Back and soaring -- Winnipeg Jets --

[K0ZZ]

NHL allows the Coyotes to return to Winnipeg

[i]After years of mounting frustrations these Coyotes will no longer be calling Phoenix home. NHL hockey in the harsh desert climate never seemed to catch on. The Coyotes have been gradually improving, but never had been a serious contender for Lord Stanley's cup. Yet the move may be a spark that allows management to shake things up and push forward. The move finalized during the end of the 2009-10 season, allowed the Jets arena be upgraded and the team to return home.

The offseason was not anything too fascinating. Inheriting the Phoenix roster, the Jets eyed youth as valuable, after all a new team could use young faces to become iconic stars. During the draft, the Jets made two trades, one that landed Left Winger Andrew Ladd from Atlanta in exchange for Radim Vrbata. The move allowed the Jets to open up the youth movement somewhat, with Ladd being the younger player but with similar talent, not much was lost. A slight surprise of a move saw the Winnipeg Jets ship off Andrew Ebbett for the very young Christian Hanson. The move helps the Toronto Leafs immeadiately, where as the Jets will have to focus on development if they want any hope of it becoming a successful trade.

The Jets went after three players in order to shore up their later lines and allow a proven backup in goal tending. The Jets signed 25 year old Right Winger, Robert Nilsson to a 2 year deal and goal tender Cristobal Huet to back up Ilya Bryzgalov, Huet was a failed experiment in Chicago and Winnipeg will be hoping he can hit top form and be a great goto guy when Bryzgalov is needing of a break. Defenseman Kim Johnsson was intended to bring up the third line of defense but the veteran declined, potentially ending his career.

With an average age of 29.4, the Jets albeit on the older end of the spectrum, still have enough left in the tank to develop and improve. They have a lot of youth buried deep in on the squad and the team even has the opportunity to be a playoff contender. Yet at this point it is a far shot to assume they would be anything more than a first round elimination or maybe slip into the second round.

The Jets have a lot to prove, is this team doomed to never be financially viable? A new uniform has been put out, with the traditional logo and colors still intact, featuring a newer design that they will unveil with their first game.

[K0ZZ]

Season Record: (4-4-2) 10 Points, 8th in Western Conference

Jets conclude forgettable October

The Jets won their first two games ever since the franchise moved back to Winnipeg, both against the Boston Bruins, in the home and away series, the Bruins lost by a combined 6 goals that put the Jets at 2-0-0, sadly that led into a streak of winning once in 7 attempts that slid the Jets back to the bottom of the Western Conference. Issues were abound for these Jets, the offense couldn't keep the puck in the offensive zone and the defense could not force turnovers or even clear the puck only getting more shots on goal in a blow out rout of the Tampa Bay Lightening allowing only 14 shots on goal compared to their own 36.

The Jets welcomed Detroit to their home ice where they would lose in a high scoring game that would eventually lead to a shoot out, losing 7-8 when they could not convert a single goal in the shootout period. Leaving the confines of their home arena they traveled down to Anheim where the Ducks proceeded to destroy the Jets 2-6, thanks to a much higher volume of shots.

The Jets were able to pull things together, as they returned home to Winnipeg, slipping out a 1-0 victory against the 2nd place, Los Angeles Kings, a rare win that was one of the higher points of their opening month. Yet that feeling would leave quickly when the Hurricane came to town, surrendering a second overtime loss in a 5-6 game.

In their following two matchups against the Canadian bottom feeders, Montreal and Ottawa, they would surrender 5 goals in both games while only putting up 3 through both. Their road trip through Canada came to an end with two big losses that turned the road back to the United States where they would face off against the veteran Red Wing squad in the Motor City.

Once again they would lose to the Red Wings, only by one goal again, allowing the Red Wings to maintain their slim lead in the conference with 11 points compared to the 10 the Jets had, ending the month at home, they blew out the Tampa Bay Lightning 8-4 in front of an anxious home crowd.

The Jets made a few trades through the month in order to bring up their squad to be worthy of a playoff bid, trading Shane Doan to the Montreal Canadiens paired with draft picks and defensiveman Oliver Ekman-Larsson for Mike Cammalleri, the youngster expected to be a dominant force, while sacrificing a little youth to continue the youth movement.

They also made a deal with the Atlanta Thrashers sending Ed Jovanovski and a third round draft pick in order to get Dustin Byfuglien who is coming off a stanley cup winning season with the Chicago Blackhawks, the Jets loved his size and athletic ability. Hoping that he will be able to strengthen the squad from the start. The Jets open up November on the third with a home game against the Predators, and Jets fans everywhere are hoping for a better performance

[nhl11buff]

Good thing about Winnipeg is that when the going gets the tough they'll keep coming.