Onrdrej Pavelec's Five-Year Deal Cements Jets Core Players Want To Stay

Pavelec signed a 5-year deal worth $3.9 annually.
(Photo Courtesy Yahoo! Sports)

As TSN 1290's Hustler & Lawless interviewed Winnipeg Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff Monday afternoon mere hours after signing the Jets undisputed number one goalie in Ondrej Pavelec, there was a sense that maybe the Jets have something really good going on here in Winnipeg.

For the Jets, who were seemingly deep in a hole after Pavelec was offered a one-year contract to play in the Kontinental Hockey League at a price tag north of $5 million, they have seemed to rebounded in good timing and locked up their budding goalie.

But once the deal was reportedly off the table from the KHL, it was apparent that both Pavelec and agent Allen Walsh had lost a bargaining chip to help them get a contract with larger dolllar figures.

However, it is Pavelec's reaction to signing the five-year deal that is interesting and very hopeful for both Jets brass and fans.

"That's all I was looking for, to stay in a city you like."

"They have great fans there and I always said I like Winnipeg.  It's behind me now and I'm just looking forward to success in Winnipeg." (Winnipeg Free Press, 06/25/2012)

Coming off a career season, in which he posted a career high in wins with 29, the Jets not only got a slight pay raise at $3.9 million annually, but is looking to ramp up his play and improve his less than stellar 2.91 goals against average and .906 save percentage.

But Pavelec's decision to stick in Winnipeg as the number one goalie must prove a significant point that the Jets seem to be going about matters and dealings with their players in a professional and caring way.

During the days of True North's ownership of the Manitoba Moose, there were certain core players that seemed to stick around year to year, including Jason Jaffray, Mike Keane, Nolan Baumgartner, and now a member of the Jets player development squad Jimmy Roy.

It's no secret that True North, including Mark Chipman, Craig Heisinger, and Kevin Cheveldayoff, continue to breed a culture that makes their players, whether top or bottom of the barrel, welcome in Winnipeg infused with a want to play here.

Pavelec's signing cements the idea that he wants to play in Winnipeg.

Ondrej Pavelec posted a 29-28-9 record in 2011-12.
(Photo Courtesy Yahoo! Sports)

He did not file for arbitration nor outright refuse the contract.

Pavelec wanted to play in Winnipeg and made sure it got done sooner rather than later.

As a core player, his signing is significant because of the other qualifying offers Cheveldayoff has handed out.

As was with Andrew Ladd last summer and now Jim Slater and Ondrej Pavelec this summer, Jets fans and pundits alike will not have to wait long for additional signings to come around, including another core player in Evander Kane.

One thing is for sure, if he signs, see that he will say he wants to stay in Winnipeg.

Baby Jets Showing Bright Future For Jets Franchise

With a seventh game win in the second round over the Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins, the Ice Caps are on to their first Eastern Conference Final in St. John's.

Remembering back to the 2006-07 season when, as a Montreal Canadiens fan, I saw Carey Price almost singlehandedly help the Habs AHL affiliate the Hamilton Bulldogs win the Calder Cup, I thought the future would be bright for the Habs.

I was right in one thing - Price is a bright part of the future and present, but besides that not much else has been something of note for the Habs as they traded the biggest stars that were on that team (Grabovski, D'Agostini, Lapierre, and Halak).

But if there is something to be said about how an professional sports organization builds itself, then the Winnipeg Jets are on the right track.

After moving the former Manitoba Moose franchise to Newfoundland, the winning ways have not seemed to stop.

Not only did the St. John's Ice Caps win an Atlantic Division title in their first season on the rock, but they are on their way to the franchise's third conference final and first as the Ice Caps.

The last time the franchise was there was during the 2009 Calder Cup Playoffs when the former Moose got by the Houston Aeros in six games and made their only appearance in the Calder Cup Finals.

But for the Moose franchise, the Jets took what was a winning tradition - one conference championship, two division championships, and a regular season title - and transferred it into their own organization.

The Moose's success was primarily based on Canucks prospects and personnel mixed in with whatever GM Craig Heisinger could find to bolster the lineup.

But in St. John's, Heisinger is both the GM of the Ice Caps and assistant GM of the Jets, which helps him to be in a position of strength to make his baby Jets as good as they can be.

With former Moose Jason Jaffray leading the way as captain, the Ice Caps have the same core of players that left Winnipeg for St. John's last year as Moose players, namely Marco Rosa, Travis Ramsey, Kevin Clark, Tom Maxwell, and Garth Murray.

The commitment to winning and to being dedicated to developing relationships with players shows how committed the Jets are to breeding success at the AHL level.

Not only are those Ice Caps players, former Moose players, making a difference in the playoff run, but the young Jet prospects - including Eddie Pasquale, Paul Postma, and other pickups like Brock Trotter, Aaron Gagnon, and Maxime Macenauer are making a difference.

With winning in the minors breeds winning in the big leagues - and as Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff keeps preaching his philosophies on how the Jets are going to properly and slowly develop their top prospects, there is no doubt that players who are Jets draft picks will look forward to playing under head coach Keith McCambridge in St. John's.

Doing Things The Chevy Way

For Jets General Manager Kevin Cheveldayoff, taking time to perfect something is the essence of his managing style.

The former 16th overall draft pick in 1988 has had time to grow and learn in the game - not only by playing the game on ice level, but by watching, learning, and being a student of the game.

And wherever Cheveldayoff has gone, success has not been far behind.

In his first season behind the bench as assistant coach to Butch Goring of the IHL's Utah Grizzlies, the team captured the Turner Cup in 1995-96.

That success translated into the next step in his career - becoming a general manager.

In 1997, he started a 12 year career as the GM of the Chicago Wolves.

Here is where he learned the most about the game as a GM - winning two Turner Cups in the IHL and following that up with two Calder Cup Championships when the Wolves were moved to the AHL.

The next step was becoming assistant GM in Chicago in 2009-10 and winning the Stanley Cup - his sixth championship in 13 years of work.

Now, as trade deadline day 2012 shows, nothing has changed from what he learned when he was in Chicago with the Wolves.

The Jets are doing things the Chevy way.

As trade deadline day is for teams to stock up for a playoff run and focus on the present chance of winning hockey's ultimate prize, Cheveldayoff took the introspective route and - along with his scouting staff and Jets Governor and Co-Owner Mark Chipman - decided to make sure the right decisions for future success were taken into account.

Winnipeg hockey fans have seen this before with the MTS Centre's former tenants the Manitoba Moose.

Moose fans had to endure a few losing seasons after the original Winnipeg Jets left before success came.

The Moose failed to make the playoffs two out of their first three seasons before finally becoming a annual playoff contender.

After the move from the IHL to the AHL, the Moose missed the post-season once and enjoyed success - reaching the Calder Cup Finals in 2009.

The amalgamation of Cheveldayoff's vision and experience and True North's aims, goals, and ambitions for a franchise have created the perfect situation for the newest NHL franchise to base its future success upon.

Grow for the future and success will follow.

For now, we'll say it's doing things The Chevy Way.

Noel Knows Home Cooking Good For Long Term Success

With 13 of the next 15 at home, many have been harping on the fact that the Winnipeg Jets season will boil down to how these next bundle of games will play out.

For what it's worth, those many people are somewhat right.

A rocky start in a 6-4 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night didn't exactly right any wrongs of the Jets, who have been streaking lately, picking up points consistently as November has turned into December.

But many must remember that the Jets play as of late has been night and day from that of the early October and late October, and pretty much all of October.

Evander Kane's 12 goals leads the team and his play has improved leaving many to believe that he is the star of the team and is on pace to potentially break the 30 goal plateau.

Impressive for a third year player who has never scored 20.

The team concept that head coach Claude Noel has instilled in these players and his systems is reminiscent of his year of coaching the Manitoba Moose last season in Winnipeg.

The Moose of 2010-11 were a a team of grinders and hard nosed guys. Somehow, Noel got a team with only one 20+ goal scorer (Sergei Shirokov) and pluggers to an impressive 43-3-7 mark and an eventual loss in Game 7 of the Calder Cup Semi-Finals.

There's no worry about the outcome of game's past because Noel's system is starting to see the fruit of its ways.

Games, such as Ottawa, are only hiccups on the way to the Jets becoming an above .500 team in the NHL's Eastern Conference.

If anyone doesn't believe that, look at Noel's previous coaching record prior to his arrival in Winnipeg.

In five seasons of coaching in the AHL with Manitoba and the Milwaukee Admirals, Noel's teams have never missed the playoffs - in fact, never won less than 41 games in a season. That also included a Calder Cup championship in 2004.

In eleven seasons of minor-pro coaching in the AHL, IHL, and ECHL, Noel's teams has only ever missed the playoffs once - in his rookie season coaching in the ECHL.

Ottawa was only a hiccup and sure there will be more.

But hiccups rarely destroy anything.

Jets Fall Flat Back At Home To Panthers 5-2

It was another former Chicago Blackhawk that had the big night on the scoresheet Thursday night at MTS Centre as the Florida Panthers came into Winnipeg and took two points away from the hometown Jets.

Kris Versteeg scored the game's opening two goals and added an empty netter for his first hat trick of his NHL career as the Panthers came away with a 5-2 victory when it was all said and done.

The game featured a number of players from the now dismantled 2010 Stanley Cup champions, including Jets captain Andrew Ladd, Jets defenseman Dustin Byfuglien, Panthers forwards Tomas Kopecky and Versteeg, as well as Panther defenseman Brian Campbell.

Also scoring for the road team was Jason Garrison and Mike Santorelli.

On the board for the hometown Jets were Tim Stapleton with his first as a Jet on the power play and Andrew Ladd with his fourth of the campaign.

The Panthers had leads of 2-0 after one and 4-0 after two before the Jets forced their way back into the game in the third with two quick goals by Stapleton and Ladd in the first six minutes of the final frame.

Ondrej Pavelec made eleven saves on 15 shots and was sat for the final frame as Peter Mannino made his Jets debut, stopping all four shots he faced in the third period.

The Jets outshot the Panthers in the final period by a 17-4 margin, but Jose Theodore ended up stopping 25 of 27 on the night for the win.

The Panthers went two-for-five on the powerplay while the Jets went one-for-three on the man advantage.

Mark Stuart was the only Jet who finished with a plus rating (plus one) over 18:16 of ice time.

Dustin Byfuglien logged 24:44 of ice time to lead the Jets. Zach Bogosian logged 24:22, Johnny Oduya logged 22:29, Alexander Burmistrov logged 19:46, and Evander Kane logged 18:55.

Bryan Little was excellent in the faceoff circle, winning 15 of 20 draws on the night, while Jim Slater won seven of fourteen and Burmistrov won eight of fifteen.

Slater had a game high six shots on net, while Byfuglien had four.

The Jets now go back on the road for a meeting with the lowly Columbus Blue Jackets and former Jet and Jacket head coach Scott Arniel Saturday night.


Photo Courtesy of Yahoo! Sports & Getty Images

Game #12: Jets @ Islanders

Long Island will be the site as the Jets (4-6-1) visit the New York Islanders (3-4-2) and their starting goalie and ex-San Jose Shark netmidner Evgeni Nabokov.

Nabokov was the center of controversy last season as the Islanders picked the exiled Russian goalie off waivers from the Detroit Red Wings only to have him not play due to him having no desire to play for the lowly Islanders.

However, Nabokov is back in the NHL this season with the Islanders and so far is 1-2-0 with a 2.23 goals against average and a .927 save percentage.

With numbers like those with only a 1-2-0 record - it shows how badly the Islanders need scoring and have struggled this season.

The Isles are the lowest scoring team in the NHL with only 18 goals this season through nine games. The next closest teams in goals for are the Calgary Flames, Detroit Red Wings, Minnesota Wild, and New Jersey Devils - who all have 23 goals in ten or more games.

Leading the way for the Isles is franchise player John Tavares as well as Matt Moulson, Mark Streit, and ex-Manitoba Moose star Michael Grabner.

For the Jets, their defensive core is still underdoing some injury woes as Tobias Enstrom flew back to Winnipeg after taking a vicious hit by Panthers forward Jack Skille on Monday.

He will not rejoin the Jets on the remainder of the road trip.

Enstrom has six points (one goal, five assists) in eleven games thus far this season.

Also out for the Jets on defense are Ron Hainsey, Derek Meech, and possibly Mark Stuart - who is day-to-day with an upper body issue.

Stuart is being re-evaluated and is not a likely possibility to be in the lineup come game time at Nassau Coliseum.

The Jets re-called defensemen Brett Festerling and Mark Flood from the AHL's St. John's Ice Caps this week to plug the holes on their defense.

It is expected that both will be in the lineup for the Jets tonight on Long Island.

Among the hottest Jets in the lineup is Evander Kane, who has six points (four goals, two assists) in his last five games after starting the season off without a point in his first five games.

Alexander Burmistrov had his six game point streak snapped in Tampa Bay last Saturday and wasn't able to start a new point streak on Monday in Sunrise.

The young Russian forward has nine points (three goals, six assists) in eleven games.

On this road trip, starting goalie Ondrej Pavelec is 2-1-0 so far with a 4.00 goals against average and a .909 save percentage.

Pavelec is 1-1 in his last two starts in Florida with a 1.92 goals against average and a .946 save percentage. He has stopped 101 of his last 112 shots in the last three games.

Game time is 6:00 PM CT and is available on TSN-Jets and TSN1290.

Photo Courtesy of Yahoo! Sports & Getty Images

Jets Defensive Injuries Cues First AHL Re-Call

While Tobias Enstrom is back in Winnipeg amidst the Jets longest road trip of the season, the Jets have gone to the bullpen to help their ailing defensive core.

With Ron Hainsey and Derek Meech already on the shelf for a while now, there is the potential that Mark Stuart will not suit up Thursday night in Long Island due to an undisclosed upper body injury.

Knowing Stuart's defensive style - the shot blocking, hard nosed type - a game off would do his body good in recovering for the remainder of the Jets seven game road trip.

Having four of their top seven defenseman out of the lineup now, the Jets have their first AHL call ups from the rock in Newfoundland - Brett Festerling and Mark Flood.

Flood is the first ex-Manitoba Moose to return to Winnipeg in the NHL.

The former sixth round pick of the Montreal Canadiens in 2003 has played in eleven games for the Jets affiliate Ice Caps, collecting one goal and six assists, along with a +4 rating.

Festerling has also played in eleven games, with four points (one goal, three assists) with a +1 rating.

The Jets defensive core that may start in Long Island now stands with Dustin Byfuglien, Zach Bogosian, Johnny Oduya, Randy Jones, Festerling, and Flood.

Stuart is listed as day-to-day and is possibly a game time decision.

Head coach Claude Noel said that there is a possibility that Hainsey would be back by the weekend or after the weekend when asked about his veteran defenseman.

Enstrom will likely miss the remainder of the road trip, but Noel did disclose that his injury was not concussion related.


Sources:
TSN1290.ca

Photos Courtesy of Yahoo! Sports & Getty Images

Ice Caps Win Inaugural Game; Jaffray Named Captain

It was only fitting that those on the St. John's Ice Caps that were former Manitoba Moose would get the bulk of the work in the Ice Caps first game.

Defenseman Mark Flood scored the first goal in Ice Caps history en route to a 4-1 Ice Caps win over the Providence Bruins Friday night.

Paul Postma, Carl Klingberg, and newly anointed captain Jason Jaffray would add the other three goals to secure the win for the newest AHL affiliate club.

The 1-0 Ice Caps now play the Manchester Monarchs Saturday night before flying home and getting a week off before their home opener weekend with games Friday, October 14th and Saturday, October 15th against the Hamilton Bulldogs, ironically the Montreal Canadiens AHL affiliate.

Jets Remain True To Past; Recall Former AHLer Mick E. Moose To Be Jets Mascot

It would be crazy to think the Winnipeg Jets would veer in any other direction other than to support their past.

Once again, the Jets honoured the past that got them back into the NHL by naming former AHL Manitoba Moose mascot Mick E. Moose as their mascot.

Mick E. Moose is a fan favourite in Winnipeg since he appeared as the Moose mascot beginning in the 1996-97 IHL season for the Moose.

Now revamped out in Jets blue and grey, Mick E. Moose will continue to be a fan favourite in Winnipeg, a true tip of the Jets cap to their Winnipeg hockey past.

Jets brass also got their first look at newly acquired forward Brett MacLean Friday as they prepare for Sunday night's home opener.

MacLean didn't disappoint, scoring a goal in an inter-squad game.

So Far, So Good For Manitoba's Team

Yesterday, as I sat in a Tim Horton's on Pembina Highway between seven and eleven in the morning, I could not help but overhear many of the ongoing conversations between other patrons sitting beside me.

Almost every conversation that morning in that Tim Hortons started with talking about the Jets-Senators game the day before.

As I wore my white Jets hat and tapped in my article about the Jets Mark Scheifele conundrum, I barely held myself from joining in on a conversation with strangers - all of them strangers.

But not just strangers - Winnipeggers.

They're happy to have their team back - and most importantly the love their team.

Every night at the MTS Centre there will be 15,015 coaches and GM's debating what to do with the team - who to send down, who to put together on a line, who will play better together on defense, and who's the next star.

But it's more than the 15,015 that sit in MTS Centre cushioned seats who will make up the fabric of this hockey mad city and province.

The nearest NHL team to our Jets are the Minnesota Wild in St. Paul - 750 kilometers away.

The nearest Canadian NHL team are the Calgary Flames who are 1327 kilometers away.

The Jets own their territory and those fans become more than just a little bit invested in their team.

So what if you don't have tickets to the games? You're still a fan.

It always brings a grin to my face whenever I overhear a conversation in Winnipeg about the Jets, about last night's game, about Mark Scheifele or Dustin Byfuglien.

To hear how excited people get - even 50+ people in Winnipeg!

It's as if the city's soul has been put back in place and the healing began 15 years ago when the Manitoba Moose - though not anywhere near NHL calibre - were introduced to us.

But, in the end, it's always been about the Jets. And it will always be about the Jets.

Those people who witnessed year after year of NHL exhibition games between the Phoenix Coyotes and a myriad of other teams, or even last fall's Chicago Blackhawks-Tampa Bay Lightning game, they always seemed to bring back the reason the fans came to those games:

To show that the city still loved their Jets.

I'm guilty as one of them. I wore my Shane Doan Winnipeg Jets jersey to every single exhibition game that was held in the MTS Centre (minus last fall's) and I was proud to wear it.

And so were the others who were remembering why this city loves hockey.

And loves their Jets.

Jets All Out Top 25: #22 Jason Jaffray

Jason Jaffray, 30, LW, 6’1, 195 lbs
Last Year's Rating: N/A This Year's Rating: #22 Difference: N/A

Jason Jaffray has been defined throughout his professional career as a minor leaguer, never being able to reach the next step to play full time in the NHL. Much of that has to do with the situation he was in with the Vancouver Canucks - a team that had tremendous depth and thus Jaffray was always on the outside looking in.

With the Jets, however, Jaffray has a new lease on his professional career life, as it were. Known in Winnipeg from his days of playing for the AHL’s Manitoba Moose from 2004-05 until this last season, Jaffray has been defined as the prototypical Moose forward during his time in Winnipeg.

He scored perhaps the biggest goal (or goals) in Moose history - the game winning goal in Game 2 of the 2009 Calder Cup Finals against Michael Neuvrith and the Hershey Bears. Jaffray’s hat trick in that game lifted the Moose to a 3-1 win in that game.

Now, Jaffray will have to earn his spot in the Winnipeg locker room. Instead of the MTS Centre being a place to come back to after a trip to the NHL, it has become a place where Jaffray has to work to stay in the big league or else head out to the east coast to play with the AHL affiliate St. John’s Ice Caps.

Before he was known for his clutch play with the Moose, Jaffray spent five seasons in the WHL with the Edmonton/Kootenay Ice and Swift Current Broncos. His best season in junior came in his final season split between Kootenay and Swift Current, where collected 83 in 73 games.

It would be a slow climb to the big leagues for Jaffray out of junior as he opened the 2002-03 season with the Roanoke Express of the East Coast Hockey League, collecting 85 points in 64 games, enough to prompt a two game AHL call-up with the Norfolk Admirals.

In 2003-04, Jaffray again found himself in the ECHL, putting up 74 points in 54 games with the Wheeling Nailers, as well as seeing five games of AHL action with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

It was 2004-05 that would be Jaffray’s big break. He began the season once again with the Nailers before being called up to play with the Cleveland Barons. He had 16 points in 30 games with the Barons before being dealt to the Moose. In 14 games to end the season, Jaffray notched 8 points.

He started the 2005-06 season for the first time in the AHL with the Moose and did not disappoint, collecting 47 points in 73 games, along with seven points in 13 playoff games.

Jaffray would score a career high with 81 points the next season, including 13 points in 13 playoff games.

He would get his first taste of NHL action in 2007-08 with the Vancouver Canucks, playing in 19 games and collecting six points, 19 penalty minutes, and a plus four rating.

In 2008-09, Jaffray was a force for the Moose as they went to the Calder Cup Finals, with Jaffray scoring 19 points in 22 playoff games. However, the Moose lost in six games to the Hershey Bears.

In 2009-10, Jaffray signed with the Calgary Flames and played the majority of the season in Abbotsford, scoring 54 points in 72 games.

Last season, dogged by injury, Jaffray was loaned to the Moose from the Flames and posted two points in six regular season games and nine points in 14 playoff games.

Jaffray’s return to Winnipeg, this time with an NHL team, shows his commitment to the city and its fans. His history with the fans and the city will give him an edge that many players coming into camp do not have at all, besides former teammate Rick Rypien. If Jaffray is to make the Jets lineup, he will have to be a third line winger, but his ability to work hard and make plays happen is never lost on the minds of Moose fans.

R.I.P. Rick Rypien (1984-2011)

No one ever expects professional athletes to die when they are still active in their sport. No one ever counts on the unexpected happening. Probably why they call it the unexpected.

When Rick Rypien was reported to have passed away in his home in Coleman, Alberta, the hockey world was shaken for the second time since the snow left the ground in most hockey markets.

Rypien, who spent five seasons in the Vancouver Canucks organization with the mother club and the Manitoba Moose, was a tough, gritty customer and would never back down from a fight.

An undrafted signee by then Moose GM Craig Heisinger, Rypien made his mark on the hockey world through his tough and tenacious play.

After signing with the Winnipeg Jets earlier this summer along with long time teammate and friend Jason Jaffray, both commented on the possibility of bringing the Stanley Cup to Winnipeg after Jaffray almost brought the Calder Cup to the Manitoban capital.

It’s not the news of Rypien’s death that hurts the most for hockey fans and the Jets and Canucks organization, it’s his absence on and off the ice.

From the remarks and recollections of many past teammates of Rypien’s, he was the ultimate teammate and competitor. He was always willing to stick up for his teammates and linemates through his fists and his deathly glare.

Rypien was not known for goal scoring but for his gritty play and that is what most Jets fans will miss the most by not being able to see him in action in Winnipeg in the NHL instead of the AHL.

Former Moose & New Signed Jet Enforcer Rick Rypien Passes Away

According to a report by James Mirtle of the Globe & Mail, the newly signed Jets forward and former Manitoba Moose and Vancouver Canuck has been found dead in his Alberta home.

The 27 year-old enforcer had been struggling with off ice issues last season with the Canucks as he took a leave of the team for personal reasons and was limited to only 9 games with the Canucks last season.

Rypien spent his last professional hockey games with the Moose, including 11 regular season games and seven playoff games.

The 2009 Calder Cup Finals' Impact on the Winnipeg Jets Return

I remember sitting in the upper bowl of the MTS Centre in Section 310 with my significant other, about seven rows up from the railing and peering over about 7,500 other Manitoba Moose fans to watch the Moose play in Game 2 of the 2009 Calder Cup Finals.

There was something more special about Game 2 than there was about Game 1, a game which I had been sitting with a good friend over in Section 302 a few nights prior to witness a 5-4 overtime loss.

The score was tied in Game 2 1-1 with under five minutes to play in the third period.

Overtime was looming.

Longtime Moose winger Jason Jaffray got a cross-ice pass across centre coming down the left wing. He drove wide on the defenseman.

Being a left handed shot, Jaffray wound up and buried his head as he took a crack at the puck with a sharp slapshot.

The puck bounced its way towards Hershey Bears goaltender Michael Neuvirth.

And then the puck eluded Neuvirth and 15,005 fans erupted in, what was then, the loudest hockey celebration in the MTS Centre's history.

Though the Moose would go on to lose the 2009 Calder Cup in six games, the three games hosted by the Moose in the MTS Centre showed that Winnipeg was ready for an NHL team.

Three consecutive sellouts and the screaming fans made it a madhouse in the arena. Moose head coach Scott Arniel could not even communicate to his players what they were to do for the final minute of the game after Jaffray's second goal of three.

A great business structure that was provided by True North Sports & Entertainment CEO Mark Chipman through the ownership and successful and fruitful management of the Manitoba Moose for 15 seasons as part of the IHL and AHL formed an unmistakeable sense of trust that Winnipeg could indeed be viable as an NHL market.

Now 15 years after the Jets flew to Phoenix, they are reincarnated as the Jets again, this time flying from Atlanta, where once a team was and then flew to another Canadian city in Alberta.

That team, known as the Flames even after the move from Atlanta, won a Stanley Cup only nine seasons after the move. Could this be an omen for the newest Atlanta moved team?

But more to the point, the success of the Moose culminated in that 2009 Calder Cup Finals.

Never since the 1979 Avco Cup winning Winnipeg Jets has the city of Winnipeg had any type of professional champion hockey team.

The Bombers last won the Grey Cup in 1990. The Goldeyes won the Northern League in 1994. And the Jets had won Avco Cups galor in the 1970s in the WHA, but never the ultimate hockey prize in the NHL.

Passionate fans that were willing to come to see AHL hockey for 15 years also culminated in those three games. You were lucky to even get a seat.

For the Western Conference Finals against the Houston Aeros, the upper deck was opened but sparsely populated. I myself was able to get a seat in the lower bowl only eight or nine rows up from the ice, on the corner, behind the net.

For that 2009 Calder Cup Final, you were lucky to even get anywhere near the lower bowl. In the decisive Game 6, my friends and I were able to grab nosebleeds in section 308 in the very back row.

Granted, my current Jets mini-pack tickets are in the very back row of the upper bowl, but the point is that Winnipeggers were willing to come to watch a championship calibre team play for a professional championship with tradition and pride.

So why couldn't they finally be able to watch the best of the best? They witnessed Ryan Kesler, Alex Burrows, Kevin Bieksa, and Alex Edler rise to become NHL players for the Vancouver Cancucks.

But now they will watch the likes of Evander Kane, Bryan Little, and Ondrej Pavelec rise to NHL stardom in the NHL, not the AHL.

It all comes back to the sunny, beautiful day of June 2, 2009.

Former Winnipeg Jets Legacy Still With Phoenix Coyotes

Friday morning, Ed Tait wrote a very thorough and enlightening piece on the history of our newly returned Winnipeg Jets.

Though our Jets are back, the history will yet remain with the Phoenix Coyotes. They still have the banners that hang from the rafters with the retired numbers of Bobby Hull's #9, Thomas Steen's #25, and Dale Hawerchuk's #10.

Yet all three of those players never donned a Coyote jersey, never once were a part of hockey in the desert, and yet their numbers hang from the rafters in Coyote colours.

That's not a picture most Jets fans would consider tasteful or even fair for that matter. But life isn't fair apparently.

Still, that doesn't mean the new Jets cannot commemorate and honour a past that happened in Winnipeg yet will not be a part of the new Jets legacy.

From records to who the first captain was, that all stays with the Coyotes in Phoenix. The Coyotes give their fans the stats of what was once Jets fans over 15 years ago.

Selanne's rookie scoring record, Hawerchuk's franchise point total, and three Avco Cups are all in Phoenix and will not return to Winnipeg as per the NHL's edict.

So with the likes of Evander Kane and Bryan Little, who have previously worn previously retired Jets numbers of two of the most high profile Jets of all-time, there is nothing slated to retiring those numbers at any point.

When Ed Tait was interviewing Thomas Steen, Steen remarked that "It's like the Toronto Maple Leafs: they honour their numbers, but they're still using them, too. I know the history of the Leafs is a little longer than the Jets. But if you started retiring all those numbers, you'd run into problems.

"Imagine if all the Jets' players 100 years from now -- WHEN this team is still around -- were all wearing numbers over 100? Now that would be strange," he admitted to the Winnipeg Free Press.

A new tradition has started in Winnipeg and all the history of that tradition started when the Thrashers were born in Atlanta. Our past stars are a short list of Ilya Kovalchuk, Marian Hossa, Marc Savard, and Dany Heatley not Bobby Hull, Dale Hawerchuk, Teemu Selanne, and Keith Tkachuk.


Tait raised an interesting and bizarre point of what if the Coyotes were to finally be sold and moved to the next best available market in Quebec City. What happens then? Selanne is a hero in Quebec City with his rookie record?

Not likely.

But there's nothing wrong with or any rule against honouring those players who made an impact in Winnipeg hockey for the betterment of the city's reputation. Or the Jets reputation for that matter.

And of that of Mike Keane, who's #12 was raised to the rafters, what becomes of that? A player who spent his final five professional seasons with the AHL's Manitoba Moose.

Only time will tell.

And only time will bring about this new tradition - Winnipeg Jet style.

Information & Qutoes via Winnipeg Free Press

Jets Sign More Ex-Moose Players

Home cooking is always a good thing.

For the Winnipeg Jets, it's a theme that has been central to the players they have signed and acquired over the course of the off-season.

After signing Manitoba born player Derek Meech and trading for Winkler's Eric Fehr, the Jets went out and made sure they kept some ex-Manitoba Moose players in the fold.

Already under the Jets name are Rick Rypien and Mark Flood who both spent time with the Moose last season.

According to CJOB 680's sports reporter Brian Munz, the Jets have signed more ex-Moose players to AHL contracts to play for the AHL affiliate in St. John's.

The Jets have signed ex-Moose players Marco Rosa, Shawn Weller, Kevin Clark, and Travis Ramsey to AHL contracts.

Also signing with Winnipeg were three undrafted youngsters in North Sydney, Nova Scotia's Michael Kirkpatrick, Brandon, Manitoba's Shayne Wiebe, and Concord, Ohio's John Albert.


Kirkpatrick spent four seasons with the Saint John Sea Dogs of the QMJHL league collecting 251 points in 266 games. While perhaps an undersized centre at 5'10, 175 lbs, the 21 year old shows promise as he helped the Sea Dogs to the 2011 Memorial Cup.





Wiebe two full seasons with the Kamloops Blazers before being dealt to his hometown Brandon Wheat Kings midway through the 2009-10 season. Wiebe finished third in scoring for the Wheaties this last season with 65 points in 72 games and played one game in the AHL with the Conneticut Whale. Another centre at 5'10, 185 lbs, it adds yet another home grown talent to the Jets organization.








At 5'11, 180 lbs, 22 year-old John Albert completed his fourth and final year at Ohio State University scoring 34 points in 37 games as the Buckeyes captain. In his four season, Albert collected 124 points in 159 games, including a year best of 39 points in 2008-09. Albert was originally drafted by the Thrashers in 2007, 175th overall.

Jets Sign ex-Moose Jaffray

Jets have signed ex-Moose Jason Jaffray.

Jaffray spent five seasons in a Moose jersey including only 6 last season on loan to the Moose.

He is best known in Winnipeg for his hat trick in Game Two of the 2009 Calder Cup Finals.

http://m.winnipegsun.com/2011/07/17/maxwell-re-signs-with-jets