DANKOCHIK’S DRAFTINGS: Banners matter

The Winnipeg Jets are the best team in the NHL this year.

It’s a sentence that just seems impossible to believe. Not just because the Jets always seem to come up short, but the fact they even exist to achieve that feat.

For my entire childhood, the NHL returning to Manitoba was just a pipe dream, something for seemingly crazy people to post about on niche forums or phone into radio shows and rant about. (Yes, I did both of those things regularly)

From a historical perspective, it seemed impossible as well. Even the best Jets teams of the 80s, with a certified superstar in Dale Hawerchuk never seemed to come close to this feat.

Finally a banner will hang inside the Canada Life Centre. A real, proper banner, not a fake one that other teams can make fun of, but an unquestioned top tier accomplishment that deserves celebration.

Heck, this year marked Winnipeg’s first time even winning their own division, something which I have made fun of other teams for celebrating by hanging a banner.

It remains upsetting to me the Jets couldn’t manage to win the Southeast Division, just for the comedy value of a team from Manitoba hanging a “Southeast Division Champions,” banner inside their home arena.

As someone who has become a fan of soccer as the Canadian men’s national team has risen, and as I have written in this column, I have been valuing regular season success more and more, and winning a President’s Trophy is an outstanding accomplishment.

I’m not a huge goalie guy in hockey as well, but there can be no question Connor Hellebuyck deserves to win the Hart Trophy (given to the league’s most valuable player) this season. If he doesn’t, then the award isn’t available for goaltenders to win. Hellebuyck should have the Vezina already locked up, but his numbers are quite simply eye-popping. Those numbers also come playing for a team without a highly regarded defense.

I personally reject the notion that there’s a curse related to winning the President’s Trophy, or if a team doesn’t win both the season is a complete wash. The top regular season team has been the most likely to win the Stanley Cup over the years, and that makes sense.

After 82 long games in an NHL season, the team with the best record should be celebrated. And this time it gets to be Winnipeg.