He won the Hart Trophy in May. He backstopped Team USA to Olympic gold with 41 saves in the gold medal game. Then Jets fans spent all season asking the only question that mattered: where was that Hellebuyck for us? Ehlers is playing for Carolina in the Cup Final. Connor scored 39 goals in a non-playoff year. The league's best team in 2024-25 missed the playoffs entirely in 2025-26.
By Pucky Editorial · May 2026 · 2025–26 Season Review Series
Oct–Dec 14: Unconvincing Start
Without Ehlers · Hellebuyck below Hart Trophy form · above .500 but not dominant
Dec 15–Jan 8: 0-7-4 Collapse
11-game winless run · last in Western Conference · 11 pts from wild card
Post-Olympics: Eliminated Apr
Lost 6-2 to Vegas on elimination night · Ehlers scoring in Cup Final
Connor Hellebuyck made 41 saves in the Olympic gold medal game. He stopped shots that the most advanced tracking technology available describes as essentially unstoppable, close-range, high-danger, traffic-screened shots that he located and sealed in ways that reminded everyone watching why he has won three Vezina Trophies. Team USA beat Finland to win their first Olympic gold since 1980. The broadcast cut to Hellebuyck at the final horn, a moment of genuine hockey history. Jets fans, watching from Canada Life Centre watch parties and living rooms across Manitoba, were almost certainly cheering for Canada. But they would have had a complicated emotional response to what they were watching. Because the question that had defined their entire regular season was playing out in real time on the Olympic ice: where was that Hellebuyck for the Winnipeg Jets?
It is the most dispiriting version of an elite goaltender's off season: demonstrably capable of the kind of performance that wins international tournaments and Hart Trophies, and demonstrably not producing that performance in the regular season for the franchise that pays him. In 2024-25, Hellebuyck went 47-14-4 with a 2.00 GAA and a save percentage that led the NHL. He won the Hart Trophy. He won his third Vezina. His team won the Presidents' Trophy with 116 points. In 2025-26, he won 23 games. His GAA was 2.86. The team allowed 260 goals, 69 more than the prior year, and missed the playoffs entirely.
The 34-Point Collapse in Numbers, Year over Year
Same core. Same coach. Ehlers gone. Hellebuyck declined. Depth scoring evaporated. The gap between 116 points and 82 points.
| Metric | 2024-25 | 2025-26 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Record | 56-22-4 | 35-35-12 | -21 W |
| Points | 116 | 82 | -34 |
| Goals For | 277 | 231 | -46 |
| Goals Against | 191 | 260 | +69 |
| Hellebuyck GAA | 2.00 | 2.86 | +0.86 |
| Hellebuyck Wins | 47 | 23 | -24 |
| 10-goal scorers | 12 | 8 | -4 |
The numbers are stark. Goals against went from 191 to 260, a 69-goal increase that is almost entirely explained by Hellebuyck's decline. Goals for went from 277 to 231, a 46-goal decrease explained by Ehlers's departure and depth-scoring regression. The team's goal differential went from +86 to -29 in a single offseason. Every metric that made them the best team in hockey moved in the wrong direction at the same time. That degree of simultaneous multi-category regression almost never happens to a team without a catastrophic injury to its best player. Hellebuyck was healthy. He was just not good.
Hart Trophy Winner in May. 41 Saves in the Olympic Gold Medal Game in February. 2.86 GAA for the Winnipeg Jets All Season. The Same Goaltender.
The only time Hellebuyck looked close to his 2024-25 self was at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, where he went 5-0 with a 1.18 GAA and a .956 save percentage, stopping 5.92 goals above expected. In the gold medal game against Finland, he made 41 saves - "many of the 10-bell variety" - and was the most important individual in a historic American result. The gold medal itself was the first for the USA since the 1980 Miracle on Ice. Hellebuyck earned it.
Then he returned to the Jets and picked up exactly where he had left his regular-season form before the Olympic break. The gap between his Olympic performance and his regular-season performance is the most difficult individual statistical contradiction of the 2025-26 NHL season to explain. The motivation argument doesn't hold - Hellebuyck is a professional who has demonstrated consistently high motivation throughout his career. The physical argument doesn't hold - he was clearly physically capable of elite goaltending at the Olympics. The most likely explanation is systemic: the Jets' defensive structure in front of him collapsed simultaneously with his form, creating a feedback loop where worse team defence leads to worse goaltender performance, which leads to weaker team confidence, which leads to worse team defence.
The question for Kevin Cheveldayoff is whether Hellebuyck's Olympic performance is the evidence that his 2024-25 form is recoverable - that the right conditions produce the Hart Trophy version - or whether it is a statistical anomaly in a short tournament that should not be extrapolated to an 82-game regular season. If the former, the Jets are a contender next year. If the latter, the franchise has a serious goaltending problem that his previous contract extension has made very expensive to resolve.
Nikolaj Ehlers is playing for the Carolina Hurricanes in the Stanley Cup Final. He scored the opening goal of the Cup Final 25 seconds into Game 1. He scored twice in the first period of that game. He scored the overtime goal in Game 2 that tied the series. He has been one of the most important forwards in the most watched series of the year. He departed Winnipeg in the offseason via trade to Carolina, the specifics of the deal produced assets for Cheveldayoff, and what he left behind was a hole that the season could not fill.
In 2024-25, Ehlers finished fourth on the team in goals (24) and was the fourth member of a depth structure that featured twelve different players scoring ten or more goals. In 2025-26, Josh Morrissey finished fourth in goals with 14, ten fewer than Ehlers's fourth-place total the prior year. The four-line scoring depth that made Winnipeg the Presidents' Trophy team evaporated almost entirely. Eight players scored ten or more goals in 2025-26, down from twelve. The drop from third to fourth place in the scoring order alone, Ehlers to Morrissey, 24 goals to 14, illustrates where the 46-goal offensive decline came from.
Eleven Games Without a Win. Last in the Western Conference. Eleven Points Behind the Wild Card. The Single Sequence That Made the Playoff Miss Inevitable.
Before the slide, the Jets were unconvincing but competitive - hovering near .500, the kind of team that looks like it will eventually find its form. The slide changed the arithmetic of the season. Eleven games without a win dropped them to last in the Western Conference. By the time it ended, they were eleven points behind the LA Kings for the second wild card position. In an 82-game season, eleven points is approximately a month of excellent hockey. They never got that month.
The slide was not the cause of the season's failure - it was the concentrated expression of it. The same problems that produced the 0-7-4 run had been present since October: Hellebuyck below form, depth scoring absent, Ehlers's production not replaced, the goal differential that had been the league's best in 2024-25 now among the worst in the conference. The slide made the gap unrecoverable. The problems had been making it likely long before the slide confirmed it.
The recovery from the slide - which was partial and genuine, with Scheifele and Connor returning to near-elite form after January - produced enough wins to avoid the embarrassment of a complete collapse, but not enough to climb back into playoff position. The Jets were eliminated when they lost 6-2 to the Vegas Golden Knights - the team that Ehlers would go on to face in the Stanley Cup Final for the other side.
2025–26 Individual Season Grades
103 pts (36G–67A) · career-high assists · Hart Trophy-level season on a non-playoff team
The unambiguous individual bright spot of the season, and one of the most quietly excellent campaigns by any player in the league in 2025-26. Scheifele's 103 points, led by 67 assists, the most productive playmaking season of his career, came on a team that missed the playoffs and went 0-7-4 in December. His ability to find production when the team around him was collapsing is the clearest indicator that the Jets' decline was structural rather than a reflection of their top players' ability. He reached the 500-career-assists milestone during the season. At 33, he remains a genuine first-line centre. The Jets' future depends on building around him rather than waiting for him.
39G · team leader in goals · near point-per-game pace on a non-playoff team
39 goals on a team that finished seventh in the Central Division is a statement of individual quality that the standings cannot diminish. Connor remains one of the most consistent goal-scorers in the Western Conference, he has scored 30-plus goals in each of the last four seasons and has not once allowed the team's collective struggles to suppress his individual numbers. On a good team, his 39 goals would be celebrated. On this team, they are the most reliable evidence that the talent exists to compete.
23W · 2.86 GAA · Hart Trophy winner in May · Olympic gold medallist in February
The most complicated individual grade in this review series. He was extraordinary at the Olympics. He was below his own standard for the Jets all season. The grade reflects the aggregate: a Hart Trophy winner is expected to perform at a level that makes his team competitive. 23 wins and a 2.86 GAA in a season where his team allowed 69 more goals than the year before is a below-standard individual output, regardless of the systemic factors contributing to it. The Olympic performance is the evidence that the standard is achievable. The regular-season data is the evidence that it was not achieved.
14G (4th on team) · below 2024-25 output · defensive structure around him also declined
Morrissey was extraordinary in 2024-25, +34 plus-minus, one of the best defensive defencemen in the Western Conference. His 2025-26 decline reflects the team's overall regression: with Hellebuyck below form and the defensive structure in front of him less cohesive without the supporting forwards keeping pucks to the perimeter, his individual numbers fell. He is still the team's most important defenceman. The 14 goals (fourth on the team) compared to Ehlers's 24 the prior year is the depth-scoring gap in a single number.
High ankle sprain cost early season · never found consistent form · below expectations
Perfetti was supposed to be one of the players who made the Ehlers departure manageable, a developing young forward whose scoring potential had been visible in earlier seasons. He began the year with a high ankle sprain that limited his early contributions, then struggled to find his form across the second half. The Jets needed him to step into a larger offensive role. He didn't. His RFA status this summer means the team must decide how much they invest in the development trajectory versus the production they have already seen, or not seen.
Second full season · took over mid-2023-24 as interim, became permanent · navigated a difficult year
Arniel was the interim coach who got the job permanently after the 2023-24 season, a promotion that looked fully deserved after he presided over the Presidents' Trophy campaign in 2024-25. His 2025-26 was the test of whether his coaching was part of the success or a passenger to Hellebuyck's dominance and the roster's depth. The honest answer is probably both. He managed the 0-7-4 slide without the team falling apart completely, and the second-half improvement suggests his adjustments were correct. The structural problems were not of his making. Whether he is the right coach for the next phase of this franchise is the question Cheveldayoff will answer this summer.
2025–26 Winnipeg Jets, Key Statistical Leaders
| Player | POS | GP | G | A | PTS | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mark Scheifele | C | 82 | 36 | 67 | 103 | Career-high assists · 500th career assist milestone |
| Kyle Connor | LW | 82 | 39 | ~44 | ~83 | Team goals leader · 4th straight 30+ goal season |
| Josh Morrissey | D | 80 | 14 | , | , | 4th on team in goals · below prior-year production |
| Dylan DeMelo | D | 78 | 3 | 13 | 16 | +7 (tied team best) · defensive reliability |
| Connor Hellebuyck | G | ~55 | , | , | 23W | 2.86 GAA · Hart Trophy to non-playoff year |
| Logan Stanley | D | , | , | , | 99 PIM | Team PIM leader |
Scheifele at 103 Points, Connor at 39 Goals - Two Elite Players Are Still Here
The franchise's top two forwards both had excellent individual seasons in a year where the team around them was below the standard they set in 2024-25. Scheifele's 103 points on a non-playoff team is the most important contextual data point for the summer: the scoring talent is present. The structure around it is what failed. The summer must rebuild the structure, not the stars.
The Olympics Proved He Can Still Be the Best Goaltender in the World. The Regular Season Proved He Wasn't.
The 69-goal increase in goals against is the single most damaging number in the comparison panel. Virtually all of it runs through Hellebuyck. If he returns to his 2024-25 regular-season form, the team's goals-against drops dramatically and the playoff picture changes immediately. If the Olympic performance was an outlier rather than a baseline, the franchise has a structural problem that a Hart Trophy contract makes very expensive to address.
The Internal Replacement for Ehlers's Production Has Not Yet Materialised
Ehlers's 24 goals and the four-line depth they enabled is gone and has not been replaced. Perfetti is the most likely internal candidate to provide the secondary offensive production the team needs. His high-ankle-sprain season is a legitimate excuse for 2025-26. It is not a sustainable excuse entering his third or fourth NHL season. The pressure on him to become a consistent 25-goal scorer is the most important individual development question of training camp.
12 Players With 10+ Goals in 2024-25. 8 in 2025-26. The Difference Was the Season.
The four-line depth that made Winnipeg the Presidents' Trophy team was the most underappreciated component of their 2024-25 success. It disappeared almost entirely in 2025-26. Whether that is an Ehlers-departure problem (his presence unlocked scoring opportunities for others) or a genuine depth-talent problem (those players simply weren't good enough) is what Cheveldayoff must determine. If the former, adding one elite winger solves much of it. If the latter, the rebuild is deeper than one transaction.
Scheifele Is 33, Connor Is 29, Hellebuyck Is 32 - The Core Has Two to Three More Years
Unlike some franchises reviewing their season in this series, Winnipeg's path back is not obscured by age or contract problems. Scheifele at 33 has three or four elite seasons remaining. Connor at 29 is in his prime. Hellebuyck at 32 - if the Olympic performance is the honest baseline - has the same. The window that produced the Presidents' Trophy is not closed. It is narrowed by one difficult year, and it opens again if Hellebuyck's regular-season form returns and Cheveldayoff finds the depth scorer who replaces what Ehlers provided.
Gustav Nyquist, Jonathan Toews, and Multiple Depth Pieces Are Unrestricted
The unrestricted free agent list includes depth forwards and defencemen whose departures open cap space. Whether Cheveldayoff uses that space to add the replacement Ehlers-level winger - a player who can score 25 goals, contribute on the power play, and generate the kind of secondary scoring that makes the Scheifele line function at its best - is the summer's defining decision. The team's future in 2026-27 hinges more on that single acquisition than on any internal development.
“Jets fans, the vast majority undoubtedly cheering for Canada, were probably a little frustrated after watching the legacy-making performance and wondering: where was that Hellebuyck this season for their team?" - The Hockey Writers, April 2026 - on Hellebuyck's 41-save Olympic gold medal game performance”
That frustration is legitimate, and it does not resolve neatly. Hellebuyck is one of three goalies in modern NHL history to win three Vezina Trophies. He has the Olympic gold to add to his individual trophy case. He has demonstrated this season, in the clearest possible setting, with the world watching, that he is capable of being the best goaltender alive. The question of why that performance did not appear for the Jets in October, November, December, January, February, March, or April is one that the entire franchise is sitting with heading into the summer.
The answers will come from camp. They will come from whether Cheveldayoff can reconstruct the depth scoring infrastructure that made Hellebuyck's regular-season excellence look even better than it was, because great goaltenders are also great goaltenders partly because the system around them keeps the shots manageable and the pressure intermittent. The 2024-25 Jets gave Hellebuyck the best possible conditions. The 2025-26 Jets did not. Whether the 2026-27 Jets can get back closer to the former is where the franchise's immediate future is decided.
Season Review Verdict
Presidents' Trophy to the couch in one year. Scheifele had 103 points. Connor scored 39 goals. Hellebuyck won the Olympics and forgot about the regular season. Ehlers is in the Cup Final for someone else. The C is not generous. A Presidents' Trophy team missing the playoffs requires honest accounting. But Scheifele's 103 points and Connor's 39 goals earn it above a D - this is a team with real talent that had a specific, identifiable crisis (Hellebuyck's decline, Ehlers's departure, the 0-7-4 slide) rather than a franchise without a path back. The path back exists. Hellebuyck can be what he was at the Olympics. Scheifele and Connor are still elite. The depth scoring that evaporated is reconstructable if Cheveldayoff finds the right piece to slot in beside them. The window is not closed. But Ehlers is in the Stanley Cup Final making plays that Winnipeg fans remember - and in a year when the Jets couldn't make the playoffs, watching your former winger score OT winners in the Cup Final for someone else is the season's most accurate emotional summary. That is what a C season feels like from the inside. You know you're better than this. You just can't prove it in the standings.