After a three-week hiatus due to the 2026 Winter Olympics, the National Hockey League resumes its regular season today with an eight-game series, including the Winnipeg Jets taking on the Vancouver Canucks. That means I’m writing about our hockey team again…did you miss me?? I was planning on writing some other articles during the break… but found that I was enjoying it too much to take a step back and couldn’t muster the motivation to do anything other than a little prospect research. Kieron Waltons CHL career. Hopefully someday I’ll get around to sharing how he stacks up against other players who have ever finished in the top 5 for scoring in the Ontario Hockey League.
Fans at British Columbia’s Rogers Arena shouldn’t expect to see great hockey when the action gets underway, as the 9 p.m. central kickoff will feature the 28th-seeded Jets and the 32nd-seeded Canucks. If seeing a few bottom 5 franchises battle it out late into the night still sounds too interesting, then the fact that the clubs will also be without some players might make you reconsider going to bed earlier.
For various reasons (but especially injuries), Winnipeg will have 4 starters out of the lineup (Connor Hellebuyck, Josh Morrissey, Neal Pionk& Nino Niederreiter), as well as a few depth defenders (Haydn Fleury & Colin Molenaar). Vancouver also has a bunch of broken players, with goalie Kevin Lankinen and forward Jonathan Lekkerimaki & Filip Chytil expect them to miss the game, but will get a boost with proceeds from Marco Rossi & Nils Hoglander.
After playing 57 games so far, the Canucks appear to be a lock to finish in last place, 7 points behind the nearest competition (STL). That leaves the Jets with 10 points and a game in hand against the NHL’s worst team, making it unlikely the True Northers will have to face the ignominy of going from President’s Trophy winner to bottom feeder in just one season.
Despite playing one fewer game, Winnipeg has scored 11 more goals than Vancouver this season, but that gap widens when you look at goals conceded (Jets have allowed 35 fewer). Both Canadian franchises were on a losing streak heading into the break (OF 3/WPG 2), so at least one gets back in the Win column tonight. The True Northers also fared better in the special teams department, holding a slight lead over PP (19.1% to 18.2%) and a larger one on the PK (79% to 70.6%).
Here’s how the two clubs’ annual stats compare so far, via ESPN‘S comparison numbers of team and goalkeeper:
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The Winnipeg Jets are 11 points behind the Western Conference’s final wild-card spot, so if all the talk from the players, coaches and management still believes a playoff spot is possible… the winning has to start Wednesday night. I know that coach Scott Arniel last year held up the St. Louis Blues’ improbable offense in the second half of the season as an example of how it’s possible… yet the odds are still stacked against the True Northers.
To illustrate this: if the Seattle Kraken & Anaheim Ducks (shared 8th place) are only hitting .500 over their remaining 26 games (have hit .563 so far)…then they would finish with 89 points on the season. That would mean Winnipeg would have to give up 37 points to tie with the Kraken & Ducks… or go 18-7-1 over their last 26 games (a winning percentage of .711). If the Jets could pull that off, they would have the advantage in the first tiebreaker category (regulation wins). So they have that going for them….
We’re doing this early in the morning, so we’ll have to rely on the lineup projections via PuckPediawhich are based on yesterday’s practice for the Jets:
WINNIPEG JETS ALIGNING
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VANCOUVER CANUCKS LINEUP
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A few former Jets play against their old club, with striker Evander Kane & defender Tyler Myers is expected to suit up for the Canucks. Winnipeg continues to pile up the games played in the major leagues for AHLers Elias Salomonsson & City of Heinola are expected to deliver 47 games for the year (48 as Dominic DiVincentiis comes into play).
I’m running out of time before I have to start work…so that’s all for now. Will update the Jets lineup if I notice any changes throughout the day.
Go Winnipeg Jets!!!!!
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AFTER-GAME INFO
Score overview: (courtesy of ESPN)
FINAL SCORE:
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Game Statistics: (courtesy of MoneyPuck)
Expected goals (all):
Expected goals (5on5):
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BOJA’S thoughts after the game:
A late start in the middle of my work week…..so I’m not sure how late I’ll stay up. That means the advanced stats and other stuff might not be added until Thursday morning. Nice day!!!
#Winnipeg #Jets #Vancouver #Canucks