and 14,707 against Minnesota on Tuesday.
“I would hope that if you walked around any one of the four floors here or over in hockey ops and said, ‘What is it? What is it you are trying to be? What is True North and the Jets?’ I would hope that without much hesitation, most people would say, ‘A source of pride,’” Chipman said.
“That’s what teams ought to be, and that’s what we’re trying to convey to people. We’re trying to be something you can be proud of.”

[drew]

^ meh. Paul Friesen's retort (https://winnipegsun.com/sports/hockey/nhl/winnipeg-jets/chipman-missing-the-mark) in the Sun today is basically how I feel on this.

[Justanothermember]

I honestly don't get Chipman sometimes. He seems like a well educated man, but tends to make some very bone-headed comments and decisions on occasion. For instance, bringing Bettman to the city.....to do what? Utter threats and intimidation to fans in front of the team? What does he think that is going to accomplish? I fear this will only alienate more fans, just as the attendance tide appears to be turning.

Chipman seems to be in panic mode and not making very rational decisions. He seems very reactive and not in a great way, and I get the feeling he still doesn't want to fully accept that is staff have treated fans like second class citizens instead of valuing them.

Chipman, wake up and get it together. I know you are smarter than this.

[Hecate]

It’s all cost. Jets tickets or a winter vacation? Which would you choose if you’ve got $5000 to blow? Especially with housing and grocery costs. Most of these people used to have ten grand to blow so they could afford both, but not anymore. They really need to wake up. People took a massive hit on cost of living over the last couple years. It’s insulting for them to approach the citizens with this attitude. I think it will backfire. Even businesses are cutting back on buying tickets because their own profit margins have shrunk from extra costs.

The only way they can make up for this debacle now is to shut up and win a cup. Even Vegas has one of those.

[The Jabroni]

Honestly, I'm not worried. Given that attendance numbers throughout the league are down else where, it's not surprising given the current economic circumstances that everybody is going through now. Of course given the size of our market, that is heavily amplified by various media outlets too.

The product on the ice right now is the best we've seen, since at least the 2017-2018 season, (maybe the best yet, but who knows until the end of the season from this point on), but that doesn't mean attendance figures will improve. If it was the other way that we thought it would be prior to training camp in September, perhaps attendance figures would have dipped even more. Yet, two of our biggest stars re-signed 7-year contracts, plus our trade acquisitions being in the line-up and producing great numbers than who we traded to LA... combined... along with other recent transactions, may have kept our attendance numbers as they are right now.

Whether or not that actually made a difference remains to be seen though. All it matters right now is the playoffs are two months away, which would guarantee attendance numbers at obviously inflated prices, plus Whiteout Street Parties and other costs.

It's a big bump in the road for TNSE right now, so unless companies on this planet pay their employees more to reflect on the current inflation costs, this problem will continue to persist, and that is another topic to discuss elsewhere.

[roccerfeller]

So Bettman is in town begging corporate sponsors to increase their commitment to the Jets.

Season ticket base is down 30%. TNSE said this is not sustainable long term.

Begging? I dunno
More likely Bettman is in town as part of his annual tour to every nhl city and it coincided with other business interests from TNSE

If he moves the needle forward for the sth base, it’s not a bad thing. The Jets need a stable corporate base. 15% is too low now matter what anyone thinks of this drama

It could be relationship building with big corporate wigs. The media is of course going to sensationalize for clicks

[roccerfeller]

I honestly don't get Chipman sometimes. He seems like a well educated man, but tends to make some very bone-headed comments and decisions on occasion. For instance, bringing Bettman to the city.....to do what? Utter threats and intimidation to fans in front of the team? What does he think that is going to accomplish? I fear this will only alienate more fans, just as the attendance tide appears to be turning.

Chipman seems to be in panic mode and not making very rational decisions. He seems very reactive and not in a great way, and I get the feeling he still doesn't want to fully accept that is staff have treated fans like second class citizens instead of valuing them.

Chipman, wake up and get it together. I know you are smarter than this.


One definitely hears far too many trending stories for it to be a few vocal disgruntled people. Hopefully he eventually comes to that conclusion via actually speaking to the fans. You just hope it wasn’t one or two people who power tripped far too frequently and messed up these relationships with the hardcore fans. Boom then covid happens and you realize that 4K tv from the comfort of your home is pretty good…why go back to that type of service? I don’t blame fans - it may even be a special type of hurt because you’re a fan of these team and emotionally invested.

You gotta give it to him, on a positive note, that he’s actually picking up the phone and calling former STH’s that have left. Few people in the nhl even on struggling teams would be doing that. That’s pretty cool from an owner of a team.

I have faith they will turn it around…there was a time, if I’m not mistake , when the bombers had a terrible relationship with sth’s…now they’re considered a gold standard on many fronts including that one in the cfl

[Boreal]

I don't pay much attention as I'm with roccerfeller, this isn't about John and Jane Q. Citizen. It's 98.5% about corporate sales. Brad from the fire department in North Kildondan, raising his kids, or getting ready for retirement isn't who the Jets are chasing. Set the climate, and the regular fan will buy their 1-3 games worth of tickets every year. But they aren't going to solve your season ticket holding challenges. The bulk of those sales need to be mopped up by organisations that can make it a business expense.

On an individual level, there's next to nothing Chipman could do to entice me to buy more or less for that matter. Not having access to City Place irritates me, and he would probably get 1 more game out of me if that was accessible. Perhaps that's worth doing, perhaps not, but I doubt it is the type of needle move TNSE is looking for.

[pspeid]

Has anyone speculated on why there is such low corporate response to buying Jets season tickets? It seems like there's enough medium-to-big hitters in the Winnipeg market that some of them should be able to step up and buy a couple of tickets to offer to their employees. I'm obviously missing something here.

[Lars65]

I think it had to with pent up demand among average Joes here in Winnipeg. It's possible TNSE didn't expect as fast a sellout of season tickets as they received. I don't suspect many large corporations were camped out on their computers, after all.

[DLLB]

It's time business in Winnipeg stepped up and supported the team. I know there are so many other key issues and trials in life but I think the Jets are important to Winnipeg and it's image. Businesses in Winnipeg are failing the team and I can't understand why there aren't enough of them that won't come forward and make a big difference to the Jets.

[bomberjet]

A lot (some?) of the older Jets 1.0 crowd has dropped off. Numerous people I know who were part of ticket groups that are now 50's-60's aged, and they'd rather watch at home.

Have the single game sales improved at all in recent months? I have trouble finding game by game data for some reason.

[pegcityboy]

Yes Bomberjet since Christmas single game attendance has increased a lot , some sellouts and not a crowd below 13500, even last night against Arizona 14354 .

[dmacc]

It's time business in Winnipeg stepped up and supported the team. I know there are so many other key issues and trials in life but I think the Jets are important to Winnipeg and it's image. Businesses in Winnipeg are failing the team and I can't understand why there aren't enough of them that won't come forward and make a big difference to the Jets.

I think it is less an issue of the business community in Winnipeg failing the team as much as it is the Jets maturing into a typical market and the lag between that transition.

When the Jets first came back, people fought so hard just to get tickets and there was no corporate need at that time or even the ability for them to obtain tickets as it was all taken up by people.

Now that many of those people are pulling back from their tickets, TNSE is simply needing to entice that corporate buy-in. That takes time and effort, something TNSE hasn't had to do in the past and they are learning the hard way how to get those corporate sales.

I have no doubt they will be able to build their corporate sales over time.

[bomberjet]

I went through each event summary on the website.

Average attendance post Christmas is 14,300. Prior to Grey Cup, numbers are in the 11k-12k per game and improved since then. Tuesday night games are the worst for attendance, of course.

Much better numbers now. Hopefully that continues and translates to more season tickets.

13410 Sat Oct 14 vs. FLA
11226 Tue Oct 17 vs. LA
11521 Thu Oct 19 vs. VGS
11136 Tue Oct 24 vs. STL
11898 Mon Oct 30 vs. NYR
12199 Thu Nov 9 vs. NSH
12420 Sat Nov 11 vs. DAL
11717 Tue Nov 14 vs.NJ
11340 Fri Nov 17 vs. BUF
12103 Sat Nov 18 vs. ARI
11439 Tue Nov 28 vs. DAL
13611 Thu Nov 30 vs. EDM
14189 Sat Dec 2 vs. CHI
11468 Mon Dec 4 vs. CAR
13515 Sat Dec 16 vs. COL
13363 Mon Dec 18 vs. MTL
12571 Wed Dec 20 vs. DET
14405 Fri Dec 22 vs. BOS
15225 Sat Dec 30 vs. MIN
14157 Tue Jan 2 vs. TB
12512 Tue Jan 9 vs. CLB
15225 Thu Jan 11 vs. CHI
14540 Sat Jan 13 vs. PHI
12600 Tue Jan 16 vs. NYI
15225 Sat Jan 27 vs. TOR
15225 Sat Feb 10 vs. PIT
13786 Wed Feb 14 vs. SJ
14707 Tue Feb 20 vs. MIN
14324 Sun Feb 25 vs. ARI

[Biff]

I think it is less an issue of the business community in Winnipeg failing the team as much as it is the Jets maturing into a typical market and the lag between that transition.

When the Jets first came back, people fought so hard just to get tickets and there was no corporate need at that time or even the ability for them to obtain tickets as it was all taken up by people.

Now that many of those people are pulling back from their tickets, TNSE is simply needing to entice that corporate buy-in. That takes time and effort, something TNSE hasn't had to do in the past and they are learning the hard way how to get those corporate sales.

I have no doubt they will be able to build their corporate sales over time.


^^^ I'm convinced this is the issue.

[pspeid]

I went through each event summary on the website.

Average attendance post Christmas is 14,300. Prior to Grey Cup, numbers are in the 11k-12k per game and improved since then. Tuesday night games are the worst for attendance, of course.

Much better numbers now. Hopefully that continues and translates to more season tickets.



I was wondering today about recent average attendance, thanks for doing this.

[trueviking]

i definitely think the corporate community needs to step up but I am also pretty disappointed in my fellow Winnipeggers and believe many of them need to look in the mirror instead of pointing their fingers of blame at others.

True North took a massive risk and brought a team to a city that has no business being in a North American major league. They spend to the cap every year and have put a team on the ice challenging for first place....yet we still don't support them.....and we blame those owners for not trying hard enough to get us to buy tickets.

I and my friends are in the sweet spot demographic for the Jets. Middle age, middle class hockey fans.....I would say 90% of the people I know have bailed on their season ticket group.....and it has nothing to do with cost and everything to do with apathy.

If I have ticket I cant use for whatever reason, I can't even give it away. My office has seats and there is no stampede to use them when they are made available to staff.

We spent 15 years looking down our noses at all those American teams with low attendance and said, they don't deserve a team, and we do, because we are true hockey fans here in Winnipeg....well, now we have the lowest attendance in the league and we all have excuses that we think makes us different from those other fans.....I hate to break it to everyone, but it is no different.

When Atlanta lost its team to Winnipeg nobody was surprised because it was generally accepted that they didn't support their team well enough....the lowest year of attendance they ever had in Atlanta was 13,500....That same franchise is today averaging 13,100 in Winnipeg....we should not be surprised that the owner is saying this is not sustainable.

[lotw_wpg]

i definitely think the corporate community needs to step up but I am also pretty disappointed in my fellow Winnipeggers and believe many of them need to look in the mirror instead of pointing their fingers of blame at others.

True North took a massive risk and brought a team to a city that has no business being in a North American major league. They spend to the cap every year and have put a team on the ice challenging for first place....yet we still don't support them.....and we blame those owners for not trying hard enough to get us to buy tickets.

I and my friends are in the sweet spot demographic for the Jets. Middle age, middle class hockey fans.....I would say 90% of the people I know have bailed on their season ticket group.....and it has nothing to do with cost and everything to do with apathy.

If I have ticket I cant use for whatever reason, I can't even give it away. My office has seats and there is no stampede to use them when they are made available to staff.

We spent 15 years looking down our noses at all those American teams with low attendance and said, they don't deserve a team, and we do, because we are true hockey fans here in Winnipeg....well, now we have the lowest attendance in the league and we all have excuses that we think makes us different from those other fans.....I hate to break it to everyone, but it is no different.

When Atlanta lost its team to Winnipeg nobody was surprised because it was generally accepted that they didn't support their team well enough....the lowest year of attendance they ever had in Atlanta was 13,500....That same franchise is today averaging 13,100 in Winnipeg....we should not be surprised that the owner is saying this is not sustainable.

You are right, I am pretty disappointed with Winnipeggers as well. Reading these articles about people complaining about everything. It almost feels like Chipman either needs to find new support or just sell the team. As much as I thought this city was a hockey city, the negative attention, can't get rid of our season tickets when we can't go to a game and the people complaining about the dumbest stuff, just make me say screw it. Chipman you took a risk, it was a fun decade, but go make bank and retire in Florida.

Sucks as I'm usually pretty optimistic about the city, but I guess we are a gateway city to get into the other Canadian cities and will never catch up to other big cities in this Country.

Anyway, I'm going to try to spin this. Let's have fun and watch some Winnipeg Jets hockey until they decide to sell the team. I think we got 5 years left.

Sorry these articles are getting to me... I'm really hoping for the best.

[drew]

^ TV raises some good points.

My counter would be that bringing the Jets to Winnipeg has not been simply an act of charity for TNSE. The current valuation of the Jets is nearly 4x what TNSE paid for it 13 years ago. They own an arena outright, that was partially funded with tax payers dollars. They have a SHED area that they get development and tax subsidies, VLT profits and other perks.

It's a business. Individual Winnipeggers have stepped up mightily since the Jets returned. TNSE was lucky for the first decade in that they really didn't need to "sell" their product. But let's all remember that this is a business. TNSE needs to pivot from providing a service to selling a service. That's a reasonable transaction IMO. It's no longer just good enough to have the team back, they need to work a bit now. That's fine, I am sure most other teams have to work constantly to make sure there are butts in the seats.

[EdwardTH]

I and my friends are in the sweet spot demographic for the Jets. Middle age, middle class hockey fans.....I would say 90% of the people I know have bailed on their season ticket group.....and it has nothing to do with cost and everything to do with apathy.


This is very true and it's the part that gets me the most. I can understand financial limitations but most people just don't seem interested anymore. I noticed it in our office after the 2018 playoff run, all the people who used to talk hockey just seemed bored by anything that wasn't a conference final after that. Even with the team gunning for 1st place people apparently just don't really care unless it's the playoffs. We like to think we're the best hockey city but frankly it seems like folks in Raleigh and Nashville are actually more interested in watching live hockey.

But the older folks with money who used to buy tickets are aging and probably want to watch from home these days. Bottom line they really need to cultivate an atmosphere that gets Gen Z in the door and makes the games a cool way for young people with disposable income to spend a night.

^ TV raises some good points.

My counter would be that bringing the Jets to Winnipeg has not been simply an act of charity for TNSE. The current valuation of the Jets is nearly 4x what TNSE paid for it 13 years ago. They own an arena outright, that was partially funded with tax payers dollars. They have a SHED area that they get development and tax subsidies, VLT profits and other perks.

It's a business. Individual Winnipeggers have stepped up mightily since the Jets returned. TNSE was lucky for the first decade in that they really didn't need to "sell" their product. But let's all remember that this is a business. TNSE needs to pivot from providing a service to selling a service. That's a reasonable transaction IMO. It's no longer just good enough to have the team back, they need to work a bit now. That's fine, I am sure most other teams have to work constantly to make sure there are butts in the seats.

They sat there for years just watching the season ticket wait list dry up and didn't choose to actually do anything until it was gone and there were 3000 empty seats each night. Look I'm no big smart wealthy business executive so what do I know, but it sure seems like they should have done exactly what they're doing now but years ago.

[pspeid]

I'm not prepared to throw the Winnipeg fans under the bus on this one. I don't think they have anything to prove to online editorialists who question whether they "want" or "deserve" an NHL team. They've spend a hell of a lot of money and a hell of a lot of their time supporting the Jets up to now, and I'm sure they'll continue to support them. If there's very little corporate support, as many have suggested, go after that instead of trying to shame or embarrass fans who are just looking for some quality entertainment.

[FactaNV]

I'm not prepared to throw the Winnipeg fans under the bus on this one. I don't think they have anything to prove to online editorialists who question whether they "want" or "deserve" an NHL team. They've spend a hell of a lot of money and a hell of a lot of their time supporting the Jets up to now, and I'm sure they'll continue to support them. If there's very little corporate support, as many have suggested, go after that instead of trying to shame or embarrass fans who are just looking for some quality entertainment.

The hypocrisy is so blatant too. Gary let's Pheonix rot in a college arena that they can't even sell out for years and allows Southern teams to go years with sub 10000 attendance but as soon as Winnipeg drops a bit due to lack of corporate support and inflation biting, it's all doom and gloom from all levels of the NHL and the associated media.

[trueviking]

I personally don't think we should be shrugging our shoulders at our lack of support for a first place team and point our fingers at Phoenix as if they make it ok. Winnipeg's attendance would look right at home in a list of annual attendances in Phoenix over the last 20 years.....that list that we all made fun of when we didn't have a team.

Phoenix offers a television market of five million people and is one of the wealthiest cities in North America. Winnipeg adds little value to the league overall. It is natural they bent over backwards for them.

[pspeid]

I personally don't think we should be shrugging our shoulders at our lack of support for a first place team and point our fingers at Phoenix as if they make it ok. Winnipeg's attendance would look right at home in a list of annual attendances in Phoenix over the last 20 years.....that list that we all made fun of when we didn't have a team.

Phoenix offers a television market of five million people and is one of the wealthiest cities in North America. Winnipeg adds little value to the league overall. It is natural they bent over backwards for them.

Personally I'm not suggesting we shrug our shoulders over attendance. I'm glad attendance has been increasing the last month or so, but I'd love to see it boosted with some ticket purchases by more of the corporate entities in town. As many have said, it's been pretty much an untapped resource until now.

If you don't mind a farming metaphor, soil can lose it's fertility if it's farmed too often. It can help to rotate fields; break some new corporate ground and let the current Joe Lunchpail fields recover and get, um....fertile....again....

oh dear....

[trueviking]

^ agreed.

[blueandgoldguy]

Based on the comments I have read from former season ticket holders online (no doubt a small subset of the entire base) the most common reasons for dropping their tickets prior to or during COVID were:

1) After dropping a substantial amount of money - $50,000 - $100,000 - over ten years on season tickets, they have decided it's time for others to pick up the mantle.

2) Poor customer service from True North ranging from inflexibility in allocating new seating locations, inflexibility in allowing ticket holders to sell their tickets online with the exception of the Jets own seat exchange (with its additional fees resulting in unappealing prices), and a general lack of appreciation for their customers with minimal season ticket holder benefits compared to other franchises.

[blueandgoldguy]

If people have become apathetic about the live Jets experience I don't think that extends to their viewing habits. The Jets have better regional ratings than Ottawa and as good or slightly better than Calgary who exist in a region with at least twice as many households as Winnipeg. If people were completely apathetic about the Jets, ratings would nosedive.

[BlackDog204]

I personally don't think we should be shrugging our shoulders at our lack of support for a first place team and point our fingers at Phoenix as if they make it ok. Winnipeg's attendance would look right at home in a list of annual attendances in Phoenix over the last 20 years.....that list that we all made fun of when we didn't have a team.

Phoenix offers a television market of five million people and is one of the wealthiest cities in North America. Winnipeg adds little value to the league overall. It is natural they bent over backwards for them.

If the Jets survive until 2045, I am certain that the city and ownership will step up, and build a new 17,500 seat arena on that vacant parcel of land, opposite the Human Rights museum.

[lotw_wpg]

That presser helped my anxiety about this. Bettman dunked on our local reporters, which was great.

If the Jets do survive that long, which I will ultimately love and hope they do. That plot of land will most likely be for the extension of Railside Part 3, but I do like the location. Just not sure how parking would work for 17,000 people.

[Justanothermember]

Have the people on the ledge stepped back to safety yet, or are there still some in full-blown panic mode barely clinging on to life?

[roccerfeller]

Jets will be fine.

All of this hooplah was overblown and not helpful for the average person.

This current situation is no where near the lows of Ottawa, Edmonton, Calgary, QC or Winnipeg's 1.0 era lows

You have committed ownership, and they have far too much tied up with the NHL club. Look at all their developments that are directly a result of the Jets return. Revenue wise, the Jets are competetive with the bottom third. There are other franchises that no one has a maginifying glass on right now that pull in less revenue that no one is saying a thing about.

[pspeid]

Jets will be fine.

All of this hooplah was overblown and not helpful for the average person.

This current situation is no where near the lows of Ottawa, Edmonton, Calgary, QC or Winnipeg's 1.0 era lows

You have committed ownership, and they have far too much tied up with the NHL club. Look at all their developments that are directly a result of the Jets return. Revenue wise, the Jets are competetive with the bottom third. There are other franchises that no one has a maginifying glass on right now that pull in less revenue that no one is saying a thing about.

I agree. I believe this is one of those stories that gained legs to a large extent because it was taking place in Winnipeg. Small market city, lost it's team once, having some early-season attendance issues, and an ownership group that seemed to be communicating panic. If these issues were taking place in Ottawa or Edmonton, I'm sure the discussion would be more along the lines of "how will they solve it?" rather than "how soon is doomsday?".

Still, despite the "rending of garments and gnashing of teeth", I think we can look for some positive outcomes, especially if the fabled "corporate support" is seen to grow.

[CoryB]

The bad part of the peak Jets demand era is TNSE learned some very negative ways of dealing with STH.

I was part of full season group since the first season and this is my first outside of that one. In the group someone else dealt with the BS TNSE threw down.

As others have said life changes and my original group no longer made sense for a few of us. Also as the Jets have open enrollment right now it was a good time to transition.

The result was me getting a quarter season (10 game) package directly from TNSE. I contact an account manager after last season and before the current season's schedule is out. For 2022/2023 they had different ticket bundles (weekend, snowbird, rivals, etc) but could not tell me which packages would be available for now current season. Despite that I still went forward with it hoping they could make it work. Then 2-3 times before they locked in my seats TNSE changed to location, at their own requests.

Initial rough start out of the way I get the list of games in my pack. I need to change a game as I will be out of town and the quarter season is allowed by the team to swap one game. I ask to trade one A tier game for a different A tier game, same day of the week. TNSE says unconditionally no. Apparently there is a list of games you can trade for but it is not available without contacting an account rep. The list is sent to me. Not surprisingly it is mostly less desirable games. I find another game I cannot attend, this time a B tier game and ask for a B tier game off the list. I am told no again. According to my TNSE account rep you can only trade games that are on their list for other games on that same list.

This leads me to pointing out how the two games are the same pricing tier, as set by TNSE, and by not including the game I am wanting to give up on their list TNSE internally has given it a higher value. I ask them to reconsider. After checking with someone higher in the organization they agree to grant me a special exception and make the ticket exchange.

That still leaves me three games I cannot attend. I find someone looking to buy tickets for the A tier game and sell them. Then I give the other two games to family.

Shortly after the season starts TNSE starts sending on promotional emails selling tickets to the same games I have for less than I am paying.

With all the headaches and how available and cheap tickets are now I find myself really questioning why I am bothering with season tickets and not just buying single game tickets on promotions or the resale market.

While my experience is unique I know others run into these same sort of issues.

--

Post season the Jets should hold a conference for season ticket sales and support teams across the league. Find out what other teams are doing that works well and what challenges they have run into. The group could share their different experiences and learn from each other.

Also TNSE should also do a similar meeting with STH reps from the Bombers, Goldeyes and Sea Bears to see what else is happening locally and what lessons there could be.

[BlackDog204]

Well if the Jets played better than their opponents every game, they would probably be alone in 1st in the NHL. Unfortunately, last night in Dallas, that did not happen. Stars seemed to dominate the Jets. Hopefully a night off for the good guys.

[Malcsta]

What a game that was against the hurricanes tho. Was so close to turning it off, glad I didnt

[Curmudgeon]

What a game that was against the hurricanes tho. Was so close to turning it off, glad I didnt

Uggghh! I am so upset with myself! I checked to see what time the game was to start not realizing it was an early start. It was 2nd intermission and the Canes were up 3-0, so I thought, meh, forget this one. The Jets came back and won and I missed it!

[The Jabroni]

Yeah, wild game earlier today.

When the Canes were up 3-0, I didn't pay too much attention to it, and focused on something else instead.

Then when Connors scored that goal I was like "well, at least they don't get a shutout." Then Nino scored less than 90 seconds later, and then Scheifele scores a couple minutes after that.

Then Money scored, then Nino scored the empty net.

Whatever was said in the locker room in the 2nd intermission, it worked. Glad we pulled a W today.

[pspeid]

Question for the group. What do people think about Brossoit's workload this season? the Jets have played 60 games and Brossoit has started 13 of them. Is that enough? Too much? Should Brossoit get some playoff games to keep Helle fresh? Questions, questions....

[bomberjet]

Brossoit should be starting a few more games this month as the sched is quite busy.

[borkborkbork]

Well if the Jets played better than their opponents every game, they would probably be alone in 1st in the NHL.

elite analysis

[Rutlander]

I'd like to see Brossoit get a lot more games for two reasons: Hellebuyk will run out of gas partway through the playoffs at this rate, and Brossoit has shown that he's more than capable of keeping the Jets in the game.

[CoryB]

The challenge with how much to play Brossoit right now is a mix of which teams are best to place him against, how many wins does the team need to get the optimal playoff placement and how many games does Hellebuyk need to stay in optimal playing condition.

The risk is playing Hellebuyk in too many games could see him get injured.

[The Jabroni]

Question for the group. What do people think about Brossoit's workload this season? the Jets have played 60 games and Brossoit has started 13 of them. Is that enough? Too much? Should Brossoit get some playoff games to keep Helle fresh? Questions, questions....

The workload is fine, but he will be leaned on this month as the final stretch of 22 games will be crucial. 11 on the road, 11 at home. A busier schedule for sure, and Broissoit will definitely be playing some games.

It's fine that we will need Hellebuyck in the playoffs and he gets as much rest, but also we don't want him to be rested too much. He has a routine where he is hyper focused and gets into the zone of things.

Hellebuyck playing 3 or 4 games, then Broissoit for a game, and then back to 3 or 4 games with Hellebuyck would be your typical rotation.

Broissoit got his Stanley Cup ring, and I'm sure he would love to be a starter. Every goalie would love that. Since he got his ring, I'm sure he would be fine with being a backup and help Hellebuyck get that ring too.

[WinCitySparky]

My Seattle series prediction : 5-2 win tonight, then totally confusing 3-0 loss on Thursday!

[borkborkbork]

If the Jets survive until 2045, I am certain that the city and ownership will step up, and build a new 17,500 seat arena on that vacant parcel of land, opposite the Human Rights museum.

That's pretty pessimistic about the future of the Railside development. I know it's way behind, but is it really not going to happen?

[FactaNV]

That's pretty pessimistic about the future of the Railside development. I know it's way behind, but is it really not going to happen?

Pretty sure they're starting work in the Spring, was something announced?

[Wpg_Guy]

Yes they are starting in the spring, fire hydrants were installed last fall!

[WinCitySparky]

Very good!

[SKYSTHELIMIT]

Jets acquired Tyler Toffoli from the Devils :cheers:

[Malcsta]

I'm not very familiar with Toffoli, can someone explain why everyone is so hyped?

[SKYSTHELIMIT]

I'm not very familiar with Toffoli, can someone explain why everyone is so hyped?

Decent top 6 forward. Has 26 goals in 61 games this season. Has cup experience with L.A. Lots of upside for the run.

[Biff]

Chevy has been lights out this year. Toffoli for a 2nd, 3rd and the Devils retain 50% salary...that is pure highway robbery.

The Monahan pick-up has been excellent.

Valardi, Iafallo and Kupari for PLD was another great piece of work.

Our team is much better than it was last year.

[Biff]

Connor - Scheifele - Vilardi
Ehlers - Monahan - Toffoli
Niederreiter - Lowry - Appleton
Barron - Namestnikov - Iafallo/Perfetti

Extra: Gustaffson, Kupari

[optimusREIM]

Holy shit ^

Imagine if we add depth at defence

[pspeid]

Holy shit ^

Imagine if we add depth at defence

Is this the D-man you're looking for?

https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/winnipeg-jets/latest-news/winnipeg-jets-acquire-colin-miller-from-new-jersey

[bomberjet]

Overall pretty solid trade deadline month or so for Chevy!! The line-up looks strong!

Seriously if he's not in contention for GM of the year, I'm completely lost as to what a good GM should be doing. I've shit on Chevy in the past, but this past year with all the signings (Scheif and Helle) and all the trades, he's done extremely well IMO.

Now it's up to Rick B to get these guys back playing that first half Jets hockey and we're locked for a deep Cup run.

[wags_in_the_peg]

^100% give Chevy GM of the year and keys to the City!

[bomberjet]

Vegas GM should also be up for GM of the year, due to the continual masterclass of LTIR use and having other teams retain salary. Tomas Hertl with 6 years of retained salary. Like wtf.

[BlackDog204]

Jets add Defenseman Colin Miller from the Devils, in exchange for a 2026 4th round draft pick.

[The Jabroni]

Man, Chevy doing honourable trades today, with Toffoli and Miller. Unlike that other particular team in the desert, and I'm not talking about Arizona either. :koko:

Hated Toffoli over the years, especially when he brought in that OT goal in the bubble playoff series with Montreal in 2021 where we got swept. He's such a skilled player though, and I'm glad we picked him up.

I don't know much about Collin Miller, but a RHD depth d-man is what we need, and now we can swap him out between the bottom pairing d-men.

Chevy totally won the Trade Deadline today. None of that LTIR loop hole crap. :rolleyes:

[BlackDog204]

Three stright wins for the Jets, and an impressive win in NYC vs the Rangers.

At 44-19-5, the Jets are pretty much guaranteed to finish in the top 3 of the Division. If the Jets win the Conference, they will most likely play either the Kings or Las Vegas.

If the Jets win the Division, but fail to win the COnference, they will almost certainly play Nashville. With the way Nashville is playing lately, I would rather avoid this scenario.

If the Jets finish 2nd or 3rd in the Division, they will play either Dallas or Colorado. At any case, it's going to be a close race down to the wire.

[The Jabroni]

The win last night also ties us for the most overall wins in franchise history at 44 and counting.

The last time we did this was on this day in 2018, and we eventually finished the season with 52-20-10 that year.

We are currently at 44-19-5 with 14 games remaining in the season.

If we keep at it for the rest of the way, we have a very good chance to winning the division.

If the Jets win the Division, but fail to win the COnference, they will almost certainly play Nashville. With the way Nashville is playing lately, I would rather avoid this scenario.

Ideally, I would want to avoid them as well. Hard to tell right now since everything is so tight in the west.

[Biff]

My gut feeling is that Nashville is just on a heater right now and will cool as the playoffs arrive.

Colorado and Dallas have been even and consistent all year long and I would want to avoid either at all cost...Dallas more-so.

I would be fine playing Nashville, LA or Vegas (I don't feel Vegas is the same as previous years and would love to eliminate them).

The 2nd and 3rd place finishers will likely have a long, punishing series...a Stanley Cup favorite will be eliminated here.

[BlackDog204]

Looks like whoever the Jets play in the first round, will easily sent Winnipeg to the golf course with the way they have been playing for the past 2 weeks.

This is perhaps the most epic collapse of any Jets hockey team in their history, even worse than 2018-19.

[BlackDog204]

Stick a fork in them. The jets are done.

3-2 loss vs a lowly Ottawa team. 6 losses in a row.

We're just lucky Colorado beat Nashville, or Winnipeg could conceivably fall to 4th by season's end.

[WinCitySparky]

Right on time!

[The Jabroni]

Stick a fork in them. The jets are done.

3-2 loss vs a lowly Ottawa team. 6 losses in a row.

We're just lucky Colorado beat Nashville, or Winnipeg could conceivably fall to 4th by season's end.

We're down, but we're definitely not out.

Such frustrating times though. Absolutely no excuse on how we are playing right now.

Absolute garbage plays with a non-existent special teams, and Hellebuyck, on his 500th game, would rather forget this game, because the whole team in front of him left him hung out to dry.

Absolutely frustrating right now. :hell::hell::hell::hell:

[BlackDog204]

The Jets are done. This has happened too much in the past few seasons. Since 2018-19, it seems the Jets are competitive up until February or March, then fall flat. It happened in 2019,2021,2022,and 2023.

The Jets got lucky, and beat the Oilers in 2021. Aside from that, they fell flat on their faces. They have zero chance of upsetting Dallas or Colorado.