Jets Dominate Early NHL Season: A 15-1 Record Analysis

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00:00But I'm watching the highlights last night from Madison Square Garden saying to myself,

00:03this Jets team looks pretty good, only to find out they win that game and they're 15-1 to open

00:10the season, Pete. Please tell me you saw this coming, please. I did have them as a playoff team,

00:16even though some things were suggesting they might dip out. Of course, the coaching change,

00:22Rick Bonas had been around for a million years. He retired. Scott Arneal catapults himself to near

00:29the top of the Jack Adams Award race with this incredible start. There's so many angles you can

00:34hit on here. There's Connor Hellebuck, reigning Vezina Trophy winner, near unflappable so far

00:40this season. And then not only for the Vezina again, which would be the third one of his career,

00:46maybe get him into the Hart Trophy conversation as a goalie, the last goalie to win the Hart

00:52for League MVP was Cary Price back in 2015. So it is possible, historically speaking. And then,

00:59yeah, Josh Morrissey is one of the best defensemen in the league, three or four years running.

01:04So maybe he, with his point total being up high in the round of the top of the league,

01:10near Cal Macar, like maybe Josh Morrissey enters the Norris Trophy conversation. But this Winnipeg

01:15Jets team has been dominant, to say the least. They win all different ways. They beat the

01:20Avalanche 1-0. They beat the Rangers 6-3. Those are two of the best teams out there.

01:26Pete, where would you stack them up, say against a Bruins outfit from back there in 2023? This is

01:32the fastest we've ever seen a team in the NHL getting to 15 teams. Do they have the moxie

01:37and the makeup to keep this thing going through a very tough and physical season?

01:42They play kind of a, you know, lock-it-down style. Like, they're fine playing low-scoring hockey. I

01:48think things got a little out of hand last year in the playoffs when they played against the

01:52Colorado Avalanche, who were run and gun. They started playing that game. They won Game 1,

01:577-6. And then they completely fell apart at the seams. High-danger chances left and right. Against

02:03Hellebuck, that was the way to crack them. I think if this team can stay healthy, that was the thing

02:08I think if this team can stay healthy, that was the thing that really killed them last year. Guys

02:13like Ehlers and Gabe Velarde and Cole Perfetti, like, their best, you know, secondary scorers

02:19were all injured at different points in the season, and maybe that caught up to them over time.

02:23Everybody's healthy and flying high right now. So, I think staying healthy and trying to navigate

02:30the possession as much as possible. They're not one of the very best possession teams in the league,

02:34but they are able of playing that style. So, once it gets to the postseason, that's what they really

02:40need to focus on. Being healthy at the right time, and then, you know, controlling the possession,

02:45or even trying to contain some of those other offensive juggernauts around the league.