Jets head coach Rick Bowness did not hold back on his team's performance after Winnipeg was eliminated from the 2023 NHL playoffs.
"I’m so disappointed and disgusted right now," Bowness said. "That’s my thoughts."
The Jets dropped a 4-1 loss in Game 5 against the Golden Knights on Thursday, losing the series in five games. After winning Game 1 in Vegas, Winnipeg proceeded to fall in the next four games.
Bowness cited there was "no pushback" from his club in the series, a pattern that he said dates back to a couple of months ago.
Rick Bowness said he was 'disappointed and disgusted' by the lack of pushback his team showed in the series against the Golden Knights. pic.twitter.com/2c79k9lNJv
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) April 28, 2023
"It’s the same crap we saw in February," Bowness said. "As soon as we were challenging for first place and teams were coming after us, we had no pushback. This series, we had no pushback. Their better players were so much better than ours, it wasn’t even close.
"We have to push back. There has to be a pushback. There has to be pride. You have to be able to push back when things aren’t going your way. We had no push back. Their better players were so much better than ours tonight. They deserved to win. They were the better team in the regular season, they were the better team in this series."
The Jets were already seen as underdogs heading into the series with the top-ranked Golden Knights. It didn't help that defenseman Josh Morrissey and forward Mark Scheifele each were injured during the series, adding to the growing list of ailments that included forward Cole Perfetti and forward Nikolaj Ehlers, who only played in Game 5.
Still, the criticism of his team did not come out of nowhere. Bowness' frustration with his team's effort and the lack of production from the Jets' top players popped up earlier in the season.
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After a 3-0 loss to the Sharks in late March, Bowness criticized his club's lack of consistency in its play. This came while the Jets had slipped from the top of the Central Division to fighting for a wild-card spot.
"Some of these guys think they're giving us everything in their tank," Bowness said at the time. "They're dreaming. We have a lot of guys in there giving us everything they can. We just need a few more guys to jump on board."
It was a bitter ending to an up-and-down season for the True North. It makes for an intriguing offseason.
Jets offseason outlook: Free agents 2023
The comments from Bowness only cemented what has been the growing feeling throughout this season up in Winnipeg - change is needed for this organization to turn it around.
In terms of 2023 free agents, the Jets don't have a ton of big names to worry about, but it most certainly does for the class of 2024.
Six of the team's key players are going to be unrestricted free agents in 2024. Goalie Connor Hellebuyck, forwards Blake Wheeler, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Scheifele, and defensemen Brendan Dillon and Dylan DeMelo all fall into that category.
Dubois is a restricted free agent in 2023, so he's under team control for next season. The other five will be entering the final year of their contract in the fall before turning to unrestricted free agents in 2024.
It puts general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff in a tricky situation. Some players, such as Dubois, have been vocal in their interest in going to the open market once their contracts expire. Others, it's unclear if they would be open to an extension.
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If either the Jets don't want to hand out new deals, or the players don't want to stay, then it makes sense to explore the trade market. Considering the talent that could be put on the trade block, the Jets could get solid returns that would help the club retool rather than rebuild.
Regardless of whether it's a quick, on-the-fly readjustment or a complete teardown, the core group isn't working and hasn't for some time. Despite having one of the best top-six forward groups in the league and a Vezina-winning goaltender, the Jets have won just one playoff series since 2018.
Don't be surprised if some of those Winnipeg stars have worn the Jets sweater for the last time.
