ANALYSIS: Will Winnipeg Jets fans still care after the Olympics?

I’ve been wondering about something, and I’m not sure how it will actually turn out. I’m hopeful for one thing, but a piece of me truly believes another will happen. What’s the saying, “Out of sight, out of mind”?

With hockey fans turning to the international events at the Olympics and the epic “You Remember Where You Were?!” moments that they present, the Winnipeg Jets, despite sending four players to the tournament, will, at least for a time, fade into the background — which I fear will be costly.

In years past, even last year, a long break was a welcome time to take a big breath — take it easy — and get ready for the high-pressure and heart-pounding stress and action that comes with late-season hockey and the Stanley Cup playoffs.

But that’s a very unlikely result for the Jets this season. Sitting at 22-26-8 — a record that has them 11 points out of the post-season — I worry this distance away could be crushing for Winnipeg and the organization’s bottom line.

When you’re in the middle of the season — especially at the pace that it went, with a new game on the schedule at most a day or two away — regardless of wins or losses, it’s difficult not to get into the rhythm of the season. You feel each beat and prepare for each up and down.

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However, with the weather seemingly turning and spring on the horizon, a team that is sitting 28th of 32 teams is going to struggle to maintain even a shred of buzz in its final 26 games on the schedule, especially after the pending sell-off ahead of the March 6 trade deadline — now only five games away.

That reality hits home when you realize that the Jets have roughly one-quarter of all their home games remaining — 10 in March and three more in April. And so, to all those who have been calling for a “rebuild,” well, this is the small cost of a small fraction of what that would actually bring, with this instead being a pending and much-needed retool of this roster.

So, cheer your Jets loud and proud. Because they’re going to need it. Especially as things go quiet in the hushed advance toward summer.