When looking at NHL teams and their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliates, there tends to be at least some correlation between successes and failures, but with the Winnipeg Jets and Manitoba Moose, the differences couldn’t be more apparent.
Despite the direct link between the two with players and management, one team is finding a great deal of success while the other sits at the bottom of the league standings. The Jets have done some recalling of players, which can stifle success at the AHL level, but it hasn’t happened nearly enough to create the mess that has become the Moose in the first portion of the season.
The Jets, on the other hand, have not dropped below fourth in the NHL standings since Oct. 19, thanks largely to their historic 14-1-0 start that set a new NHL record. Simply put, the Jets have been the hottest team in the league nearly all season and they carried that momentum into the break.
The stark difference between the two teams is shocking and makes for a lot of questions coming out of the break, but the difference is that one team is getting asked how high they can go, and the other has people wondering how far from rock bottom they are.
Offense, Hellebuyck Helping the Jets Find Success
The Jets held strong at the top of the league standings as the holiday break hit, and they earned that with a pair of strong performances against the Minnesota Wild and Toronto Maple Leafs to bring their overall record to 25-10-1. That made them the first team this season to hit 25 wins and 50 points, continuing the trend of being the team to beat at the top of the standings.
The success extends further than those two games, as they were also 7-2-1 in their last 10. A lot of this stems from the league’s best power play and recent production from the Jets’ top line.
The power play turnaround after last season’s struggles has been nothing short of spectacular. Going from the 22nd-best unit at 18.8% to the league’s best at 32.1 is a real testament to the work that assistant coach Davis Payne has done after being named to Scott Arniel’s staff over the summer.
That top unit has been especially effective, and unless some league-wide revelation happens where teams figure out how to stop them, they’re going to continue to roll through opposing penalty-kill units.
Three members of that top unit also make up the Jets’ top line, and recently, they’ve found a great deal of success on the scoresheet….
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