Winnipeg Jets Tickets for 2019 Games

Jets Ramp Up Talent for 2019 Season

Back in 2011, in a move that was very controversial, the Atlanta Thrashers folded up shop and moved north of the border to Winnipeg where they became the Winnipeg Jets. The original Jets moved to Arizona in 1996 and became the Coyotes. The Jets have become one of the better teams in the league, and in 2018 made it all the way to the Western Conference Finals before losing to the Vegas Golden Knights in five games.

The Jets are anchored by their dynamic first line duo. 33-year-old Right-Winger Blake Wheeler led the team with 91 points a year ago and 26-year-old center Mark Scheifele finished second with 84 points. Other key players include 22-year-old left-winger Kyle Connor who has 66 points a year ago, 21-year-old right-winger Patrik Laine who had 50 points a year ago, and 31-year-old center Brian Little had 41 points as well. The Jets then traded defenseman Jacob Trouba to the New York Rangers for plus their 2019 first-round draft choice for defenseman Neal Pionk. The Jets made a flurry of small one-season moves in free agency including center Mark Letestu and defenseman Anthony Bitetto.

The Jets have a great mix of veteran talents such as Wheeler and young stars such as Connor and Laine. This is the recipe for sustained success.

The Winnipeg Jets were the team out of the gate to be eliminated from the possibility of playing in the Stanley Cup playoffs. They finished the season with 87 points, 9th place, in the Western Conference. The Jets need to fix their poor defense this offseason, which ranked 27th in goals against, and 26th in penalty kill percentage, but really didn’t make the proper moves. They traded their first round draft choice several times, eventually to the Las Vegas expansion franchise to protect several other prospects. In free agency, they only defensemen they went for was Cameron Schilling. It looks like they are going to rely on their offense again this season. The Jets are in for another troubling year.

After failing to reach the Stanley Cup Playoffs in their first three seasons in Winnipeg, the Jets made the playoffs in 2015 for the first time. They were swept out of the playoffs by the Anaheim Mighty Ducks in four games. So still, this organization has yet to win a playoff game. This is a team that really isn't too old or young either, so nobody is sure which direction this team is headed.

Top Scorers for Jets

The Jets current head coach is Paul Maurice, with Andrew Ladd as their team captain. Their 2014-15 season record was 43-26-13. That was good enough for fifth place in the Central division. The team’s best scorer is Bryan Little, wrapping up 146 goals in his career so far. He’s followed by Andrew Ladd, with 122 goals. The all time best scorer for the Jets is Ilya Kovalchuk. He scored 328 goals in his lifetime, nearly twice the amount as Bryan Little.

The Winnipeg Jets organization is one of the NHL's newest franchises. The organization itself was originally founded in 1999 as the Atlanta Thrashers. The franchise stayed in Atlanta until 2011 when they were moved to Winnipeg and became the Jets. This is not the first time there has been an NHL team in Winnipeg. From 1972-1996 there was another NHL team in Winnipeg called the Jets as well, that team moved to Phoenix, Arizona and became the Phoenix Coyotes. The current franchise, since it's inception in Atlanta in 1999, have had very little success to speak of. During their time in Atlanta, they only made the Stanley Cup Playoffs one time, in 2007, and they got swept out of the first round without winning a playoff game.

The Winnipeg Jets had a disastrous 2015-2016 season. The Jets finished the season with just 78 points, good for the fourth-worst record in the Western Conference and seventh-worst record overall. The good news is the Jets are already well into a rebuild, and have collected a lot of good young players. For example, 23-year-old Mark Scheifele who led the team in goals a year ago and 2015 first round selection Jack Roslovic, who figures to take a big jump this season. The Jets were major winners in the NHL lottery, ending up with the second selection overall. The Jets need to fix their power play, which was dead last in the league, so they selected Patrick Laine, the big winger from Finland, who many believe is the best player in this draft.