Winnipeg Jets Roster Deep Dive

 

(Photo via TSN) 

The Winnipeg Jets have fixed a few of their problems from last season by trading for a great second-line center in Paul Stastny. Stastny carries a cap hit of six and a half million dollars for just the 2020-2021 season. Stastny may prove to be worth that cap hit, last season he was playing top-six minutes with one of the top contenders in the league. With the Golden Knights Stastny had 17 Goals and 21 Assists in 71 Games. 

With the addition of Stastny, The Winnipeg Jets have bolstered their forward core. They now have a pretty great center to play with Ehlers and Laine. Stastny will also be able to win some draws on that second powerplay unit. With that being said my projections for the Winnipeg Jets Lines for the 2020-2021 Opening Night Looks like this: Kyle Connor-Mark Scheifele-Blake Wheeler to take that first line with their great chemistry last season. The second forward line will consist of Nikolaj Ehlers-Paul Stastny-Patrik Laine. Laine and Ehlers have had great chemistry in the past and are even roommates, they play video games together and they both are from Scandinavian countries with Ehlers hailing from Denmark and Laine from Finland. The third line of forwards for the Winnipeg Jets will consist of Andrew Copp-Adam Lowry-Jack Roslovic. Lowry and Copp have had chemistry in the past but that line didn’t feel complete last season with the loss of Brandon Tanev. Roslovic is young and if a Laine trade does go through second-line minutes would be a great help in filling his potential. The fourth forward line will consist of Perreault-Thomson-Appleton. This line consists of two veterans in Nate Thomson and Matthieu Perreault and one youngster in Mason Appleton. 

That forward core has gotten a lot better this offseason. Being able to stay fairly young but still adding some veteran forwards to mix in the lineup. I can’t say the same about the Jets defence core. 

The First pairing will consist of Josh Morrissey-Dylan DeMelo. DeMelo isn't the ideal top-pairing defenseman for the Jets but with the weakened core and his performance at the tail end of last season after the Jets acquired him from the Senators at the deadline he has been a solid top four defenseman for Winnipeg. The second pairing of the Jets defence core consists of Nathan Beaulieu-Neal Pionk. Pionk and Beaulieu were crucial in the Jets defence being able to not breakdown last season. The Third pairing consists of Derek Forbort-Tucker Poolman. Poolman has emerged as a solid third-pairing defenseman for the Jets over the last couple of seasons. Forbort is the physical force that the Jets were desperately missing in the Play-Ins against the Flames. 

The one spot that hasn't changed at all over the offseason is the Jet's goaltending situation. The tandem is still Hellebuyck as the starter and Brossoit being the backup. Brossoit struggled last year with the Jets but he has had some really good seasons with the Jets in the past. The change of the defensive core could be one reason that he struggled. The defence core wasn’t an issue for Connor Hellebuyck and he was even able to win the Vezina last year. 

The Winnipeg Jets opening night roster will also have a few extras and those could consist of F Jansen Harkins, F Kristan Vesalainen, F Dominic Toninato, D Ville Heinola and D Sami Niku.

The Jets should be able to make a playoff run if Hellebuyck can repeat last season's success…

-By Brody Neufeld