On paper, the Winnipeg Jets are a probable playoff team without an inside track to Stanley Cup contention. Could we be underestimating them again? Now that the Jets are inches away from naming their final roster, it’s time to zoom into Winnipeg’s depth chart, starting with our projected opening-night lineup. You’ve seen this before.
This roster is almost identical to what we’ve been projecting throughout training camp. The only adjustments are for injury, with Haydn Fleury and Dylan Coghlan winning jobs in lieu of Ville Heinola and Logan Stanley . Neither David Gustafsson nor Jaret Anderson-Dolan are expected to miss time but each is banged up; we’ve thus projected a 23-player roster with 14 forwards, seven defencemen and two goaltenders — at least to start — instead of the 22-player roster Scott Arniel told us he’d hoped to land on when camp began.
Advertisement Rosters are due on Monday. It’s possible Arniel surprises by keeping Elias Salomonsson over Coghlan or one of Brad Lambert or Nikita Chibrikov over Anderson-Dolan. That’s not the call we’re making here, as we move into position by position analysis of this year’s Jets.
Centre Winnipeg’s centres have diverse strengths and weaknesses and likely rank mid-pack in terms of the NHL at large. Mark Scheifele is many things. A big, powerful protector of the puck.
A strong shooter. A smart, consistent playmaker. He has body positioning tricks designed to earn him an extra inch in the offensive zone, o.