It feels like the Winnipeg Jets’ season ended a month ago. And now, here we are, seven days into the Stanley Cup playoffs, wondering “what if” the team had qualified for the post-season and faced the Colorado Avalanche.
The Kings-Avs series is now 3-0 in favour of Colorado. But the three-game lead does not indicate how close all three games have been. In fact, after Game 2 of the series, many felt Los Angeles could have won both games in Denver. To have the Kings down three while the Jets are at home might give some fans solace. But even if there are only four or five games in a series, there is a valid reason to be involved in the playoffs.
Let’s face it, the Kings aren’t expected to win the series, just as the Jets would have been huge underdogs. But there are players — the young ones — who will have learned valuable lessons about the game of hockey, and what it really takes for a team to win the Stanley Cup. That is really what is most difficult for this franchise (or any franchise, for that matter) to accept.
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It is so important to put your team in a position to play for in the post-season in order to give players like Dylan Samberg, Cole Perfetti, Morgan Barron and Brad Lambert a feel for the intensity of the playoffs; to learn what price you have to pay to win a championship. Even if you lose a first-round series, the learning curve is steep and worthwhile.
So while many would say that missing the playoffs is better than being steamrolled in the first round, there is a certain value in just getting to the dance. Beyond the home dates, beyond a win or two, it’s the experience of the higher intensity the players feel that is most important. Every team in the Western Conference that made the playoffs will reap the benefits of playoff experience for its young players.
And in many ways, that is the biggest disappointment of this Jets’ season.
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