Everything seems to be going right for the Winnipeg Jets.
The Jets are the last remaining team in the NHL with no losses. Vezina-winning goaltender Connor Hellebuyck is back to form, boasting a .948 save percentage and 1.4 goals against average, which make for two of the best stats in the league.
The team is tied for second in the NHL in goals per game at 4.5, and their power plays are converting over 44% of the time, which is the top rate in the league.
Jets fans have been riding the wave. Last season, Winnipeg had a shaky postseason run after finishing the regular season toward the top of league standings, only to result in uncharacteristic struggles from Hellebuyck and a first-round exit out of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs. On top of that, the team has the unfortunate circumstance of being located in Winnipeg.
The offseason wasn’t much better. Head coach Rick Bowness retired just days after their short playoff stint, and assistant head coach Scott Arniel got the promotion to replace Bowness.
Their head coach wasn’t the only key piece to leave, either. After re-signing defenseman Dylan DeMelo to a four-year extension, the Jets allowed forwards Sean Monahan and Tyler Toffoli, along with defenseman Brenden Dillon, to walk in free agency.
To make matters worse, Rutger McGroarty only poured more salt in the wound.
The 20-year-old forward was selected 14th overall by Winnipeg in 2022. McGroarty proceeded to have an impressive two seasons at the University of Michigan, including a second-team All-American nomination at the end of last season.
The problem at hand? He wouldn’t sign with the team that drafted him.
I can’t exactly blame him. The Jets have a prospect development program that tends to let their players marinate in the American Hockey League for longer than some other teams, and McGroarty likely wanted to jump straight to the NHL. Playing for the Jets also requires living in Winnipeg.
At risk of having wasted a first-round draft pick, the Jets traded McGroarty to the Pittsburgh Penguins for another first-round pick in Brayden Yager, and McGroarty signed with them less than a week after.
McGroarty made the Pens’ NHL roster to start the season, but was sent down to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton after underperformance in only three games.
Two days later, the Penguins flew to Winnipeg to play the Jets.
Jets fans did not hold back. After suffering through a demoralizing playoff run and an unspectacular offseason headlined by the McGroarty drama, they were feeling petty.
“Where is Rutger?” chants broke out in the Canada Life Centre.
There is a special kind of vitriol that hockey fans have for draft picks who refuse to sign with their team. In a sport with a very stoic, selfless culture, it seems arrogant for a player to risk the beginning of his career for a better option than the one in which he had no say.
Anaheim Ducks forward Cutter Gauthier received a similar negative response after refusing to sign with the Philadelphia Flyers after leaving Boston College, which is a much more desirable destination with much more ruthless fans. Gauthier’s camp allegedly handled the situation in a much less respectful way, which only twisted the knife for Flyers fans.
The popular belief seems to be that these players owe something to the team that drafted them for granting them a potential career.
This sentiment seems to be much more pervasive in hockey. In most other sports, requesting a trade makes headlines, but it is not a scandal. NBA players requesting to be moved is commonplace. No one batted an eye when Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams requested a trade after he was also traded to the Raiders.
It happens less often in MLB, but when it does, it doesn’t send fans into a tailspin.
I have always sided with the athletes over billionaire ownership. It only makes sense that these guys try and do what’s best for themselves and their career.
However, I understand that it may be disappointing to fans, especially if their team receives complete radio silence from their draft pick until they trade him.
We just have to remember that they’re young adults who are looking out for themselves. Gauthier doesn’t need the venom that was spit at him on social media. McGroarty ended up getting his wake-up call, but no one should have blamed him for wanting to make an NHL team if he had the opportunity to make the jump somewhere else.
The athletes make up the teams, and fans should hope they’re happy so they can continue to lift up the sport that we all love so much.
