Winnipeg Jets fan survey: Grading the season, handing out awards and zeroing in on areas for improvement

Part two of The Athletic’s Winnipeg Jets fan survey gets into the juicier topics for discussion.

What do you think of Scott Arniel as head coach? Who would you have hired if not him — and why? What’s missing from this team and what will it take to win with Connor Hellebuyck, Mark Scheifele, Josh Morrissey, Adam Lowry and Kyle Connor as your core?

This is also where you grade the Jets season from top to bottom, hand out Winnipeg’s player awards and share your fondest memories of the season that was.

Once again, I present to you … You! Thank you for making it such a treat to compile and stay tuned for part three, where you play GM and build next season’s Jets.

Note: Submitted responses may be edited for clarity and style.

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Grade Winnipeg’s season as a whole:

A: 12.7 percent

B: 71.4 percent

C: 13.8 percent

D: 1.9 percent

F: 0.1 percent

This is a pretty good grade for a hockey team. My mom would have been mad at me for it (like many children of immigrants, I routinely heard stuff like “Where did the other 5 percent go?”) but that’s not the point, is it?

Despite all of the areas for improvement available to the Jets — and your staunch critiques — most people looked at 110 points and a first-round exit and saw it as progress.

Grade Winnipeg’s forwards this season:

A: 7.2 percent

B: 74.0 percent

C: 17.4 percent

D: 1.3 percent

F: 0.0 percent

A second straight “B” and it makes sense to me: a lot of good performances but nothing approaching superstar status. I wonder what Winnipeg could do to improve this grade, short of winning a draft lottery — good thing you shared your plans for this later in the survey.

Grade Winnipeg’s defencemen this season:

A: 10.6 percent

B: 50.6 percent

C: 31.8 percent

D: 5.8 percent

F: 1.3 percent

Mostly B’s with scattered showers of C’s — your grade for Winnipeg’s defencemen is the worst of the ones in this section.

I’m still thinking the Jets work hard to sign Dylan DeMelo, while not being out of the Brenden Dillon picture altogether (although Dillon told Rick Dhaliwal and Don Taylor that he’s an open book when it comes to free agency).

Still, it looks like there’s more reason to believe in change on the Jets blue line this summer. Could Elias Salomonsson make the NHL — and if he does, might he help them earn more A’s and B’s?

Grade Winnipeg’s goaltending this season:

A: 79.9 percent

B: 17.5 percent

C: 2.1 percent

D: 0.4 percent

F: 0.0 percent

Hellebuyck and Laurent Brossoit were the single best regular season goaltending duo. I’d call them a tandem if the Jets had played Brossoit in enough games to get him on the Jennings Trophy. (The minimum is 25 games played; Brossoit played 23.)

Either way, they deserve their A here — although stay tuned for a separate question about Hellebuyck’s playoff performance.

Who was Winnipeg’s top forward this season?

Scheifele is an unsurprising No. 1 choice. Lowry, the oft-unsung captain whose third line was one of Winnipeg’s biggest strengths, outduelled Nikolaj Ehlers, Gabriel Vilardi and Connor for the No. 2 spot. Honestly? That’s fascinating to me. I wonder if your Lowry vote is sheerly out of respect for his quality or also contains a little testament to the type of play you’d like to see more of from the Jets. I’d love it if you let me know in the comments.

Who was Winnipeg’s best defenceman this season?

I don’t think I needed to include all of those 0.1’s but I started typing names and couldn’t stop. Morrissey is the obvious, clear-cut No. 1 defenceman in Winnipeg and if you ask me, his 2023-24 season was even better than the one that saw him place fifth in Norris Trophy voting.

Who was Winnipeg’s best goaltender this season?

He was the league’s best goaltender this season. It makes sense that he was Winnipeg’s best, too.

And I’m fascinated as to what his post-playoffs, summer soul searching will yield.

Name your 2023-24 Winnipeg Jets MVP:

Hellebuyck won 37 games, led all clear-cut NHL starters in save percentage and saved a league-best 39 goals above expected, according to Evolving Hockey. Those are elite numbers across the board, whether you like the old-school stats or the new, and Hellebuyck will likely win his second Vezina Trophy as a result.

I’ll add playoff awards the next time the Jets win a playoff round.

In the meantime, I thought it was interesting that you rated Scheifele as Winnipeg’s top forward but Lowry came in third in your MVP vote. I’m going to say this was about intangibles. (Scheifele finished a distant fourth in your MVP vote, followed by Vladislav Namestnikov.)

Who was Winnipeg’s biggest breakout performer?

Sometimes I think people don’t realize how good Cole Perfetti has already been in the NHL. It’s true that Rick Bowness limited his minutes. It’s true that Bowness scratched him late in the season and for Winnipeg’s first four playoff games. So of course it’s true that Perfetti, 22, finished the season with “only” 38 points in 71 games.

Perfetti also scored more goals per minute at five-on-five than Scheifele did. He finished third on the team in primary assists per minute of five-on-five play. He has scored the ninth most points in his draft class — and more points per game than Dawson Mercer, Alexis Lafrenière and Quinton Byfield. Still, some people point to Perfetti’s size or lack of ice time as reasons he’s some sort of draft failure.

It seems my concern is misplaced. You picked Perfetti as your breakout player of the season, despite the great accomplishments of Vilardi and Dylan Samberg. Carry on, then, Jets fans, and remember to enjoy it when increased ice time brings him more impressive end-of-year numbers.

Who was Winnipeg’s most pleasant surprise?

This was a close vote, with Samberg, Sean Monahan and Morgan Barron all receiving plenty of appreciation. In the end, though, Vilardi’s power-play wizardry and his 36 points in 47 games won your hearts. He was Winnipeg’s most pleasant surprise this season.

Who was Winnipeg’s biggest underachiever?

This vote was not nearly as close. Neal Pionk was your No. 1 vote-getter, struggling as he did in top-four usage. This is interesting because your eye test matches the analytics. Pionk’s plus-9 rating looks good at first glance and his plus-5 at five-on-five looks good, too, but his underlying impacts on shot attempts and expected goals imply more of a third-pairing defenceman than a top-four stud at five-on-five.

Other notable vote recipients were Tyler Toffoli, who would probably have taken more heat for his playoff performance if he were a member of the Jets’ core, and Logan Stanley.

Who was Winnipeg’s biggest unsung hero?

Lowry got a lot of love in this survey. He’s your undisputed unsung hero, well clear of UFA defencemen Dillon and Demelo. Barron, Nino Niederreiter and Mason Appleton also received votes.

Grade Winnipeg’s trade deadline:

A: 36.8 percent

B: 48.9 percent

C: 11.5 percent

D: 1.7 percent

F: 1.2 percent

Good but not incredible — does that sound fair? And how might a Monahan return influence your vote?

On that note, choose an opinion about Winnipeg’s midseason trades (Sean Monahan, Tyler Toffoli, Colin Miller):

Monahan was a hit, Toffoli looked like a hit until the Colorado series and Miller picked up an assist in his lone playoff game. Kevin Cheveldayoff acquired them for a first-round pick, a second-round pick, a third-round pick and a fourth-round pick. You appreciated his work.

What was the best Jets story this season?

Seriously, what would you have said if I told the 2022 version of you that Winnipeg was two seasons away from the best goals-against number in the league? I think you’d have laughed me out of the comments section but here we are — the Jets’ Jennings performance is your single favourite accomplishment of their season.

Those Hellebuyck and Scheifele extensions are close behind. It’s hard to see the path from here to the Stanley Cup but Winnipeg looks like a quality team for the next several seasons because of them.

What’s the biggest reason for optimism heading into next season?

Perfetti, Brad Lambert, Nikita Chibrikov, Salomonsson and other Jets prospects earned the No. 1 spot. Their win was not dominant, though — the Jets’ year-over-year improvements, combined with players’ commitment to soul searching, came close to unseating Winnipeg’s top prospects.

I wonder if your opinions have changed at all now that Scott Arniel is the head coach.

What’s Winnipeg’s single biggest area for improvement?

In order, here are the five most repeated answers:

1. Special teams
2. Defence
3. Coaching
4. Youth integration and player development
5. Elite talent

Are you surprised? I’m not. You’ve already called out the Jets’ special teams, defence, coaching and development. I could also see a lack of elite talent developing into a bigger story as the years go by because it’s easy to imagine Winnipeg’s elites getting outshone by next year’s version of Nathan MacKinnon and company.

A large part of Winnipeg’s challenge will be to win with a core that is above average but not among the league’s very best — and that will take great special teams, defensive effort and the integration of Winnipeg’s next generation of talented youth. Put another way: Every item you chose matters a lot.

You need a new head coach. Who would you hire?

Keep in mind that the overwhelming majority of responses to this and the following questions were gathered prior to the Jets hiring Arniel.

Here’s how you voted:

The only candidate you gave more votes to than Arniel was Todd Nelson, the AHL coach of the year whose Hershey Bears have a chance to win back-to-back Calder Cups. They’re currently up 2-0 in the Eastern Conference final.

I suppose it’s possible the Jets or another team find a way to hire Nelson as an associate coach (an elevated assistant coach title, as Arniel had under Bowness.) My own opinion is that NHL head coaching jobs become available with enough regularity that Nelson’s path to that position might be more direct in another organization than under Arniel in Winnipeg.

Gerard Gallant got a pile of votes, too, but: Should we take this to mean you’re mostly OK with Arniel as Winnipeg’s No. 1 choice?

Why did you choose the person you did? Put another way: What do your Jets need most from their new head coach?

Your 10 most frequently cited priorities:

1. New attitude and fresh perspective
2. Toughness and accountability
3. A proven track record of winning
4. Working with youth
5. A lack of pre-existing connections to the Jets organization
6. Special teams tactics
7. Innovation and analytics
8. Leadership and communication
9. Continuity, building on the positives (this obviously accompanied votes for Arniel)
10. Track record in lower leagues (particularly the AHL, pertaining to Nelson)

Who do you think the Jets will hire?

It was Arniel all along and you knew it: 92.4 percent of you correctly predicted this news conference. Given that we published this story within minutes of the announcement, consider us as unsurprised as you were.

And how does that make you feel?

Arniel’s hiring wasn’t the sort of thing that lent itself to heated, polarizing responses. You were almost perfectly split between mildly positive and mildly negative, with the tiniest tilt toward disappointment.

More directly: Should the Jets promote Scott Arniel or hire from outside the organization?

Remember that the overwhelming majority of these votes were collected prior to Darren Dreger breaking the news.

As many No. 1 votes as Arniel got four questions ago, the concept of an outside hire came with a lot of appeal.

What about the Jets assistant coaches?

For this question, you were given the opportunity to rehire as many assistant coaches as you liked. Wade Flaherty (goaltending) was a nearly unanimous decision to bring back, while your opinions on the rest of Winnipeg’s staff were varied.

The Jets and Brad Lauer have parted ways, while Flaherty and Marty Johnston will return next season. The status of video and analytics coach, Matt Prefontaine, is unknown; we didn’t ask Arniel or Cheveldayoff at their news conference, while Jets PR declined the opportunity to clarify after the fact.

Winnipeg qualified for the playoffs, then lost in the first round. Its longest contracts belong to Connor Hellebuyck, Mark Scheifele and Josh Morrissey What are the most important truths about the team?

This was another “pick as many as you like” question, with plenty of seemingly opposite viewpoints provided as options.

A few points were abundantly clear.

1. This market is no longer satisfied with a playoff appearance.
2. The Jets can win with Hellebuyck, Scheifele and Morrissey leading the way if they’re particularly well built through the rest of their roster.
3. You’re not happy with the defence.

You weren’t nearly as down on Hellebuyck following his .870 playoffs as I thought you might be … And, in my opinion: you’re wise for that perspective.

What was your favourite memory of the 2023-24 season? Be as detailed as you like.

When a team wins 52 games in a season (and one more in the playoffs) there are bound to be good memories. Here are a few that struck a chord with me:

• “Taking my son to his first two Jets games on March 28 and 30. Even though we lost both games, he had the absolute time of his life and Canada Life Centre staff treated him like a star, giving him a ‘My First Game’ certificate, taking pictures with him, and gifting him with a Josh Morrissey bobblehead.”
• “Game 1 of the playoffs was one of the best experiences I have had at a Jets game in a long time. I was in doubt about renewing my season tickets but that one game reminded me why I love attending games so much.”
• “The Josh Morrissey stick hand-off to Adam Lowry against Florida“

• “All those times Josh Morrissey looked like the best player on the ice.”
• “That 13-1-2 run during December and January.”
• “Ehlers’ highlight reel dangle goal against the Florida Panthers.”

• “Squirtle Sax.”
• “The William Jennings Trophy.”
• “There were the games in December against the Kings and Avalanche where Scheifele, Ehlers and Vilardi just hit a new level (combining for 17 points in two games). It became apparent, to me at least, that Vilardi was probably going to be better than (PL) Dubois without having to evaluate the other pieces the Jets got in that trade.”

• “Adam Lowry’s leadership.”
• “A team that looked like everyone was bought in and playing for each other.”
• “It was fantastic to see Perfetti, Lambert and Chibrikov (scoring his first NHL goal) live. The fans around us were great. I still remember going down the row and high-fiving the fans when Chibrikov scored.”

• “The ‘happy shock’ of finding out Scheifele and Hellebuyck had been extended after an entire summer of armchair GM trading.”
• “Cole Perfetti eating a big slap shot with no time left to keep the game a shutout.”
• Sean Monahan’s hat trick against Calgary.

• Kyle Connor hitting first in goals before his injury.
• The night in December when Winnipeg dominated Boston.
• Being in first place in the league for a while.
• Finishing second in the conference.
• The 34-game streak of games allowing three goals or fewer.
• Finishing the season with eight straight wins.

And, probably your favourite collective memory of the year … Game 1 against Colorado, including the whiteout and everything that came along with it.

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Still to come from The Athletic’s Jets fan survey:

Part 3: Making the Jets’ offseason moves, building a roster and closing thoughts

(Photo of Connor Hellebuyck and Josh Morrissey: James Carey Lauder / USA Today)