The Winnipeg Jets wrapped up their most successful regular season in franchise history on Wednesday night, defeating the Anaheim Ducks 2-1 in overtime. The Jets reached new heights with the win, securing a new franchise record for points in a season, the William M. Jennings trophy for the second straight year, and their franchise-record 56th win.
Here are some next-day takeaways from the final game for the 2024-25 regular season.
Jets set a new franchise record for points with 116
By reaching overtime, the Jets surpassed their previous record for points in a single season of 114. Mark Scheifele scored the overtime winner to extend that record to 116 as the season came to a close.
What a year it was for the Jets, who secured their first-ever Central Division title, their first-ever Presidents’ Trophy, and set franchise records for wins (56) and points (116).
Photo Credit: Colby Spence (Illegal Curve)
This Jets group isn’t done yet, either, as Neal Pionk said after the game: “Stanley Cup, we’ll be satisfied.”
A handful of young players stepped into larger roles and improved their games mightily. Core players stepped up and played the best hockey of their careers. New Head Coach, new assistant coaches, no problem.
They also finished first in the Western Conference for the first time in Franchise history, an incredible accomplishment that awards them the 1v8 matchup in the conference, facing the St. Louis Blues in round one.
Jets win second straight William M. Jennings Trophy
They also took home another piece of hardware, as for the second straight season, Connor Hellebuyck and the Winnipeg Jets have won the William M. Jennings Trophy, awarded to the goalies (minimum 25 starts) and the team that allows the fewest goals against throughout the regular season.
They allowed 191 goals against this season, an improvement from the 199 that won them the award last year. In both seasons, they were the only team to stay below 200 goals allowed, en route to winning the Jennings trophy.
Photo Credit: Colby Spence (Illegal Curve)
“Winning it two years in a row is pretty impressive, I think,” Perfetti said. “Some nights, it was great team defence, some nights, it was Helle or Comms standing on their heads. And that’s what you need if you want to be successful in this league and win that trophy.”
I’d imagine that this accomplishment adds to Connor Hellebuyck’s already strong Hart Trophy case, as well.
He is the first goaltender to be in sole possession of the Jennings trophy in back-to-back seasons since they began handing out the award, as both Laurent Brossoit (23) and Eric Comrie (21) did not reach the 25-start minimum to have their names on the trophy.
Whether or not he wins the Hart, Hellebuyck is bound to go back-to-back with Vezina Trophies for the third Vezina of his career.
This is only the first season of his seven-year contract extension.
Jets playing Blues, Alex Iafallo’s extension
We did get two pieces of news since the Jets last hit the ice before their regular season finale.
First, the Winnipeg Jets will be taking on the St. Louis Blues in the first round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs. It’s a 2019 rematch, Connor Hellebuyck vs Jordan Binnington rematch from the Four Nations, and the battle of the Schenn brothers for the first time in the playoffs.
It’s shaping up to be a fantastic round-one series.
The second set of news we got, on Wednesday morning, was that pending UFA Alex Iafallo had signed an extension with the Jets to a three-year, $11 million contract worth $3.67M per season.
Photo Credit: Colby Spence (Illegal Curve)
Iafallo just wrapped up a productive second season for the Jets, posting 15 goals, 16 assists, and 31 points in 82 games played.
He brought his tenacious forechecking ability and strong penalty-killing every single night, proving to be a valuable depth asset for the Jets, who we’ve seen can play up in the lineup when injuries occur.
Up next
Stay tuned to Illegalcurve.com for the latest Jets news heading into the playoffs. NHL PR officially announced late Wednesday evening that the Jets will play Game 1 against the Blues at 5:00 PM CT on Saturday, April 19.
We will have you covered here at Illegalcurve.com.
