The Winnipeg Jets continue to be in the news because of obvious reasons. First, the ticket sales and attendance are not good in Winnipeg right now. Second, management was hoping to show the fanbase its intention of winning and not rebuilding by extending Connor Hellebuyck and Mark Scheifele.
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Thus, the first item is connected to the second item on the list. And Winnipeg, like the rest of the NHL, is gate-driven. The revenue they get is based on ticket sales. And for 10 straight years, the Jets were able to sell out games. However, in the last couple of years, coming out of COVID-19, the fans are not showing up.
Now, it is not like the team is not any good. They are mediocre at best. The Jets are not bad enough for a high draft pick, but they are just good enough to either make the playoffs and lose in the first round or miss the playoffs by a couple of points.
This is where the dilemma lies for the Jets and general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff.
As TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger noted recently:
“You can absolutely draw a line to the Jets signing Connor Hellebuyck, extending Mark Scheifele to prove to the fan base that they’re still in the win-now mentality. Winnipeg cannot afford to go in a rebuild. They can’t afford to do it.”
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Thus, the team had no choice but to extend both of these players. What is even more eye-opening is that there is a belief the Winnipeg Jets did not even try to move these players knowing what it could do to the roster and potentially drive away more fans as Dreger continued.
“If you don’t extend Scheifele and Hellebuyck because you’re embracing a rebuild, guess what happens? Josh Morrissey is knocking on your door and Kyle Connor is knocking on the door. And now you’ve got Cole Perfetti with all due respect and Dylan Samberg as your season ticket draws, right? It gets problematic. I mean, it’s problematic right now for the Winnipeg Jets.
They wanted to keep Scheifele and Hellebuyck. I now look at the business model of how things are going on. I don’t think they tried very hard to trade either guy in the offseason. That’s not an indictment on management.
I think that’s a balance between knowing that you’ve got two good players who you want to keep but also understanding the ripple effect if you don’t keep those two players and what it might do to your hockey club first and foremost, but then the business picture gets real bleak in a hurry.”
But the fact they did not even try is even more puzzling considering other markets are going through a rebuild and have told their fans about it too. And those fans were cool about it. Why not in Winnipeg?
It is a situation worth watching as the season moves on.
