ANALYSIS: Jets have new life, but lots of work yet to do – Winnipeg

After three straight wins, the Winnipeg Jets have infused new life back into their season, but realistically, they’re still quite a distance from completely turning the corner.

At this moment, the Jets are eight points out of a wild-card spot in the Western Conference. While another solid week might cut that deficit in half, it’s still going to be 40 miles of hard road for the foreseeable future to maintain any sort of playoff relevance.

Sure, the coaching staff and players believe they’re still capable of climbing out of the crater they landed in after two forgettable months of November and December.

In fact, head coach Scott Arniel told everyone what direction he’s looking toward when he said on the weekend, “our mindset is catching the teams above us now.”

But the Jets’ situation is obscure and made even more opaque because of the quirkiness of the business schedule centred around the upcoming Olympics, the NHL roster freeze from Feb. 4 to 22 during the Winter Games, and then a trade deadline set for March 6.

In other words, it doesn’t provide a lot of time for a team like Winnipeg to change from one plan to another depending on how the team has performed from week to week.

Which is why what you’re likely to see is a roster that remains mostly intact, but with a healthy divesting of some veteran assets along the way.

After all, steering this thing in the middle to remain competitive while changing out some personnel is probably the best approach, rather than hoping for a miracle and for the team to completely turn the corner.

Because if we know two things for sure at this stage, they’re that turning the corner completely may never come for Winnipeg this season, and secondly — and more importantly — hope is not a strategy.

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