After a 3-0 loss at home against the Minnesota Wild on Sunday afternoon, the Winnipeg Jets have reached the quarter season mark of their 2025-26 season. A record of 12-9-0 with a +8 goal differential places the Jets 24th overall in the NHL league standings. While this may sound alarming, the rest of the league standings are extremely close for this far into the season. The Jets are just 3 points out of a playoff spot, and just 4 points out of a being top 10 in the league standings.

Regardless of the standings, the vibes in Winnipeg aren’t the same as they were last season at the 21 game mark. A 9-3-0 start to the season has since turned into a 3-6 stretch, and the team doesn’t look like the team that was at the top of the league standings at this point last season. Before the Jets begin a 5 game road trip tomorrow night in Washington, it’s a good time to stop and assess what’s gone right, what’s gone wrong, and what’s still uncertain about this Jets team as the season progresses.

Goal scoring has been a positive for this team, in specific for the Jets best players. 67 goals in 21 games doesn’t exactly tell the full story of this Jets team, especially when you realize that 30 of those goals have come from the Jets top line. Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor are tied for the team lead with 11 goals, and Gabriel Vilardi is not far behind with 8 goals. This trio has been able to so far replicate the great success they had last season, and they’ve again been a big part of the Jets offence on a nightly basis.

The special teams have also been above average this season. While the Jets aren’t the league’s top powerplay like they were last season, they’ve had some nights where it looks just like it did last season. A 23.9% powerplay places the Jets 7th overall in the league, while their 83.8% PK also puts them 7th in the league. If you’ve been following along with my post game recaps, I often make it sound like the Jets aren’t doing well with their special teams. The fact is, this team still has been successful when it comes to special teams, they just need to improve their consistency in order to get back into the top 5 in the league in these stats.

The depth scoring is one of the major concerns of this Jets team at this current time. I’ve often praised the Jets top 1st line (and rightly so), but the rest of the team hasn’t been able to chip in with scoring when needed. Apart from the top line, only Josh Morrissey (5) and Vladislav Namestnikov (6) have more than 5 goals. Some slack can be given to players like Cole Perfetti and Adam Lowry, who are still relatively fresh from returning from injury. Other players, such as three (Cole Koepke, Tanner Pearson and Gustav Nyquist) of the Jets off-signing seasons, have only combined for 3 goals.

On the defensive side of things, the Jets are giving up more scoring chances, and goals than they were last season. Both Connor Hellebuyck and Eric Comrie’s stats are down (or slightly down) from last season, and the team has been dealing with issues around consistency from their defencemen. With Connor Hellebuyck out for another 4+ weeks, the Jets goaltending situation will have to be carefully controlled in this upcoming stretch. Backup goalie Thomas Milic will make his NHL debut on the Jets upcoming road trip, so the Jets will soon find out if he can fill some of the void while Hellebuyck recovers.

There’s uncertainty on various levels in the Jets organization right now, including what they do with their top prospects. Jets fans have come to realize that the team isn’t currently “built” to allow for their prospects to excel with their current roster. Brad Lambert has asked for the Jets to explore trade options for him, so it will be interesting to see what kind of return the Jets can get for their once top prospect. Ville Heinola hasn’t formally requested a trade, but it’s been rumoured this season that the Jets will try to get something in exchange for the 24-year old defender, who would benefit from a change in scenery.

Nikita Chibrikov is pointless in 8 games, and it looks like he’ll need an extended stretch with the Manitoba Moose to regain some confidence before getting more playing time in the NHL. Some good uncertainty for Jets prospects will be seeing how Elias Salomonsson and Thomas Milic handle their NHL debuts. Salomonsson will be a good temporary replacement while Neal Pionk is injured, and a good debut could go a long way in getting Salomonsson some more games this season. Same can be said for Thomas Milic, who got off to a great start with the Moose this season, and will now get a chance to show what he’s got in the NHL in the Jets upcoming road trip.

While it’s still a ways away, there’s some uncertainty about how the Jets will approach the trade deadline this season. With the NHL league standings so unusually close at the quarter season mark, it’s hard to know which teams will be buyers and which will be sellers. The Jets won’t be sellers unless they have a disastrous losing streak, but it will be interesting to see if they once again take a cautious approach at the deadline. Last season the Jets were at the top of the league standings come deadline time, so it was understandable that they were happy with the group they had. This time around, the Jets could be more aggressive at the deadline if they need to make moves to give them a real chance to make a deep playoff run. Whatever happens, it will be fun to watch the Jets in the next quarter of the season, and we’ll check in at the half season mark to see if the Jets are back on track for a playoff spot.