Winnipeg Jets

Winnipeg Jets winger Patrik Laine was selected to participate in Sunday's NHL All-Star Game, serving as the team's only representative this season. He marks the first Jets rookie named an All-Star since Teemu Selanne in 1993, per Sportsnet Stats.

Laine has jumped out to a hot start for Winnipeg this season, notching 40 points (22 goals, 18 assists) through 44 games thus far. He ended the season's first half on a high note as well, posting a goal and an assist against the Chicago Blackhawks and tallying 10 points in the last six games.

The second pick in the 2016 NHL draft, the 18-year-old proved immediately capable of handling NHL-level play. In fact, Laine scored in his first NHL game, adding an assist for two points the opening night. He added a hat trick to his career ledger in just his fourth game and owns two already this season.

Laine enters the break in a tie for sixth in goals on the season and tied for 25th in points overall due to a lack of assists. Unfortunately, his efforts haven't resulted in a Jets team ready to contend.

Winnipeg sits sixth in the Central Division through 52 games this season, having already played more contests than each of its division opponents. The club finished 2015-16 with 78 points and is on track for a similar result this season, owning 50 points with 30 games remaining on the schedule.

While Laine's addition may not pay immediate dividends in terms of team success, he's at least provided reasons for optimism moving forward.

The Winnipeg Jets placed rookie sensation Patrik Laine on injured reserve on Jan. 13 as he continues to recover from a concussion suffered against the Buffalo Sabres on Jan. 7. 

Continue for updates.

Latest on Laine's Playing Status

Wednesday, Jan. 18

Head coach Paul Maurice said Laine participated in the Jets' morning skate but still does not have a timetable to return, per SportsCentre.

Maurice Comments on Hit That Injured Laine  

Friday, Jan. 13

Tim Campbell of NHL.com provided comments from Maurice, who concluded the hit wasn't dirty:

I love Patty Laine. I'm going to protect my players all day long. I don't have a problem with the hit. When two big men get together at that pace, there's going to be some collateral damage. The hits they're talking about getting out of the game are blind-side hits, elbows to the head, people coming off their feet to drive into it. It's a very unfortunate result, and we're hoping to get Patty back healthy here, but there's no issues with it.

Laine was on the receiving end of a crushing hit from Sabres defenseman Jake McCabe during the third period of the Jan. 7 game. The dynamic winger looked down to collect a pass in the neutral zone, where McCabe was waiting to deliver the shot, which sparked a brawl between the teams.

Injury Disrupts Hot Start for Laine

Laine was enjoying an awesome start to his NHL career with 37 points (21 goals and 16 assists) through 42 games before suffering the head injury. He'd also been playing a key role on special teams for Winnipeg with 11 power-play points.

The 18-year-old Finland native, who the Jets selected with the second overall pick in the 2016 draft, earned a place on the Central Division roster for the 2017 All-Star Game thanks to his strong start. It's unclear if he'll be cleared before the Jan. 29 showcase in Los Angeles, however.

Meanwhile, the Jets will miss his offensive contributions for as long as he remains out of the lineup. His quick release and high-powered shot represent perhaps the best combination of those two traits to enter the league since Alexander Ovechkin.

Winnipeg sits three points behind the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference during the early stages of the season's second half. Scoring consistently without Laine could become an issue for the team.

His absence will continue to amplify the pressure on the likes of Drew Stafford and Joel Armia to provide more production in the offensive end.

Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck lost his home shutout streak of 174 minutes, 54 seconds in the third period of Tuesday's game against the New Jersey Devils, per Sportsnet Stats.

Hellebuyck allowed a second goal in the final period of Tuesday's action, but the Jets still won 3-2. The 23-year-old netminder posted two straight home shutouts—beating the Nashville Predators and Chicago Blackhawks—prior to Tuesday.

Despite the youngster's latest efforts, Winnipeg has just an 11-12-2 record and sits sixth in the Central Division. Much of the Jets' troubles this season relate to Hellebuyck's struggles on the road.

While Hellebuyck owns a 1.92 goals-against average and .937 save percentage over 11 home games (10 starts) this season, his road marks (3.51 GAA and .879 save percentage) are on the other end of the spectrum. The disparity of his home and road splits has resulted in a 7-3-0 record at home and just a 2-5-0 record on the road in his outings between the pipes.

While Winnipeg wasn't expected to be a powerhouse this season, ESPN.com has suggested a return to the playoffs wouldn't be out of the question. The Jets do have some nice young pieces, but it's unclear if the club is ready to compete right now.

The Central Division remains compact up to this point, with the Jets trailing just five points behind the St. Louis Blues for second place. Even if the Jets aren't able to secure a playoff spot in 2016-17, it appears the club has a bright future.

The Winnipeg Jets announced an eight-year, $49 million contract extension for Mark Scheifele on Friday, which will make him one of the highest-paid young centers in the sport.

Scheifele, 23, was a restricted free agent. He posted 61 points (29 goals, 32 assists) in 71 games played last season.

The Jets nonetheless missed the playoffs for the fourth time in five seasons since moving from Atlanta. They finished 11th in the Western Conference and were near the bottom of the league—if not at it—in every major category.

In an interview with Ed Tait of the Winnipeg Free Press in March, Scheifele addressed areas of his game in need of improvement:

There’s still so many times when I have a chance to make a play and I don’t. Defensively, I can get better. It’s all areas of the game. I go through game tape every day and see the chances I missed. What’s happening now is just a byproduct of working hard. I’m a guy that whether it’s going good, bad or ugly I want to continue to improve my game and work hard.

Despite making it clear he wants to (and needs to) improve, Scheifele has become a willing building block for the Jets franchise. He raved about Finnish winger Patrik Laine, whom the Jets selected with the second overall pick in June's draft, per Kirk Penton of the Winnipeg Sun:

You see some Ovie in him with his shot and the way he kind of creeps around the ice and gets open. 

You see a little (Steven) Stamkos in him, just the way he shoots the puck. He's a little bigger than them. He's a little taller, a little more rangy. He's got a little more hands than Ovie. He's going to be special. And he's young. He's 18. You can probably say he's in the top ten in shooting already. He's going to be a special player.

Now that he's locked into being in Winnipeg for the next eight years, Scheifele can begin building what looks to be a formidable forward line with Laine.

The No. 7 overall pick in 2011, Scheifele has experience with building his game to realize the massive expectations before him. Armed with a huge contract, he'll now carry the responsibility of being a leader as the face of the franchise.

Winnipeg Jets forward Bryan Little will miss the rest of the season after suffering a compression fracture of the T6 vertebrae.

Continue for updates.

Jets Season Gets Worse With Little Injury

Thursday, Feb. 25

Jets head coach Paul Maurice announced the news Feb. 25, a week after Little suffered the injury. He took a vicious hit from Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Anton Stralman on Feb. 18 in a 6-5 shootout loss and has not played since.

Here is the hit, via Sportsnet:

Maurice was not happy about the play, per Adam Gretz of CBS Sports.

"It was a devastating open-ice hit that angered the Jets and infuriated Maurice," Gretz wrote. "Maurice was so upset Stralman was not ejected that he ended up getting himself ejected from the game after screaming at the officials on two different occasions during the game."

Stralman was not disciplined by the NHL for the hit, according to Gretz.

Little is second on the team in points with 42, and this is a big blow for a Winnipeg team that sits in last place in the Central Division with 54 points.

Coupled with the fact that the team will likely trade captain Andrew Ladd by Monday's trade deadline, per Gretz, it might be time for fans to start hoping for the No. 1 pick in the draft so that Winnipeg can land 18-year-old phenom Auston Matthews.

The Winnipeg Jets announced Monday that they re-signed defenseman Dustin Byfuglien to a five-year extension.

The 30-year-old will earn an average annual salary of $7.6 million over the course of the deal. Pro Hockey Talk's Mike Halford noted where the contract stacks up among the league's highest-paid defensemen:

ESPN The Magazine's Craig Custance argued Byfuglien is more than worth the investment for Winnipeg:

E.J. Hradek of NHL Network believes both parties will end up benefiting from the contract:

Byfuglien is on pace to have one of the best seasons of his career. In 52 games, he has amassed 32 points, tied for 13th among fellow defensemen. His 15 goals, meanwhile, are tied for second at his position.

By signing Byfuglien now, the Jets are avoiding a potential conundrum in the buildup to the Feb. 29 trade deadline. General manager Kevin Cheveldayoff doesn't have to worry about whether trading the veteran defenseman would be in the team's best interests rather than taking its chances in free agency.

ESPN.com's Pierre LeBrun ventures plenty of suitors were hoping Byfuglien would have been available in the coming weeks:

There's no question re-signing Byfuglien was the right move for the Jets. Winnipeg might be one of the worst teams in the Western Conference, but it couldn't afford to let Byfuglien slip through its grasp given his immense talent coupled with his ability to help at both ends of the ice.

By keeping one of their best players, the Jets are also sending the message they want to turn their fortunes around and become a steady fixture in the playoffs after missing out on the postseason in seven of the last eight years.

The Anaheim Ducks beat the Winnipeg Jets 5-4 on Monday night, winning the third game of their first-round Stanley Cup playoffs series and setting up the potential for a demoralizing sweep.

Frustration is running high for the Jets, who have responded to adversity by blowing third-period leads and, most recently, hitting goal-scorers in celebration.

Fresh off a four-game suspension for cross-checking, Winnipegs enforcer Dustin Byfuglien earned himself a two-minute minor for roughing in the second by putting a leg in front of Perry and judo-shoving the Anaheim winger to the ice after a goal.

ProHockeyTalk.com’s James O’Brien spotted footage of the cheap shot. Perry stuck in an easy goal to put the Ducks up 2-1, but he found himself face down on the ice after raising his arms to celebrate.

Byfuglien received the aforementioned penalty, and it remains to be seen if the league will hand down any further punishment.

Oh, Jets fans also chanted “Katy Perry” at Perry during a faceoff. 

After the game, Byfuglien entered full Marshawn-Lynch-shutdown mode while speaking to the media.

SportsNetCanada posted video of the interview. The defender skirted questions about his cheap shot by repeating different variations of "We just got to stick together as a team."

When you don't really have an answer besides "I was being dumb," you take the old "we're sticking together" team track.

I guess it's better than the truth?

Dan is on Twitter. #Actually, Katy Perry is a terrifying animal, so…

The Winnipeg Jets have every right to be angry that one of their most important players is going to miss the next four games. But that anger should be directed entirely at Dustin Byfuglien, who committed a stupid and malicious act against a defenceless opponent. If anything, the team should be thankful the NHL’s Department of Player Safety limited the suspension to four games.

The case for the suspension, as laid out by Player Safety, is as follows:

“The threat of Miller getting another scoring chance clearly has passed, and he is ineligible to be hit in any way,” states the video. “Byfuglien not only delivers an illegal blow, he does so with excessive force to an unprotected and vulnerable part of Miller’s upper body.”

If anything, that’s an understatement. On the list of things the NHL would like to see removed from the game, the act of hitting a prone opponent with a stick in the head/neck area has to be up near the top. Asked his opinion of Byfuglien’s cross-check after the game against Winnipeg, New York coach Alain Vigneault didn’t hold back in his condemnation.

“Violent, deliberate, could have broken his neck,” Vigneault told reporters in postgame comments shown on the team’s official site. “I don’t know what’s going to happen but it was one of the most vicious cross-checks I’ve seen this year.”

Really the only factor in Byfuglien’s favour is his relatively clean record; he has been fined on three occasions, but none of them are recent, and he has never been suspended previously. Given his record, four games is a pretty hefty punishment, but in light of the severity of the incident it could have been worse.

With Winnipeg currently in a tight three-way battle with Calgary and Los Angeles for one of the final playoff spots in the West, this is a significant blow to the team. Byfuglien has played both forward and defence this season and averages nearly 23 minutes per game in all situations. The Jets have only five games left on their schedule; with every point counting now, they’ll be down a critical component of their team for 80 percent of their remaining games.  

It is interesting, though, that Byfuglien will be available for Game 82. While all of Winnipeg’s games matter—it faces Vancouver, Minnesota, St. Louis and Colorado over its next four contests—none of those games are against teams the Jets are competing with for a playoff spot. Game 82 is against the Calgary Flames, and depending on what happens the rest of the way, Winnipeg may very well find that game determines whether or not it makes the playoffs.

Nobody (or at least, nobody outside of Manitoba) would have blamed the NHL for cracking down hard on a vicious incident, suspending Byfuglien for the remainder of the regular season. Instead, the Jets will have access to one of their most important players in what could be the team's most decisive game of the year.

In that sense, the team got off easy.

Jonathan Willis covers the NHL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter for more of his work.

The NHL announced Thursday that Winnipeg Jets defenseman Dustin Byfuglien will be suspended for four games after his cross-check on New York Rangers forward J.T. Miller during Tuesday's game.

You can view a replay of the incident below, along with an explanation for the punishment.

Bleacher Report's Dave Lozo was a bit surprised that Byfuglien only received a four-game punishment:

Byfuglien got lucky. If he had broken Miller’s neck he may have gotten a fifth game.

— Dave Lozo (@DaveLozo) April 2, 2015

Adam Herman of SB Nation's Blueshirt Banter also felt a stronger punishment was warranted, alluding to the fact Sean Avery received a six-game suspension in 2008 for disparaging comments he made about his ex-girlfriends:

Puck Daddy's Greg Wyshynski added that the length of the punishment means that Byfuglien will return for what could be a pivotal game in the Jets' season:

Winnipeg is currently holding on to the last wild-card spot in the Western Conference. The Jets have 90 points on the season and are two points ahead of the Los Angeles Kings, who have a game in hand.

A lengthy suspension for Byfuglien could have been seriously detrimental to Winnipeg's postseason place. However, as Wyshynski noted, the 30-year-old will be back for the team's regular-season finale.