Why the Winnipeg Jets Will Win the Stanley Cup

The modern-day version of the Winnipeg Jets not only haven’t won a Stanley Cup but have yet to appear in the Final. Here’s why we think the Jets might hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup in June.

Rare 50-Win Season For Winnipeg

For the second time in franchise history, the Jets have won 50 games in a season. They won 52 games in 2017-18 and reached the conference finals, losing in five to Vegas. That will sound familiar.

The Jets are in the playoffs for a second year in a row under head coach Rick Bowness, but expectations are certainly higher than in 2023 when Winnipeg was the last Western Conference team in the field with 95 points and lost in five games in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs to eventual champion Vegas.

This year, Winnipeg finished second in the Central Division behind Dallas, which means the Jets will have home-ice advantage in their first-round series against a loaded Colorado Avalanche team that finished third in the Central. That would seem to be a club the Jets would not want to face right out of the gate, but Winnipeg didn’t just win the season series 3-0 but took each game by multiple goals.

No doubt the Jets will have a goaltender advantage in Hart Trophy candidate Connor Hellebuyck over either Alexandar Georgiev or Justus Annunen for the Avs, who also have the likely Hart Trophy winner in the NHL’s second-leading scorer, Nathan MacKinnon.

Colorado is the -135 favourite to win the series with Winnipeg at +115. The favoured exact result is both Avalanche in five and Jets in seven at +500. That’s interesting.

Jets Surging At Right Time

From late January to the end of March, the Jets were just 14-14-2, but they were as hot as any team to close the regular season. The Jets have nine winning streaks of at least three games this year. They and Edmonton are the only two with multiple seven-game win streaks. The Jets would only face the Oilers in the West Finals.

And Winnipeg might finally have its ideal lineup for Game 1 of the first round as Sean Monahan and Tyler Toffoli were midseason additions; Gabe Vilardi missed half the season multiple injuries; Kyle Connor was out six weeks with a knee injury; and Mark Scheifele missed nearly a month with an ailment. Toffoli is one goal shy of tying his career high of 34 set last season. Vilardi leads the Jets with nine power play goals, which is a career high in just 45 games. Connor has seven multi-goal games despite his missed time.

“Our confidence is pretty high going into the playoffs,” Connor said after Tuesday’s win over Seattle. “For everybody here and in our team game, we know what it takes to win.”

Path Through the West

Should the Jets get past the Avalanche to reach the second round for the first time since 2021, they likely will face Central Division champion and Western Conference top seed Dallas in the West semifinals – although the Stanley Cup playoffs are usually chock full of upsets. While the Stars won the season series 3-1, the Jets took the last meeting in Big D, 3-0 on April 11.

Winnipeg No. 1 goaltender Connor Hellebuyck wasn’t even in net for that game, but he obviously gives the Jets a chance against any opponent with a 37-19-4 record, 2.39 GAA, .921 SV and five shutouts this season. The wins are second in the league, the save percentage second and the GAA fourth. Hellebuyck, who has three personal win streaks of at least five games this season, has a 2.58 career GAA and .916 SV in the playoffs but is 17-23. Playoff games usually are lower-scoring.

You aren’t winning a Cup if you aren’t a good road team, and the Jets were one of the best this season at 25-13-3 and winners of their past four away.

To win the Western Conference, the Jets are +800. For the Cup, they are +1500. The shortest price on an exact Stanley Cup Final involving Winnipeg is against both Carolina and Florida at +2800. The shortest price for the Jets on the exact outcome prop to win the Cup is beating both the Hurricanes and Panthers at +5000. To beat the Leafs in an all-Canadian final is +10000.