The Winnipeg Jets are trying to answer a familiar kind of question after a letdown season: was last year’s collapse a blip, or a sign of bigger problems?
After winning the Presidents’ Trophy the year before, Winnipeg stumbled. Luca Pampena has them pegged for fifth in the Central Division with 90 points, and the path back to the playoffs looks narrow unless the young forwards give them more and the team cleans up its work in its own zone.
That’s where the real pressure lands. Connor Hellebuyck remains the hinge point for everything.
If he stays healthy and gets back to his best, the Jets can hang around the wild-card race. But goaltending alone won’t solve what showed up last season: an older roster, a lack of speed, and too many dangerous chances against.
While Winnipeg searches for answers, Edmonton is hunting for a breakout.
Vasily Podkolzin is the name drawing attention as a possible difference-maker outside the Oilers’ top four. Bob Stauffer sees a player ready to take a step, with a chance to work into the top six and chip in on both special-teams units.
The appeal is easy to see. Podkolzin brings energy and toughness, and he does the dirty work without hesitation. With the new coaching staff, he could get a larger role, and if he grows into a dependable 20-goal scorer while adding another 20 or 30 assists, his $2.95-million contract would suddenly look like a steal for Edmonton.
Then there’s the ranking debate that has stirred the most head-scratching.
Corey Pronman’s latest under-23 list has already produced plenty of noise, with recency bias at the center of the backlash. Sam O’Reilly climbed to No. 40 after a big junior season.
Ike Howard was omitted despite winning the Hobey Baker and producing in the AHL and NHL. Zach Benson also slipped despite a strong year.
But the decision that stands out most is Matt Savoie being left off entirely. He earned a regular role, worked the penalty kill, eventually landed on McDavid’s line, and finished with 18 goals and 37 points. Given how strong his late-season push was, his absence from the list looks like a real miss.
In Other News...
Oilers May Have A Real Blue Line Decision On Atro Leppanen
Atro Leppnen spent most of the 2025-26 season doing what a lot of late-blooming defensemen have to do in the Oilers organization: quietly stacking good AHL shifts in Bakersfield and making it hard to ignore him. The Finnish blueliner, signed by Edmonton in April 2025, showed steady offensive growth and finished as the Condors top-scoring defenseman, the kind of progression that got him a contract extension in February and kept his name in the conversation as the season moved along.
The tricky part for Edmonton is that progress in the minors does not always map cleanly onto a path upstairs, especially on the left side of the blue line. The Oilers already have established options there, and Leppnen is approaching age 28 while also trying to prove his game fits the demands of Mike Babcocks system. He has made himself a legitimate depth decision, which is a win in its own right, but the next step for him is where the real uncertainty begins. [Read more 🡒]
Canadiens Fans Have A New Reason To Feel Lane Hutson Is Overlooked
Edmontons offseason had enough encouraging moments to give fans a reason for optimism, but the conversation around the front office has not exactly cooled off. Stan Bowman and the Oilers still have plenty of skeptics watching closely, because even with some improvement in the summer, the teams recent track record keeps hovering over every move and every missed opportunity.
The frustration is tied to a bigger question about whether the organization has truly corrected course or just patched over old mistakes. Fans are still weighing the decisions that have drawn the most criticism, along with the latest attempts to reshape the roster, and the next step will be measured not by talk but by whether the team looks better when it matters most. [Read more 🡒]
Connor McDavid Rumors Raise One Uncomfortable Question For Oilers Fans
The Connor McDavid chatter that surfaced this week was less about a sudden change in his stance and more about the uncomfortable exercise of imagining what life would look like if Edmonton ever had to answer the question it has long tried not to ask. McDavid has not made any public demands or decisions about his future, but the latest round of reporting has naturally put the Oilers back in the spotlight, because any discussion of his next step starts with the same basic truth: his priority would be finding the best path to another Stanley Cup.
That is what makes the latest list of possible destinations so jarring for Oilers fans. The teams being floated are the Flyers, Red Wings and Rangers, which says plenty about how little a market size or big-city profile would matter if McDavid ever reached that stage. It also leaves the same nagging issue unresolved, since observers are already skeptical that any of those clubs offers a direct, obvious route to a title. [Read more 🡒]