Marcus Gidlof

Very quietly, the Jets have gone from a team near the bottom of the Western Conference to one within striking distance of a playoff spot thanks to a 21-point March.  That has them within three points of the final Wild Card position heading into today’s action.  While that’s closer to where they feel they should be in an injury-riddled season, Murat Ates of The Athletic argues (subscription link) that the team still needs to take a critical look at how they’ve gotten to this point, even if they ultimately squeak into the postseason.

Despite moving several first-round picks over the years, the Jets haven’t had a ton of playoff success and although GM Kevin Cheveldayoff has done well to keep the bulk of their core group around, at this point, their ceiling might be that of a bubble team, especially being in the same division as Colorado, Dallas, and Minnesota.  That’s not a spot Winnipeg will want to be in so this might be the summer to take a big swing, be it in the form of adding a key piece or kicking off some sort of retooling process.

Elsewhere in the Central:

• The Predators have reassigned defenseman Viggo Gustafsson to AHL Milwaukee, per the AHL’s transactions log. The 19-year-old was a third-round pick by Nashville in 2024, going 77th overall.  He signed his entry-level deal last month but it begins next season, so Gustafsson will play on a tryout deal for the Admirals down the stretch.  He played in 40 games with AIK in Sweden’s Allsvenskan this season, picking up eight assists and 28 penalty minutes.
• Blues goaltending prospect Marcus Gidlof told Hockey Sverige’s Ronnie Ronnkvist that he’s hoping to stay in Sweden for one more season rather than make the trek to play in the AHL. A fifth-round pick in 2024 (147th overall) that was acquired at the trade deadline as part of the Brayden Schenn trade, the 20-year-old posted a 2.96 GAA with a .892 SV% and four shutouts in 26 games with SHL Leksands.  However, the team was relegated to the second-tier Allsvenskan for next season so St. Louis may prefer that their newest netminder plays at a higher level in 2026-27.