Tonight, round 3 of the NHL playoffs began, with the Winnipeg Jets unfortunately watching from home. The team held its year end season media availability today, with most players speaking to the media as they reflected on the 2024-25 season. Tomorrow, Scott Arniel and Kevin Cheveldayoff will speak to the media. Before we break down and react to what some of these players had to say during their availabilities, the spotlight today was on the two Jets players at the IIHF World Championship: Nikolaj Ehlers and Nino Niederreiter.

Ehlers joined Team Denmark prior to their final round robin game earlier today against Germany. Niederreiter joined the tournament for Team Switzerland slightly before Ehlers, and he played in Switzerland’s final round robin game against Kazakhstan. Ehlers, an unrestricted free agent on July 1st, is fresh off a 63 point season, and will now get an opportunity to play in his home country as Denmark are co hosts for this year’s tournament with Sweden. Niederreiter just wrapped up his 1st year on his current 3 year contract extension, posting a solid 37 points while usually playing on a line with Adam Lowry and Mason Appleton.

Both Ehlers and Niederreiter were able to help their home country pick up a much needed win in their final round robin game. Ehlers and Denmark narrowly edged Germany 2-1 in a shootout to secure the 4th and final knockout stage spot in group B. Ehlers picked up where he left off after a strong playoffs, scoring one of Denmark’s goals while getting 6 shots on goal on 22 minutes of ice time. Niederreiter and Switzerland defeated Kazakhstan 4-1 to lock up 1st place in group B. Niederreiter collected 1 assist and looked right at home with a team that has surprised a few in the group stage.

After what seemed like a lengthy round robin, group A finished with Canada (6-0-1) at the top, followed by Sweden, Finland and a surprising qualifying team in Austria. Group B was quite competitive, with Switzerland finishing 1st in the group (6-0-1) followed by USA, Czechia and Denmark. Just like at the World Juniors, there is a crossover to decide the Quarterfinals matchups. All four games will be played on Thursday May 22nd, and the matchups are the following: USA vs. Finland, Switzerland vs. Austria, Sweden vs. Czechia and Canada vs. Denmark.

Switzerland has looked great all tournament, and in the games that I’ve watched they really just seem to gel well as a team. Niederreiter will hopefully be able to make an impact again vs. Austria, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Switzerland found a way to get a medal at this tournament. Denmark did well to come up clutch against Germany today in the shootout to advance to the Quarterfinals. However, Team Canada is pretty stacked this year, so even if Ehlers has a great game, that likely won’t be enough to help Denmark advance.

Following the Quarterfinals, the Semifinals will be reseeded and played on Saturday, with the Bronze and Gold medal games being played on Sunday. This tournament is always more entertaining as it progresses to the knockout games, and I’m looking forward to watching Ehlers and Niederreiter represent for the Jets. Make sure to check out these games if you can (the games are played in the morning / early afternoon since it’s in Sweden & Denmark), and I’ll be back soon to break down some of today’s Jets year end media availabilities.