Special touch to special teams needed for bounce back season

You can point the finger of blame in a number of directions when it comes to finding fault with last season’s Winnipeg Jets.

A lineup that was too old and too slow. Injuries to key players. Regression from other core members. Inconsistent goaltending. The list goes on.

Well, here’s another culprit that doesn’t get talked about nearly enough: spotty special teams. More specifically, a power play that was anything but potent and a penalty kill that was far too porous.

That has to change — and fast — if this team is going anywhere.

“Your penalty kill might win you a game, your power play might win you a game. That’s the part that has to be a constant. You have to be a threat on both of those specialty teams,” said head coach Scott Arniel Thursday following a 90-minute practice which was exclusively dedicated to both.

“The good teams, that’s what they do. They make sure that they make it hard on you, whether you’re up a man or down a man. It’s something (where) we know we had success with it a couple of years ago and we’ve got to get back to that as well.”

The Jets led the NHL with the man advantage in 2024-25, clicking at a spectacular 28.9 per cent. Last season, they plummeted to 24th overall at just 18.5 per cent.

“We knew our power play wasn’t what it needed to be last year, and we want to get it back on track to be at the top of the league where we expect ourselves,” said forward Mark Scheifele, who managed to have a career year with 103 points — the majority coming at even strength.

Conversely, Winnipeg went from 13th on the penalty kill in 2024-25 to 21st last season, with its success rate dropping from 79.4 per cent to 77.6 per cent.

Add it all up and you have a significant factor in a season that saw Arniel’s club go from winning the Presidents’ Trophy to finishing 26th in the NHL standings and well out of the playoff picture.

“There’s been a lot of dialogue this summer on both sides of special teams with coaches and players. Everyone just trying to be part of the solution and be a difference maker,” said defenceman Josh Morrissey, who quarterbacks the top power-play unit.

“I think a goal would be a top 10 team in both categories. Generally that really helps your record at the end of the season. It was a good day (Thursday) and I like some of the changes we’ve made and the direction we’re trying to go.”

Arniel has repeatedly mentioned “wrinkles” in the systems employed by his assistant coaches Davis Payne (who oversees the PP) and Dean Chynoweth (who runs the PK). No, he’s not about to share those publicly.

But, at training camp skates, the Jets are noticeably trying to be much quicker in every facet, including puck movement when they have the man advantage and challenging opponents when they are shorthanded.

Winnipeg will get one final pre-season test on Friday night in Denver (7:30 p.m.).

“There are some wrinkles on both units, whether that’s personnel or some of the strategy that we’re trying to do, that we implemented,” said Arniel. “We’ve used some of the first three exhibition games and we’ve got some (video) clips out of that. And then, putting it into practice.”

The Jets videotaped Thursday’s session at the Hockey For All Centre, which they’ll now use for further classroom study in the days ahead.

“I know it’s a little bit longer and a little bit slower of a practice. But at the end of the day, we got to hit home on a lot of areas, especially those that are new,” said Arniel.

Winnipeg’s top PP unit at Thursday’s skate involved Morrissey and forwards Scheifele, Kyle Connor, Gabe Vilardi and Cole Perfetti. The second group had rookies Viggo Bjorck and Isak Rosen along with veterans Nino Niederreiter and Vlad Namestnikov, along with defenceman Neal Pionk.

The Jets had a third group consisting of Alex Iafallo, Brad Lambert, Brayden Yager, Nikita Chibrikov and Henry Thrun.

“It looks great. We’ve got a good plan, and just got to keep it going,” said Scheifele. “This league is always changing, so we just got to focus on ourselves and focus on what we do really well, and then you gotta execute.”

On the PK, the Jets had pairings including Adam Lowry and Morgan Barron, Cole Koepke and Danny Zhilkin, and Parker Ford and Noah Gregor, while defencemen Mario Ferraro, Dylan DeMelo, Dylan Samberg, Haydn Fleury, Jack St. Ivany, Isaak Phillips and Tyrel Bauer were involved as well.

Later in the skate, Connor, Iafallo, Namestnikov, Bjork, Morrissey and Pionk went from being on the PP to the PK, suggesting they could see some double duty at times this season depending on the circumstances.

“You can look at last season and there’s some teams maybe in the top or bottom that are surprises as to what you see on paper,” said Morrissey.

“Paper doesn’t matter. What matters is all the guys being on the same page, having a great plan and executing. Whether that’s on the power play or the PK. I’m not going to give away a lot of the secrets, but I like some of the changes we’ve made. I think it will allow our players to thrive with their skill sets.”

It’s worth noting the Jets still have to make cuts — seven skaters and one netminder’s worth — prior to Monday’s deadline for the 23-man opening night roster.

Arniel is planning one more special teams focused practice ahead of next Friday’s season opener.

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