The NHL is TERRIFEID of the Jets...

The Winnipeg Jets are terrifying the NHL as they are a team that has absolutely nothing to lose and a whole lot of people to prove wrong. We're going to break it down on this episode of NHL Digest and where else to start when it comes to the Winnipeg Jets and proving people wrong than Stuart Skinner, right? This is a goaltender that for the past few years has almost become a joke in the NHL, but so far for the Winnipeg Jets, he's having some solid starts and I think it's really important to have a conversation on Stuart Skinner because frankly when it comes to his issues in Edmonton I think he's getting a lot more criticism than is deserved now he has not been perfect right but this season he has a 920 save percentage he has been lights out for the Winnipeg Jets so far has dealt a lot of shots really well and when it comes to Stuart Skinner right I'm not here to argue that he's one of the best goaltenders in the nhl i'm not here to argue that he is a proper replacement for an elite connor hellbuck but it is worth noting that the connor hellbuck that the jets got last season was not connor hellbuck that we know as one of the best goaltenders in the nhl right he had an 895 and that is something that stewart skinner can absolutely do you take away last season which was by all standards his worst season in the nhl and he's regularly put up 896 9.05 his career high in a season with 50 games is a 9.14 this is a very talented goaltender who at times i think has struggled in terms of just his confidence right it's easy to see why seward skinner would struggle with his confidence especially with what he's gone through in edmonton and the way the fans were getting impatient but now here in winnipeg he has had i think i think he's had four, three solid games, right, even the game he lost in Boston, against Boston, I thought he played well, he's now had two quality starts for the Winnipeg Jets, and I really think that Stuart Skinner can have a better year this year, right, I'm not saying he's gonna be back to the 9-14 save percentage, but I really think it's realistic that he can have maybe like a 9-01, 9-05, something around there, and of course you gotta factor in, goaltending is down in the NHL in terms of save percentage, and so far he's been really good. And when you consider the teams he's played against before in the past, right, the Pittsburgh Penguins are a team that's not known for being very good defensively, right? People give him a lot of slack where he went from Edmonton to Pittsburgh and the save percentage didn't go up. No goaltenders in Pittsburgh have had good save percentages in a long while. You look at that team, they drag out Crystal Tang every single night. The reason why Pittsburgh made the playoffs last year is because they outscore all their problems, similar to the Edmonton Oilers. Now we see him in a different system, and I think it's going to go well for Stuart Skinner and it is not just Stuart Skinner I think is changing things in Winnipeg of course he's the big story Connor Hellbuck is sitting out and for any team in the NHL right the team that needs to have a hot start more than anyone else it was the Winnipeg Jets right because you have this Connor Hellbuck thing uh lurking before the players heads right all those things right so to have this strong start is very encouraging for Winnipeg and it's not just Connor Hellbuck right I think sorry it's not just Stuart Skinner we also have to talk about Kyle Connor I apologize if I say a few times the name goes with Winnipeg hopefully for Jets fans not much longer and it'll be really interesting to see when they finally do get a trade what that package will look like as funny as it is to think about him just sitting on the couch and watching his team do well for the best interest of the team eventually they move on but Kyle Connor has been a huge part of why the Jets have been so good so far this season he has five balls and two assists in four games for seven points absolutely ridiculous i played him in fantasy it was not fun but he has been really hot to start the year and with winnipeg right because as we're going to talk about in this video the weakness is the depth and i do think there are some signs that that is going to get better uh but this team goes as far as connor uh kyle connor and shyfully carry them so far connor is carrying pretty far and i really do think right perhaps we're not going to get a 50-goal season. We'll see what happens. I think it's worth noting when it comes to the NHL, well, 50-goal seasons are pretty unpredictable, right? Kyle Conner has put up 47 in the past, his career high. He also has put up 41. I definitely think it's possible that he gets one, right? We'll see if it happens. I think for that to happen, I think they'll need to have more depth scoring, so defenses focus a little less on him. He has been a huge part of this, and it's always notable with Kyle Conner. What I love about him is just his ability to finish anywhere on the ice. He is one of the best shooters in the game and that's going to really really help winnipeg can have solid goaltending from both him and stevenson as well right i think you can add some scoring i think there is a lot more to this winnipeg team right people forget this is a team that had two of the top players in the nhl on offense last season right if they could have just gotten a bit better goaltending a bit more depth scoring they could have done a lot better and as annoying as it is to have poor depth scoring that is a much easier problem to solve than top end talent and kyle connor is absolutely top of the end uh top line talent and when it comes to death score i think a player who's gonna really break out this year for the winnipeg jets is cole perfetti right he's had a rough year last season didn't really play to his potential um as a result winnipeg jets is kind of best case scenario because they got him on a steal the contract now he has six points in four games I'm not going to sit here and project that he's going to be a point per game but I do think we're going to get at least the same as we got in 2024-25 when he scored 50 points or maybe even a bit more than that right right now they have him playing on that top line with Kyle Connick which allows them to put down Gabe Velarde on the second line I think this is a system that works really well for the Jets and however they shake it up right having that fourth guy right because last year it didn't really feel like Perfetti was a fourth guy it felt like they had three elite scorers and then the rest of the team if Cole Perfetti can be that fourth guy that is a huge step in the right direction for the Winnipeg Jets to really provide that additional offense that they need and I've been really I was really happy to see that so far that he's had that bounce back season at the very least he needs to have a good first few games to get that confidence back and that's absolutely there but finally I really want to talk about a rookie here for the Winnipeg Jets in Vigo Bjork right this is a player who I absolutely loved in the draft he's a player who I think even though he went higher than some people were saying in terms of just the fact they thought he would slip because of his size absolute idiotic old GM they don't appreciate what this player does I watched a lot of him in Jirga organs the year before going into his draft season he has so much potential and so far for the Winnipeg Jacks he really has looked the part right you look at some of these quotes on what he has done he's first of all handled stable ice time right for a rookie this is something that you don't typically see right he's playing over 10 minutes a night 15 in his career high game so far in the NHL I know 1340 1321 doesn't sound like a whole lot when you kind of look at how rookies around the league are deployed this is a sign of faith right he's not being thrown all the way even though he's playing the second line center he's not completely thrown in that situation but i think the points will come right he has not scored yet i am not at all worried about vigo bjork he is going to spend the entire year obviously in the nhl and i think he's gonna get better as time goes on but you watch him play right he's already finding his spots right getting around defenseman i think honestly it's about kind of the setup like one thing i do think the jets do have to change i do not think rosen should be on that second line they might have to get another player to put on this second line along Gabe Velarde I like having Vigo Bjork with a more experienced scorer like Velarde I think that chemistry will really come when we come to the talk about the Connor Hellbuck and what the trade return can be Winnipeg has quietly one of the most solid defenses in the NHL I definitely think it should be focused you know everyone talks about center ideally best case scenario you get a center just get some good wind depth right get some good wing depth so you have two more players who can really contribute offense to this team. And all of a sudden, this team is looking very scary. I don't think people are giving this team enough credit. It is a very solid group. And I would love to know what you think about the Winnipeg Jets. Do you think this team is for real? Do you think the Winnipeg Jets are going to make the playoffs? Do you think this winning formula is sustainable? Or do you think it's promising in the next stretch or tell? Or maybe they're about to collapse, right? For me, I'm not seeing any concerning signs with the Winnipeg Jets. I know it is super early and you fall into this trap every single year where you rank a team off the first few games. I, last year, looked like an idiot because I jumped all over the Wild looking like trash and like, oh, this team's going to rebuild, it's a disaster. And then, whoop, the Wild were one of the best teams in the NHL. But this year, I think, even though this is a very strong division, right? Winnipeg has a lot of really good competition. I think this team is better than some people are giving credit for and I would not be surprised if they make a surprise run and make the playoffs in fact I don't think you should be that surprised the Winnipeg Jets make a run and make the playoffs but that's gonna do it for this episode of NHL Digest if you have not already be sure to subscribe to this channel we are getting closer and closer to our goal of 20,000 subscribers that's insane just to say it all I say it loud appreciate all your support and yeah, catch you on the next episode on the channel right here.