The Winnipeg Jets are heading into 2026-27 looking to turn the page after a 21-win drop sent them out of the playoffs last season, and with camp, preseason and opening night drawing closer, the stat-leader picture is starting to take shape.
At the top of the scoring board, Kyle Connor is the easy call for goals. The 29-year-old left winger scored 39 times last season to pace the club, giving him his eighth career 30-goal season. He’s already led the Jets in goals six different times, and with his place on the first line and top power-play unit, there’s every reason to expect the team’s highest-paid player to be there again.
Mark Scheifele looks like the safest bet for both assists and points. He put together a career year last season with 67 assists, 103 points and the distinction of becoming the first 2.0 Jet to hit the 100-point mark.
He finished 14 assists ahead of Connor and has built a career around steady elite production, including eight point-per-game-plus seasons. At this point, he doesn’t look like a player in decline; if anything, he keeps finding another gear.
Gabriel Vilardi is the pick for power-play goals, and the case is pretty strong. The soon-to-be 27-year-old erupted for a career-high 30 goals and 39 assists for 69 points in 82 games last season, but his real damage comes with the extra skater.
Vilardi led the Jets with 13 power-play goals last season, one more than in 2024-25, even though the team’s power-play efficiency dropped by 10 percentage points. His value comes from the dirty areas, not the highlight-reel ones: he scores from right around the net, has elite hands in traffic and has piled up 53 total man-advantage points since arriving from the Los Angeles Kings in June, 2023.
If the Jets’ power play climbs back into the top half of the league after finishing 24th, 15-plus power-play goals is within reach.
Cole Koepke is the best bet to lead the team in hits after a first season in Winnipeg that was all about energy and edge. He piled up a team-high and career-high 186 hits in 66 games while averaging just 10:28 of ice time. The 28-year-old earned a new two-year deal with a $1.45 million average annual value, and if he stays healthy and gets a little more ice, 250 hits isn’t out of the question.
Penalty minutes are a little trickier, but Neal Pionk gets the nod. Logan Stanley was the team’s clear outlier last season with 99 penalty minutes in 59 games before being dealt to the Buffalo Sabres at the 2026 Trade Deadline, while Scheifele finished second on the club with 43. Pionk only logged 37 because injuries limited him to 51 games, but if he stays on the ice and keeps playing more than 20 minutes a night on the blue line, a total in the 70s or 80s is a realistic projection.
Josh Morrissey remains the engine of the defense and should again lead the Jets in average ice time for the seventh straight season. He averaged a team-high and career-best 24:43 last year, about two minutes more than Pionk, and he made every minute count with 14 goals, 41 assists and 55 points in 77 games. The last time someone else led Winnipeg in ice time was 2019-20, when Pionk finished at 23:23 and Morrissey at 22:46.
Dylan Samberg is the best candidate to finish with the top plus/minus. Winnipeg’s 2025-26 season was rough defensively - the club allowed 256 goals, 66 more than in its Presidents’ Trophy and William M.
Jennings Trophy-winning 2024-25 - and nobody posted eye-popping numbers. Dylan DeMelo and Tanner Pearson tied at plus-7, while Samberg was right behind at plus-5 in 66 games.
But his plus-34 from 2024-25 showed what he can do when the team is rolling and the goals against stay down. With more team speed and a steadier partner, he could get much closer to that mark again.
In goal, Stuart Skinner is the projection for GAA and save percentage, largely because Connor Hellebuyck’s future still isn’t fully settled. The trade chatter that swirled around the 2026 Draft and the first days of free agency has cooled, but it hasn’t disappeared completely.
If Hellebuyck is moved, Skinner would be the starter or at least part of a tandem if the return includes an NHL-calibre goalie. And even if Hellebuyck stays, Skinner isn’t an outrageous pick: he finished last season with a 2.92 GAA and .888 save percentage in 50 games split between the Edmonton Oilers and Pittsburgh Penguins, while Hellebuyck posted a 2.86 GAA and .895 save percentage in 57 games after a 2024-25 season that had been much stronger.
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