Expectations at the start of the season were low for the most part in Winnipeg after a pretty disappointing 2021-2022 season which resulted in the Jets not making the playoffs. In a typical showing by GM Kevin Cheveldayoff, no big splashes were made in free agency last summer, leaving many fans in Winnipeg relying on the Blue Bombers to have any hope at bringing home a championship (might I add, they came just shy of that, too).

A decent showing at the beginning of the year was quickly followed by the injury bug, again adding fuel to the "we're not making the playoffs this year" mentality. However, depth players stepped up in the absence of the big guns. Right around the All-Star break, many of those big guns came back, but the question is, where have they been since returning? For example, since the start of February, Mark Scheifele has played 20 games and managed to score 7 goals, not to mention the subpar play that we've seen from Blake Wheeler who managed to score a measly 3 goals in that same span, while registering a +/- of -10.

While they did achieve a much needed win against Arizona last night, other teams in the hunt also scored crucial points in the standings race.

Bench boss Rick Bowness tried sending a message by healthy scratching Nate Schmidt after a rough stretch, something Schmidt admits he saw coming. He also benched the Scheifele-Connor-Niederreiter line against Carolina. Speaking of Niederreiter, however, he has been a breath of fresh air, as him and Vladislav Namestnikov were the acquisitions at the deadline, and have seemingly been the only ones to produce.

Josh Morrissey has been in the discussion for the Norris Trophy, but when it comes to playing defence, he's not quite able to carry the entire team on his back, and his stats have started to falter as we turned the calendar to 2023, registering a +/- of -15 since the new year.

Something needs to change in Winnipeg, and they need to figure out what's going wrong and fix it before it's too late with other teams breathing down their neck.