Note: The Jets are in offseason mode but is there really ever an offseason? If there is any news we will have it for you here. And of course the Illegal Curve Hockey Show runs until the end of July so be sure you’re a subscriber and join us every Saturday morning at 9 AM.
Note II: The Moose are also now in offseason mode. We did almost 20 interviews on Monday to conclude the Moose season. Lots of good stuff from Jets prospects (Heinola, Torgersson, Nikkanen, Lundmark). The team will release the content over the next week or so. First up were captain Jimmy Oligny (watch here) and head coach Mark Morrison (watch here). And we will wrap up the season next week with an end of season Moose recap show.
Note III: The Ice made some big news last night even though they are currently awaiting the start of the WHL Championship series. The team announced that in conjunction with True North they will be moving the WHL Championship series, which gets underway on Friday, to Canada Life Centre.
Note IV: So Big Bad Brad Lambert (Jets 2022 1st rounder) and his Seattle Thunderbirds will be in Winnipeg to compete with the Ice for the WHL Championship as they defeated the Blazers in Kamloops last night 4-2 to win their series by that same score four games to two.
Note V: Jets goalie prospect Dom DiVincentiis (2022 7th rounder) and his North Bay Battalion were eliminated in game 7 by the Petes for a shot to go to the OHL Championship. Was still a heck of a 2022-23 for the netminder. In the playoffs he had the 2nd best GAA at 2.41 & 2nd best save% at .926.
Jets news:
Sportsnet: For Jets to avoid rebuild, effective off-season with several big moves is a must. Ken outlines some changes that can be done so Winnipeg will not have to “rebuild”.
Winnipeg Free Press: Jets’ problem not behind the bench. (Paywall). You can only change the coaches so many times before you need to start looking at the players on the bench. Then again it isn’t as if coaching is completely blameless in these situations. Paul Maurice’s Panthers are doing well in playoffs but they went from earning the Presidents’ Trophy as top seed in the NHL with 122 points to the 8th seed and 92 points.
The Athletic Winnipeg: Jets fan survey time – Share your thoughts on Rick Bowness, Mark Scheifele and more. (Paywall). Murat is trying to get a sense of where the fan base is on the local NHL club.
Illegal Curve Hockey: Former Jets forward Bryan Little says it would be an honour to retire as a Jet. The amount of positivity this article has generated is quite something. Folks love themselves number 18.
Jets video:
Winnipeg Sports Talk: Jets overtime winners 2022-23 season. The Jets won a lot of games in extra time. Here are all of those calls during the season.
Jets audio:
Illegal Curve: Saturday Podcast. On the show this weekend we covered the aftermath of the Jets end of season media availabilities, what are the top priorities for Winnipeg, what do they do now with the core 4? We also previewed the Moose/Admirals game 5 and looked ahead to Winnipeg Ice WHL Championship. Guests included Jim Toth (Jets talk) and Brian Munz (Ice talk).