The Jets aim to win four crucial divisional games over the Minnesota Wild next season.
The Winnipeg Jets are coming off a historic year with franchise best numbers across the board. If they want to find themselves in a similar position, they'll need to win crucial games starting in the Central Division. The Central is tougher than ever and with only three available spots plus a pair of wild card spots, they need to win these games.
One of their key divisional opponents is the Minnesota Wild, who the Jets have dominated for eight straight wins dating back to March of 2023 being the last time they lost in this matchup. Historically, this series is dead even with Winnipeg and Minnesota splitting their 59 all-time matchups with 29 wins a piece including one tie back in 2001.
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Their season series should be closer than ever as the Wild continue to develop their young star players like Kirill Kaprizov, Matt Boldy and Marco Rossi. The trio have combined for seven goals and three assists with a -13 rating through their eight straight losses to Winnipeg.
The Jets' pure domination in this series has continued to help them keep a consistent footing in the Central division picture. As they battle for wins against top teams like the Avalanche, Stars and Wild, consistently winning key divisional games is crucial and important.
Minnesota came close to eliminating the Vegas Golden Knights this past postseason but were eliminated in six after winning two of the first three games. The playoffs have been a problem for the Wild in recent history as they've failed to win a series since 2015 with their last win coming against the St. Louis Blues. The Wild have made it to the conference finals just once back in 2003 but were swept by the Anaheim Mighty Ducks.
Minnesota's backend is their strength as they finished middle of the pack with a 2.88 goals against average, held together by breakout goaltender Filip Gustavsson, who is coming off a career-best year with a 31-19-6 record, a 2.56 goals against average and .914 save percentage. Their offence on the other hand, needs some serious retooling after finishing bottom eight in the league last season with a 2.74 goals per game average.
Kaprizov played just half of the season due to injuries but the rest of the team did not pick up the slack as Matt Boldy was the only player on the team close to averaging a point-per-game average. Only four players on Minnesota finished with 40 or more points last season and will need to see drastic improvement in this area of their lineup.
The Jets enter the matchup riding the momentum of a dominant regular season, having secured a 56-22-4 record, winning the President's trophy in the process. Their success was anchored by a suffocating defense that led the NHL with just 2.32 goals against per game.
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While defense was their calling card, the Jets were an offensive powerhouse as well, finishing top four in scoring with 3.35 goals per game. To offset the loss of top-six winger Nikolaj Ehlers, Winnipeg bolstered its forward group by signing three-time Stanley Cup champion Jonathan Toews and taking a low-risk chance on Gustav Nyquist, a former 75-point scorer looking to bounce back.
The Jets will first square off against the Wild in a pair of pre-season affairs on September 21st and 30th. They will face off for the first time in the regular season on October 28th, followed by matchups on November 23rd, December 27th and January 15th.