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A Golden Jets Success – Oct. 17 2011 – Vol. 65, Issue 06 – Jason Key
The Winnipeg Jets are already a success, with an asterisk. Season tickets sold out in hours, merchandise is hotter than Teemu Selanne’s rookie campaign and rich broadcast deals have been consummated.
It’s a made-in-Canada success story, an intense love affair guaranteed to last at least three, four, five years, and one our Winnipeg correspondent Tim Campbell lays out in our cover story, beginning on pg. 26. The question is, what happens when the honeymoon ends? When the joy of the new wears off, how do the Jets sustain the substantial momentum they’ve built up?
Two Jets, Three Manitobans Invited to Canadian Olympic Team CampTwo members of the Winnipeg Jets have earned invites to the Canadian National Team 2026 Winter Olympic Games camp.
To be sure, there are already pitfalls of which to be wary. For starters, the Jets will very likely qualify for revenue sharing at the end of this season – something the club is certainly counting on. In order to get a piece of that pie in years beyond, they’ll need to meet certain criteria – pending, of course, the shape of the next collective bargaining agreement.
Then there’s the economy, a situation over which the franchise has zero control. Sure, the Loonie is strong today, but there are fears of another economic downturn and also recent reports Canada could be among the first countries to experience a double-dip recession. When the previous Jets flew south to Phoenix in 1996, one of the biggest contributing factors was the 73-cent Canadian dollar. While the current CBA may provide some protection against a repeat scenario, the Jets aren’t completely immune from small-market-Canada syndrome.
The most important factor will be their on-ice success. Winnipeg inherits a franchise that has never won a playoff game and the previous NHL inhabitants in Manitoba didn’t fare much better. From 1979 through ’96, the original Jets failed to win so much as a division title and were victorious in just two playoff rounds. It’s possible this year’s crew will reverse fortunes and surprise us, but don’t count on it. In The Hockey News Yearbook, we’ve slotted the Jets 13th in the Eastern Conference. On the bright side, in our 2011 Future Watch ranking of NHL-drafted prospects, the former Thrashers ranked seventh of 30.
Still, the Jets face significant challenges and it will be several years until we know if we can remove that asterisk from their success label. For what it’s worth, an asterisk on the team pages in the NHL Guide and Record Book also denotes a franchise that has relocated. Just sayin’.
Longtime Member of the Manitoba Moose Heads Overseas for 2025-26The Manitoba Moose will be without longtime forward CJ Suess for the 2025-26 season.
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