Random Thoughts on the Winnipeg Jets for Dec. 15, 2025

December 15, 2025 by

Mitch Kasprick is now the “Westdale Curmudgeon.“ Odds and Ends, Thoughts, and Questions from this past week in Hockey

I am a fan of the Winnipeg Jets, the Manitoba Moose, and all Team Canada Hockey teams.  I am NOT a fan of Gary Bettman, or as I call him, Count Chocula.  I am a big believer in the 7Ps, or is it the 8Ps?  You’ve been warned.

For a more in-depth look at these Random Thoughts, check out the new WHT YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/@WpgHockTalk

Host Harley Friesen and Winnipeg Hockey Talk writer Mitch Kasprick discuss his Random Thoughts on the Winnipeg Jets, Manitoba Moose, and the National Hockey League. 

 

1. Jets:  The Winnipeg Jets went 1-2 this past week, but the team did play well enough to win all 3 games but to be blunt, they did not get NHL goaltending.  Their record sits at 15-15-1 and they are 4 points out of the last wildcard position.  They have over half a season left to get their act together, but catching Minny for 3rd place in the Central Division is probably out of the question, so right now the goal is to win some games and see where you are when the dust settles. 

2. Jets:  Some good news and some bad news.

Connor Hellebuyck is back and leads his team to a 5-1 win in his first game back on Saturday night.  Helle in net sure was a sight for sore eyes.

The bad news is Helle hasn’t played for a month, so temper your expectations as this Jets free fall started long before his surgery.

3. Jets:  Even though I said I was going to stop ragging on Dylan DeMelo, it hasn’t stopped others.

4. Jets:  From the “Put that in your pipe and smoke it” file.  

I’m old school, and I have no issue with fighting in the NHL, but I need someone to explain to me the purpose of the fight between Jets Luke Schenn and Bruins Mark Kastelic 3 seconds after the puck dropped on Thursday night.  The only thing more embarrassing than the fight was listening to TSN’s Kevin Sawyer trying to justify it.  The NHL needs to put an end to those meaningless tilts by giving the players automatic game misconducts because they’re a joke, so put that in your pipe and smoke it.  

5. Jets:  The Eric Comrie rollercoaster ride mercifully ended on Thursday last week after losses to Dallas (4-3) and to Boston (6-3 en).  The only thing plummeting faster than the mercury in a thermometer in Manitoba is Comrie’s save percentage.

6. Jets:  Question for Scott Arniel:  Hey, coach, does this make sense?

7. Jets:  I’m not saying Hadyn Fleury is the answer, but he’s got to be better than Logan Stanley or Luke Schenn based just on his skating ability alone.  Wouldn’t it be nice if he were a late, late bloomer, as this former 1st-rounder was such a stud in junior.

8. Moose:  The Manitoba Moose went 1-1 last week, making their record 14-10-2-0.  The Moose are in 2nd in the Central Division and are in a tie for 3rd in the 17-team Western Conference.  The boys still have 4 more in a row at home to finish off the month of December.  The Jets prospects have done didily-squat in the past 2 weekend series versus a very weak Iowa team, and that is very concerning.  Dom DiVincentiis has been sent back down to the Moose with the return of Connor Hellebuyck. 

Watch the WHT YouTube channel live every Monday … we’ll be starting our live show at 6:30 tonight … Winnipeg Hockey Talk on YouTube

9. Jets:  I don’t usually do Money Puck’s playoff percentage odds until the midway point of the season, but I’ve already had requests, so let’s give the readers what they want.

As of Wednesday morning, before the Boston game, the Jets’ chances of making the playoffs were at 35.2%.  As you can see, the percentage fluctuates daily, whether the team plays or not; however, the days following games exhibit larger fluctuations.  After beating Washington on Saturday night, they were at 36.1% and after Sunday’s games settled in at 36.5%.

 

10. Jets:  I see a lot of belly-aching about Logan Stanley on X and in some chat rooms, and I am by no means a Stanley cheerleader, but someone who hasn’t had a problem with him all year.  I look at my expectations of him, how much money he makes, and what he contributes to this team, and the fact that he is still learning and hopefully improving.  Stan is easily earning his $1,250,000, and I’d be way more worried about the ROI (return on investment) the Jets are getting from #2 ($4,900,000) and #4 ($7,000,000).  The Jets’ problem isn’t their #6 defenceman, it’s a little higher up the depth chart.

11. Jets:  Special Teams:  Rule of thumb.  Have the power play and penalty kill (PK and PP) numbers total at least 100% when added (as your minimum).

  • PP: 12th at 20.90% down from 12th at 21.30% last week (net 12th at 18.70%)*
  • PK: 21st at 78.40% down from 14th 81.30% last week (net 20th at 81.40%)*
  • FO: 12th at 51.30% down from 9th at 52.10% last week

12. Jets:  Goaltending:

  • Connor Hellebuyck:  9-6-0 … 2.41 GAA … .916 SV%
  • Eric Comrie:  6-8-1 … 3.30 GAA … .886 SV%

13. Jets:  The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly this past week.

  • Good:  Connor Hellebuyck is back, and without him making a save, the team looked different in front of him from the get-go.
  • Bad:  Special Teams are starting to look a little ragged.  
  • Ugly:  The Jets ended up 3-8-1 post-Helle surgery.

14. Jets: Congrats to Nino on 1000 games in the NHL, the 1st Swiss-born player to do so.  He is one of my favourite Jets.

15.  Things that make me go hmmm:🤔 Josh Morrissey is a virtual lock for the Canadian Olympic Team, and Mark Scheifele is a frontrunner for a spot, but there are a few late contenders that could make it interesting.

Watch the WHT YouTube channel live every Monday … we’ll be starting our live show at 6:30 tonight … Winnipeg Hockey Talk on YouTube

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Random Thoughts On The Winnipeg Jets: May 29

May 29, 2023 by

Mitch Kasprick is now the “Westdale Curmudgeon” 

Odds and Ends, Thoughts, and Questions from this past week in Hockey –

Just so there’s no confusion when I’m spewing my bias, I am a fan of the Winnipeg Jets, Arizona Coyotes, Manitoba Moose, Winnipeg Ice, and all Team Canada Hockey teams.

I am NOT a fan of Gary Bettman or as I call him, Count Chocula.  I am a big believer in the 7Ps or is it the 8Ps?  You’ve been warned. [Read more…]

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Random Thoughts On The Winnipeg Jets: Jan. 4

January 4, 2021 by

Mitch Kasprick is the “Motown Curmudgeon” aka “Motown Mitch”

Odds and Ends, Thoughts and Questions, from this past week in hockey –

Just so there’s no confusion when I’m spewing my bias, I am a fan of the Winnipeg Jets, Arizona Coyotes, Manitoba Moose, Winnipeg Ice, and all Team Canada Hockey teams.

I am NOT a fan of Gary Bettman or as I call him, Count Chocula.  I am a big believer in the 7Ps. You’ve been warned.

Happy New Year 

1. NHL:  As of today all 31 teams will have officially opened training camp and it looks like there will really be NHL hockey starting on Jan. 13.  There will be no pre-season games and a short season of 56 games with the intent of getting the 2021-22 season back on track in its regular timeline.   

2. NHL:  The NHL and the provinces came to an agreement to let the Canadian-based teams play in their home rinks this season and now that the Covid-19 vaccine rollout has started I wouldn’t be surprised if we see some fans in Canadian rinks before the end of the season.  This hasn’t been discussed, this is just me speculating.

 3. Jets:  The three Winnipeg Jets prospects playing at the U20 WHC have looked pretty good in my opinion.  Ville Heinola is very poised and efficient at this level, and Cole Perfetti looks like he could be a second-line center in a couple of years.  Perfetti looks like he will be a good playmaker with a pass-first mentality.  Henri Nikkanen, the big left-winger has shown off his skating ability.  He was a projected first-rounder but injuries saw his stock plummet all the way down to the fourth round.  The prevailing opinion after the draft was the Winnipeg Jets got away with highway robbery getting him in the fourth round.  Time will tell.

4. Jets:  I think under-sized Ville Heinola has a very good chance to be a regular in the Winnipeg Jets lineup this season.  I love everything about his game but his size concerns me.  I think he needs a partner with some size to compliment his game much like the pairing of Dustin Byfuglien and Toby Enstrom.   

5. Jets:  Jack Roslovic has officially asked to be traded.  Roslovic thinks he is a top 6 forward there is nothing wrong with that, as long as he and his agent understand that Chevy won’t trade him unless he gets top 6 value in return and I would be shocked if that happened  

6. Jets:  I don’t why I continually set myself up for disappointment but I get sucked in every single time.  I’m talking about Chevy’s presser last week where he announced he will have a couple of players invited to training camp on PTOs.  I was hoping for a couple of local boys like Travis Hamonic and/or Madison Bowey might be on Chevy’s radar but when the training camp roster came out on Friday there was no such luck.  Two-time Stanley Cup winner Trevor Lewis was the most notable invite but the 33-year-old ex-LA King will be hard-pressed to make this team.   

7. NHL:  The rules for NHL rosters for the 2021 season are the same except for the addition of the taxi squad.  The NHL rosters will stay at a maximum of 23 players with all the normal implications of the salary cap.  One new thing will be each team is to have a taxi squad with a minimum of 4 players and a maximum of 6 players, that must include one goalie.  The taxi squad will be with the NHL team, practice with the NHL, and travel with the NHL team but they are not counted against the roster of the NHL team.

8. NHL:  The Dec. 24 and 27 deadlines for NHL players to opt-out of the upcoming season due to Covid concerns has come and gone with no opt-outs from any of last year’s players.

9. Jets:  For this season the number of games for an Entry Level Contract to be activated is now seven (pro-rated) instead of the usual ten games.  If a player plays in a seventh game his contract officially kicks in.  

Will Cole Perfetti play more than 6 games.

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10. Jets:  Many hockey people thought Jack Roslovic was drafted way too early and that he was not a first-rounder and maybe not even a second-rounder.  In fairness, it is always hard to evaluate the third player on a stacked line.  When Jacko was on the USNDT he was on a line with Auston Matthews and Matthew Tkachuk and they put up monster numbers but he was always considered the third-wheel.  This isn’t the first or the last time this will happen with super-lines.    

11. Jets:  Winnipeg Jets prospect Ville Heinola was named Finland’s “Player of the Game” in their quarter-final win over Sweden.  Heinola even drew comparisons to Jets legend Lars-Erik Sjoberg from Craig Button, which is pretty high praise. 

12. NHL:  Key dates.

  • Jan. 13 – Season opener
  • Feb. 1 – Teams may start requesting players waive their NMC for the expansion draft
  • Feb. 11 – Deadline to sign Group II RFAs (usually December 1)
  • Mar. 12 – Players on one-year deals can sign extensions (usually Jan. 1)
  • Apr. 12 – Trade Deadline
  • May 8 – End of the regular season
  • May 11 – Playoffs begin
  • July 15 – The latest the Stanley Cup can be awarded
  • July 17 – Expansion draft protection lists tentatively due
  • July 21 – Expansion draft
  • July 23-24 – 2021 NHL Entry Draft
  • July 28 – Free agency opens

13. NHL:  Put this in the better late than never file but finally, finally, finally the NHL has come to their senses and modified the offside rule.  Rule 83.1 now reads that a player’s skate will no longer have to be in contact with the ice (blue-line) in order to be onside as long as his skate has yet to break the “plane” prior to the puck crossing the leading edge of the blue-line.  He is now deemed to be onside as long as he is straddling the blueline.  This should greatly cut down the amount of offside coaches challenge.

14. Jets:  If Trevor Lewis manages to get a contract with the Jets I hope some of his championship experience and work ethic rubs off on this team.  Most fans don’t realize it but the Winnipeg Jets are one of the younger teams in the NHL.  

15. Pet Peeve:  During the Sweden/Finland quarter-final on Saturday, Swedish forward Elmer Soderblom (6′ 8″) scored a beauty between the legs goal on the powerplay and during the post-game wrap-up one of the TSN analysts (not sure which one) said Soderblom showed nice hands for a big man.  Every time I hear something like this I bristle, big men can’t have soft hands?  Have you ever seen Mario or Buff or Beliveau play hockey?  Size isn’t an indicator of skill or lack of skill.   

16. Jets:  Schedule

In memory of my friend Darryl Manchulenko.

If you have any questions, please give me a shout. You can use the comment section or use the #ASKWHTPOD hashtag on Twitter.

If you like our new format, let us know in the comment section or hit me on Twitter at WpgSportsTalk or WpgHockTalk

If you are interested in writing for Winnipeg Sports Talk or if you know somebody interested, please contact us at:

winnipeghockeytalk@gmail.com

We are looking for writers to cover the Winnipeg Jets, Manitoba Moose, The Winnipeg ICE, Manitoba Bisons, Winnipeg AAA, MJHL, MMJHL, KIJHL, and Winnipeg High School or any sports team in town.

If you have any thoughts on any of these comments or questions, please let me know. We would love to hear your opinions.

Thanks, Mitch

 

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San Jose Sharks Could Be Hurt By NHL’s New Reported Time Frame To Start Season

December 8, 2020 by

The Mercury News

The San Jose Sharks may not be getting much time as they would like for training camp — wherever that may be — to prepare for the start of the 2020-2021 NHL season. Multiple reports indicate the league and the NHL Players’ Association are now targeting a Jan. 13 start to what would be a 56-game regular season. That could be preceded by a 10-day training camp with no exhibition games, according to TSN, although discussions between the league and the union are ongoing. TSN’s report also indicated that the seven non-playoff teams that were not part of the NHL’s Return to Play plan this summer, including the Sharks, would only get a short head start to training camp. [Read more…]

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Why The Winnipeg Jets Were Winners On Deadline Day

February 25, 2020 by

The Jets stood pat and did nothing at the NHL Trade Deadline — but is that really a bad thing?

On the weekend, I wrote an article where I said I suspected the Jets might be buyers at the deadline and listed five players I thought they should go after.  Two of those five players ended up being moved, but neither of them to Winnipeg.  In fact, the Jets didn’t make a single move.  But was it really wise to do NOTHING when you’re a hockey club on the cusp of making the playoffs?  Perhaps some added players can push you into the playoffs?  Once you’re at the dance, can’t anything happen? While this is all true, GM Kevin Cheveldayoff made the right decision to stay idle on Monday. [Read more…]

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