Winnipeg Jets’ emerging offense a solid starting point for their future

It’s that time of the NHL season where a few fan bases start buying playoff tickets while the rest turn their attention to MLB spring training. Elimination is no fun. But it shouldn’t color your whole fandom with tears. Just most of it. Seventy percent of it.

This is the 30 percent: SB Nation NHL Silver Linings, where we send hockey’s eliminated teams into the offseason with five good things to remember from this season.

The 2016-17 season showed us just how dangerous the Winnipeg Jets can be as a franchise. Sure they were eliminated from the playoffs with a few weeks to go, but the league has been put on notice.

A year after falling to the second-last spot in the league, the Jets climbed to just within reach of batting .500. And hey, no one expected Winnipeg to contend this year, but right off the bat they were a fun team to watch.

Oh, and they might have the Calder Trophy by season’s end, too. Imagine that.

That Calder Trophy we mentioned? Yeah, Laine’s likely going to win that. Maybe. It’s really more of a tossup. But still! Laine is tied for the NHL scoring lead with 61 points with Toronto’s rookie sensation, though Laine has done it in seven fewer games.

No one’s really sure now who will get the Calder, but it’s sure got to mean more to Laine in a year where the Jets are no longer contending. And even if he doesn’t win, Laine’s cemented himself as an offensive player to watch for years to come.

Plus, Laine was at the centerpiece of sparking a rivalry flame between two young, talented teams. Canada really bounced back this season, eh?

Get ready to hear the names of Mark Scheifele and Nikolaj Ehlers for a long time. The pair emerged this season as an offensive threat worthy of mention. Scheifele especially, who has 76 points in 73 games to lead the Jets offense as a 24-year-old.

Their supporting cast is quite talented, too, with the likes of Blake Wheeler, Dustin Byfuglien, Bryan Little, and Mathieu Perreault playing big parts in making the Jets offense the eighth-deadliest in the NHL this season.

Add some college hockey standouts in Andrew Copp and Kyle Connor to the mix, and Winnipeg’s offense has never been deeper in this incarnation of the franchise.

And they almost were, as the Jets rolled with Connor Hellebuyck and Michael Hutchinson for most of the season. Winnipeg’s goaltending was certainly their biggest weakness of the season, but head coach Paul Maurice finally seemed to realize that their goaltender of the future was not going to be Pavelec.

Hellebuyck has shown flashes of greatness, and stability, while Hutchinson can live as a capable backup. It’s not perfect, but Hellebuyck especially is young and still developing. Not everyone can have a Matt Murray at the outset of their goaltending careers.

Winnipeg could have been in a position to take a run at the Western Conference playoff standings, but their health deteriorated over the last few months. Eight players, including Laine and Byfuglien, have fallen prey to the injury bug.

Would the Jets have made the climb to the postseason even with their key players uninjured? Who knows. But no one likes losing almost double-digits in players to injury, especially over a few weeks’ time. Just ask the Penguins.

With the offseason near, and Vegas throwing a wrench into the draft plans, most teams will likely be scrambling to sign and make deals to accommodate their biggest players. The Jets, however, will have just four unrestricted free agents to deal with and have a projected $6.3 million in cap space to work with.

The only big-name UFA coming off the books at the end of the season will be Pavelec, and with their cap space they’ll have plenty of room to get Marko Dano, Copp, Brandon Tanev, Ben Chiarot, and Hellebuyck under contract. Some smart management this offseason can set them up well for a bright future.