What’s next? What’s the next plausible step for the Winnipeg Jets?
Of course, the rawness of Saturday’s playoff exit in Dallas, for many reasons, needs to heal over somewhat, but in the coming weeks and months, this season’s performance will be assessed and next year’s expectations laid out.
Sure, winning the Stanley Cup is always the main objective — and, frankly, it’s the only one, and that’s totally understood — but it’s also how to get there; how to better improve your team’s advancement after making progress in your most recent season but still coming up short. That’s what needs to be fleshed out.
In truth, the Jets are not that far away, advancing to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs and making it difficult for the Stars to advance to the Western Conference final for a third straight year – proving that steps are important to the process and logically easier to ascend the next time around.
So, to view this season as anything but positive would be incorrect, especially after a Presidents’ Trophy, a franchise record for wins and a mantle full of individual hardware that’s expected to follow when the league awards are handed out next month.
But as star forward Kyle Connor said Tuesday at his final media availability of the season, ultimately, “we’re judged on playoff success.” And nothing more!
And while this market seems to be satisfied with the improvement the Jets made in getting past the first round, know this: what has been emanating from Winnipeg’s dressing room itself their last two seasons to be better will continue again, likely with a few new faces next year and with even more deposits into the bank vault of experience.
This season, by all accounts, was different for the Jets. It was without question solid, but it wasn’t perfect and does leave room for growth and progress.
So, what’s next for the Jets? Simply more of the same next year, but only to plausibly add on with another step or two.