Are The Winnipeg Jets An Irrelevant NHL Franchise?
Buckle those seatbelts because we’re about to enter storytime. Just promise me that you will read this post from beginning to end because the headline may sound harsh right now. Later, maybe we help lead the cause of rebranding the most irrelevant franchise in the NHL. It’s story time and it’s time to start talking about the Winnipeg Jets.
Last night I’m watching the Golden Knights play the Jets. At the time, Winnipeg was up by one in a game they eventually lost to Vegas 6-5. Between the intermissions, we go on our dog walk for the good puppers, Max. When we come inside, Merch store manager Jamie says “Are they the Canadian Leafs”.
This is maybe one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard in my life for a number of reasons:
A: How irrelevant does your team have to be in order to be referred to by someone as “the Canadian Leafs”? Keep in mind, I’ve been teaching Jamie hockey for the past two years. She knows all about Huberdeau, Barkov, Aho, Svechnikov, Pietrangelo, and Marchessault. Keep in mind, she knows who the Toronto Maple Leafs are too. That means casual fans literally refer to your team as the minor league Leafs. The equivalent of the Oakland A’s in baseball.
B: If the Maple Leafs aren’t Canadian, then I don’t know what is. Toronto is in Canada, right? Let’s just be totally honest, if you polled a random person and asked them if the minor league team for the Leafs were the Winnipeg Jets, would they know any better? Did Jamie not know the Leafs were in Canada? A very relevant follow up question that I didn’t get the answer to. When she looked at the box score and it said WPG, what did she think those letters stood for when being regarded to as “Canadian Leafs”. Another great follow up question that will need to be asked.
C: To put the cherry on top, there is literally a Leaf in the logo of the Jet. On the shoulder pads of the jersey, also a red leaf. When you really think about it, are they deep down inside the fraud Leafs? Are they just hillbillies in Winnipeg that want to root for the Leafs but try to hide it by plopping a random Jet in front of it? Almost like the matador at the bullfighting arena. They want you to see the red leaf on that sweater and they want it to piss you off. Copyright exists so let’s just scribble over the red leaf and call it a day!
At this point, why not just rename them the Canadian Leafs? Nobody cares about this team anyway. No offense to Kyle Connor and Mark Scheifele. You guys are really good. What’s the most relevant thing this team has ever done? The only thing that even comes to mind is Scheifele’s hit on Jake Evans a year ago. Other than that, what do they have going for them? Oh, cool, you’re the one team that’s still trying to make goalies cool when the smart people know the sport is trending away from them. Outside of one weird conference finals run in 2017-18 when they lost to an expansion team… this Jets team has done virtually nothing come postseason time.
Even the Emma Brown cult wouldn’t get behind this team. Go ask the puck bunnies what they think about the Winnipeg Jets. The only player they can get behind is Patrik Laine and he doesn’t even play for them anymore. Instead, they got stuck with Pierre Luc-Dubois who’s just a worse player in Laine’s draft class. Congrats!
This team stinks. Give them back to Atlanta so they can be the Thrashers again. At least they had pride. More than the Canadian Leafs can say. If the Canadian Leafs are going to stay in Winnipeg, at least give them a new rebranding. Give them a chance for people to actually care about this team. The Kraken and Knights entered the league and people were immediately excited about them. Until a rebranding happens, the Winnipeg Jets will now be referred to as the Canadian Leafs moving forward. End of blog.
