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The Winnipeg Jets have reached the 21 game mark on the 2024-25 NHL season, meaning that they have reached the &#8220;quarter season&#8221; point of their campaign. After a back to back on Friday and Saturday, the Jets are off for today before continuing their road trip tomorrow night in Minnesota.
It&#8217;s a bit of understatement to say that the Jets have had a great start to the season, currently still sitting at the top of the NHL standings. The team has performed above expectations, but how about the players? How have they performed on an individual basis? It&#8217;s easy to say &#8220;well everyone must be doing good&#8221; since the team is getting good results, but that&#8217;s not always the case.
I&#8217;ve decided to take a look at each of the Jets defenceman and goaltenders. A letter grade (report card style) for their quarter season performance will be awarded, followed by a reasoning backed up by some stats and an overall explanation (including / comparing their expectations going into this season). This article is part 1 of 2, as Angus will be detailing you on the Jets forwards before the game against Minnesota. Here is your Jets quarter season report card for the 7 defence and 2 goalies that have made appearances for the 2024-25 Winnipeg Jets.
Neal Pionk: A
Compared to expectations prior to this season, Neal Pionk has been the best all around defence for the Jets. That&#8217;s not a sentence I thought I would be saying, but after 21 games, Pionk is having himself one of the best years of his career. Is it because he became a new dad this year? Is it because he&#8217;s in the final year of his contract, looking to prove himself for his next deal? Maybe it&#8217;s neither, and Pionk is just playing good hockey. This season, I&#8217;ve noticed that Pionk is engaging more in the offensive zone. I mentioned before the season began that Pionk has been the type of player that has his &#8220;good&#8221; moments, but also his &#8220;bad&#8221; moments. That&#8217;s the simplest way to put it, and this year Pionk has had way more &#8220;good&#8221; than &#8220;bad&#8221; moments. Pionk isn&#8217;t getting caught flat fooded nearly as much, and his game has been stabilized by having a reliable defensive defence partner in Dylan Samberg. In 21 games, Pionk has 3 goals and 14 assists for 17 points. Pionk is a +12, which is tied for 2nd best on the Jets. A less positive stat is that Pionk&#8217;s penalty minutes have gone up, already sitting at 16 PIM which is also tied for 2nd on the team. Sitting 5th on the team in scoring, Pionk is doing all he can to earn and secure a raise for what could be his final long term deal in the NHL, regardless if it&#8217;s with the Jets or with another team in free agency.
Josh Morrissey: A-
In 2 weeks time I hope we&#8217;ll be seeing Morrissey&#8217;s name on Canada&#8217;s 4 Nations tournament roster. In 21 games, Morrissey is 4th in team scoring with 2 goals and 18 assists for 20 points. Compared to Pionk&#8217;s pre season expectations, Morrissey has held up closely to the high standard expected from him since his 2022-23 breakout season. The Jets powerplay has been in the top 5 in the league most of this season, and a big reason is because of Morrissey. I&#8217;ve talked a few times about the Jets improved puck movement on special teams, and that starts at the point with Morrissey. Among all players, Morrissey ranks 18th overall in the NHL in time on the ice per game, at an average of 24:20 per game. More ice time equals more responsibility, and Morrissey has shown time and time again that he&#8217;s capable of handling whatever situation he&#8217;s used in throughout a game. Let&#8217;s hope that we continue to see Morrissey work his magic this season as the Jets #1 defender.
Dylan Samberg: B
First off, if you missed it Samberg broke his foot  and will be out for an unknown amount of time, and this paragraph was written before the game Saturday night. Dylan Samberg is one of the players on the Jets that has seemed to have met his pre season expectations without standing out too much. In 21 games, Samberg has 3 goals and 3 assists for 6 points, and has started to prove that he deserves a full-time spot as the left handed &#8220;shutdown&#8221; guy on the 2nd defence pairing. Samberg is tied for second on the Jets in PIM with 18, but like much like Pionk, is a +10, which can help forgive some of the powerplay opportunities he gives other teams. A career high in points is bound to happen at this pace, as Samberg just needs 13 more points to pass the 18 he got last season in 78 games. The big thing to watch for with Samberg as the season progresses is if he can continue to compliment Neal Pionk&#8217;s game in a way that benefits the pairing&#8217;s strengths, while trying to limit his penalty minutes in the process.
Dylan DeMelo: B-
DeMelo is a player that I might have had too high of expectations for going into the 2024-25 season. His 31 points last season may have been a product of playing with Morrissey, but I remained confident that DeMelo would continue to embrace his role as the &#8220;shutdown&#8221; guy on the Jets top defence pairing. In 19 games, DeMelo only has 3 assists, but as a defenceman, this isn&#8217;t too much of a concern yet. 36 hits ranks DeMelo 2nd on the team, while 25 blocked shots is good for 3rd behind Morrissey and Pionk. I have no real complaints with DeMelo, as I know he&#8217;s doing exactly what&#8217;s expected of him on a nightly basis to a given standard. More points with surely come for DeMelo as a result of playing with Morrissey, and DeMelo will just need to try to &#8220;stand out&#8221; more as the season goes on during this upcoming Jets road trip.
Colin Miller: B-
Miller has been a pleasant surprise this season for the Jets. In 19 games, Miller has 2 goals and 5 assists for 7 points. The 32-year old wasn&#8217;t a &#8220;lock&#8221; to make the Jets defence before the season began, but he quickly has become a staple of the Jets 3rd pairing due to injuries from Ville Heinola and Logan Stanley early into the season. Just like Samberg, Miller has taken a few too many penalties so far (16 PIM), but sometimes that&#8217;s a hard stat to control depending on your style of play. Despite his limited role on the 3rd pairing, Miller makes the most of his 13 to 14 minutes of ice time every game. Miller shoots the puck often (24 shots on net), makes hits (29) and has blocked 14 shots. It hasn&#8217;t been the &#8220;perfect&#8221; season for Miller 19 games in, but compared to his pre season expectations, Jets fans should be happy with what Miller has brought to this team in his limited 3rd pairing role.
Haydn Fleury: C+
Added as a depth piece to the Jets defence in the off-season, Fleury has done an adequate job in the 8 games he&#8217;s appeared in this season. In 8 games, Fleury has just 1 assist, but much like Miller, Fleury does the &#8220;little things&#8221; well when he&#8217;s on the ice, which can make the difference between him having a good or bad game. Players in a limited role are always more vulnerable to criticism when something goes wrong, and up until this point Fleury has kept his mistakes to a minimum. With Heinola looking to return soon, and Stanley holding down the 3rd pairing at times, we might not see many more appearances from the former 7th overall pick from the 2014 NHL draft. Fleury has still been a solid depth add for the Jets, and hasn&#8217;t done much to hurt the Jets chances of winning when he&#8217;s in the lineup.
Logan Stanley: C
Rounding out the 7 Jets that have made an appearance on defence this season is big man Logan Stanley. I really wanted to give Stanley a better grade, but I just couldn&#8217;t find a way to justify a C+ or even a B- for Stanley. Much like other Jets fans, I was really hoping that this season would finally be the one where Stanley lives up to his 1st round draft pick potential, but that just hasn&#8217;t happened. In 11 games, Stanley has 1 goal and 2 assists for 3 points. Those totals are actually already more than the 2 points in 25 games achieved by Stanley last season, so that has got to be considered a positive right? Stanley&#8217;s defensive play is what brings down his grade. The inconsistencies in aspects of his game such as coverage and defensive awareness have been just a bit too noticeable this season. While he remains injured at the moment, I&#8217;m not ready to write off Stanley yet this season. With some fine (and major) tuning to elements of his game, and learning to work with Colin Miller on the 3rd pairing, Stanley can be a solid 6th defenceman that won&#8217;t hurt the Jets chances of winning on a nightly basis.
Connor Hellebuyck: A+
Over to goalies now, and I&#8217;ll keep things short and sweet with them to keep this article from dragging on too long. Hellebuyck is the Jets 2024-25 MVP at the quarter season mark, no questions asked. 13 wins ranks him 1st in the NHL, and his 2.20 GAA is good for top 5 in the league among qualified goalies. Same with Hellebuyck&#8217;s 0.923 SV%, that&#8217;s also good for top 5 among goalies. Oh ya, and Hellebuyck already has 3 shutouts, which is 1st in the NHL. It&#8217;s been a Vezina calibre start for Hellebuyck, and enough good things can&#8217;t be said about how well he&#8217;s performing this season. If Hellebuyck can keep this up, a 3rd Vezina trophy will be awarded at the end of the season to the Jets MVP at the quarter season mark.
Eric Comrie: B
After beating Kaapo Kahkonen for the backup job, Comrie has done well in his 5 appearances. A 3-2-0 record to go along with a 3.33 GA and a 0.910 SV% are numbers you like to see from any backup. I wasn&#8217;t so sure about Comrie being a stable backup before the season began, but after seeing him in his 5 first games this season I&#8217;m confident that he can be a reliable netminder behind Hellebuyck. With a big road trip coming up and a few back to backs before the 4 Nations tournament break, Comrie will surely make a few more appearances coming up soon. Hellebuyck will still play 60-65 games this season (deservingly so), but when Comrie is in net I don&#8217;t feel like the Jets need to play &#8220;extra well&#8221; in order to give them a chance to win on that night. I&#8217;m prediciting an Eric Comrie shutout at some point later this season too, and it&#8217;ll be a highlight night for him that will help further solidify his backup job.

Follow us on our Jets Nation socials! X/Twitter: <a href="https://x.com/NHLJetsNation">@NHLJetsNation</a> and on Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/jetsnationdotca/">@JetsNationDotCa</a>

The Winnipeg Jets have reached the 21 game mark on the 2024-25 NHL season, meaning that they have reached the "quarter season" point of their campaign. After a back to back on Friday and Saturday, the Jets are off for today before continuing their road trip tomorrow night in Minnesota.

It's a bit of understatement to say that the Jets have had a great start to the season, currently still sitting at the top of the NHL standings. The team has performed above expectations, but how about the players? How have they performed on an individual basis? It's easy to say "well everyone must be doing good" since the team is getting good results, but that's not always the case.

I've decided to take a look at each of the Jets defenceman and goaltenders. A letter grade (report card style) for their quarter season performance will be awarded, followed by a reasoning backed up by some stats and an overall explanation (including / comparing their expectations going into this season). This article is part 1 of 2, as Angus will be detailing you on the Jets forwards before the game against Minnesota. Here is your Jets quarter season report card for the 7 defence and 2 goalies that have made appearances for the 2024-25 Winnipeg Jets.

Neal Pionk: A

Compared to expectations prior to this season, Neal Pionk has been the best all around defence for the Jets. That's not a sentence I thought I would be saying, but after 21 games, Pionk is having himself one of the best years of his career. Is it because he became a new dad this year? Is it because he's in the final year of his contract, looking to prove himself for his next deal? Maybe it's neither, and Pionk is just playing good hockey. This season, I've noticed that Pionk is engaging more in the offensive zone. I mentioned before the season began that Pionk has been the type of player that has his "good" moments, but also his "bad" moments. That's the simplest way to put it, and this year Pionk has had way more "good" than "bad" moments. Pionk isn't getting caught flat fooded nearly as much, and his game has been stabilized by having a reliable defensive defence partner in Dylan Samberg. In 21 games, Pionk has 3 goals and 14 assists for 17 points. Pionk is a +12, which is tied for 2nd best on the Jets. A less positive stat is that Pionk's penalty minutes have gone up, already sitting at 16 PIM which is also tied for 2nd on the team. Sitting 5th on the team in scoring, Pionk is doing all he can to earn and secure a raise for what could be his final long term deal in the NHL, regardless if it's with the Jets or with another team in free agency.

Josh Morrissey: A-

In 2 weeks time I hope we'll be seeing Morrissey's name on Canada's 4 Nations tournament roster. In 21 games, Morrissey is 4th in team scoring with 2 goals and 18 assists for 20 points. Compared to Pionk's pre season expectations, Morrissey has held up closely to the high standard expected from him since his 2022-23 breakout season. The Jets powerplay has been in the top 5 in the league most of this season, and a big reason is because of Morrissey. I've talked a few times about the Jets improved puck movement on special teams, and that starts at the point with Morrissey. Among all players, Morrissey ranks 18th overall in the NHL in time on the ice per game, at an average of 24:20 per game. More ice time equals more responsibility, and Morrissey has shown time and time again that he's capable of handling whatever situation he's used in throughout a game. Let's hope that we continue to see Morrissey work his magic this season as the Jets #1 defender.

Dylan Samberg: B

First off, if you missed it Samberg broke his foot  and will be out for an unknown amount of time, and this paragraph was written before the game Saturday night. Dylan Samberg is one of the players on the Jets that has seemed to have met his pre season expectations without standing out too much. In 21 games, Samberg has 3 goals and 3 assists for 6 points, and has started to prove that he deserves a full-time spot as the left handed "shutdown" guy on the 2nd defence pairing. Samberg is tied for second on the Jets in PIM with 18, but like much like Pionk, is a +10, which can help forgive some of the powerplay opportunities he gives other teams. A career high in points is bound to happen at this pace, as Samberg just needs 13 more points to pass the 18 he got last season in 78 games. The big thing to watch for with Samberg as the season progresses is if he can continue to compliment Neal Pionk's game in a way that benefits the pairing's strengths, while trying to limit his penalty minutes in the process.

Dylan DeMelo: B-

DeMelo is a player that I might have had too high of expectations for going into the 2024-25 season. His 31 points last season may have been a product of playing with Morrissey, but I remained confident that DeMelo would continue to embrace his role as the "shutdown" guy on the Jets top defence pairing. In 19 games, DeMelo only has 3 assists, but as a defenceman, this isn't too much of a concern yet. 36 hits ranks DeMelo 2nd on the team, while 25 blocked shots is good for 3rd behind Morrissey and Pionk. I have no real complaints with DeMelo, as I know he's doing exactly what's expected of him on a nightly basis to a given standard. More points with surely come for DeMelo as a result of playing with Morrissey, and DeMelo will just need to try to "stand out" more as the season goes on during this upcoming Jets road trip.

Colin Miller: B-

Miller has been a pleasant surprise this season for the Jets. In 19 games, Miller has 2 goals and 5 assists for 7 points. The 32-year old wasn't a "lock" to make the Jets defence before the season began, but he quickly has become a staple of the Jets 3rd pairing due to injuries from Ville Heinola and Logan Stanley early into the season. Just like Samberg, Miller has taken a few too many penalties so far (16 PIM), but sometimes that's a hard stat to control depending on your style of play. Despite his limited role on the 3rd pairing, Miller makes the most of his 13 to 14 minutes of ice time every game. Miller shoots the puck often (24 shots on net), makes hits (29) and has blocked 14 shots. It hasn't been the "perfect" season for Miller 19 games in, but compared to his pre season expectations, Jets fans should be happy with what Miller has brought to this team in his limited 3rd pairing role.

Haydn Fleury: C+

Added as a depth piece to the Jets defence in the off-season, Fleury has done an adequate job in the 8 games he's appeared in this season. In 8 games, Fleury has just 1 assist, but much like Miller, Fleury does the "little things" well when he's on the ice, which can make the difference between him having a good or bad game. Players in a limited role are always more vulnerable to criticism when something goes wrong, and up until this point Fleury has kept his mistakes to a minimum. With Heinola looking to return soon, and Stanley holding down the 3rd pairing at times, we might not see many more appearances from the former 7th overall pick from the 2014 NHL draft. Fleury has still been a solid depth add for the Jets, and hasn't done much to hurt the Jets chances of winning when he's in the lineup.

Logan Stanley: C

Rounding out the 7 Jets that have made an appearance on defence this season is big man Logan Stanley. I really wanted to give Stanley a better grade, but I just couldn't find a way to justify a C+ or even a B- for Stanley. Much like other Jets fans, I was really hoping that this season would finally be the one where Stanley lives up to his 1st round draft pick potential, but that just hasn't happened. In 11 games, Stanley has 1 goal and 2 assists for 3 points. Those totals are actually already more than the 2 points in 25 games achieved by Stanley last season, so that has got to be considered a positive right? Stanley's defensive play is what brings down his grade. The inconsistencies in aspects of his game such as coverage and defensive awareness have been just a bit too noticeable this season. While he remains injured at the moment, I'm not ready to write off Stanley yet this season. With some fine (and major) tuning to elements of his game, and learning to work with Colin Miller on the 3rd pairing, Stanley can be a solid 6th defenceman that won't hurt the Jets chances of winning on a nightly basis.

Connor Hellebuyck: A+

Over to goalies now, and I'll keep things short and sweet with them to keep this article from dragging on too long. Hellebuyck is the Jets 2024-25 MVP at the quarter season mark, no questions asked. 13 wins ranks him 1st in the NHL, and his 2.20 GAA is good for top 5 in the league among qualified goalies. Same with Hellebuyck's 0.923 SV%, that's also good for top 5 among goalies. Oh ya, and Hellebuyck already has 3 shutouts, which is 1st in the NHL. It's been a Vezina calibre start for Hellebuyck, and enough good things can't be said about how well he's performing this season. If Hellebuyck can keep this up, a 3rd Vezina trophy will be awarded at the end of the season to the Jets MVP at the quarter season mark.

Eric Comrie: B

After beating Kaapo Kahkonen for the backup job, Comrie has done well in his 5 appearances. A 3-2-0 record to go along with a 3.33 GA and a 0.910 SV% are numbers you like to see from any backup. I wasn't so sure about Comrie being a stable backup before the season began, but after seeing him in his 5 first games this season I'm confident that he can be a reliable netminder behind Hellebuyck. With a big road trip coming up and a few back to backs before the 4 Nations tournament break, Comrie will surely make a few more appearances coming up soon. Hellebuyck will still play 60-65 games this season (deservingly so), but when Comrie is in net I don't feel like the Jets need to play "extra well" in order to give them a chance to win on that night. I'm prediciting an Eric Comrie shutout at some point later this season too, and it'll be a highlight night for him that will help further solidify his backup job.

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