WINNIPEG — What started out as a promising Saturday night against the Columbus Bluejackets quickly turned into yet another disaster for the Winnipeg Jets.
Neither was Jets management. Sunday morning, Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff fired head coach Claude Noel.
Paul Maurice will be the new bench boss.
“I feel for the fans,” said Cheveldayoff. “I would love — and I said this before — I’d love for this to happen quicker for them.”
Fans said changes are necessary.
“I saw it coming. The writing was on the wall,” said a Jets fan at the MTS Iceplex.
The Jets have been inconsistent all season and at the halfway mark, the team sits near the bottom of the Western Conference, 10 points out of a playoff spot.
“Coaches always take the hit. You can’t fire a team — you can try to trade players, but they can’t fire the team, right?” asked a Jets fan at the Gateway Recreation Centre.
While definitely not contenders, fans had high hopes their team would at least squeak into the playoffs this season. Whether that can still happen under a new coach with the current roaster depends on who you ask.
“Not this year,” said a die-hard Jets fan. “They’ll make it next year.”
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