It's been a miserable campaign for the Winnipeg Jets, who have followed up their President's Trophy-winning 2024-25 season by sitting 15-21-5 and dead last in National Hockey League standings through 41 games. It's been a remarkable fall from grace for a roster that was once again hoping to compete for the Stanley Cup come April.
And as the futility continues, the winds of change could be blowing through Manitoba. The Fourth Period's David Pagnotta reported on Wednesday that veteran defenseman Luke Schenn is open to a change of scenery — specifically to a team with championship aspirations.
“The interesting thing is that we’re starting to hear about Luke Schenn, who just played his 1,100th game with the Jets [Tuesday night],” Pagnotta said on the latest episode of the DFO Rundown Insider Edition with Irfaan Gaffar. “I don’t know if that’ll be his last with the Jets, but I don’t know how much more runway there is if things continue status quo.
“There is some word that Luke Schenn wouldn’t mind a change of scenery. He would be open to a move. I don’t know if that relates to how the team is performing, and he’s been scratched a few times. I’m sure it all correlates. But the latest that we’ve got on Luke Schenn is he hasn’t asked for a trade, but he is open to a change of scenery. And that’s something that the Jets are monitoring now.”
Schenn scored his first goal of the season in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday night. It was just his fifth point of the campaign in 28 games. He has also managed a minus-six plus/minus in 2025-26.
The 36-year-old is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, and it looks like he's very unlikely to re-sign. It probably would make sense for general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff to acquire something for Schenn instead of watching him walk for nothing in a couple of months.
Making just $2.75 million against the cap, Pagnotta sees various teams that could be interested in the blue liner, including the Dallas Stars, Florida Panthers, Vegas Golden Knights and Washington Capitals.
Jets looking to add despite futility?
Although the Jets are closer to a lottery pick than a playoff spot in the second week of January, Cheveldayoff could still look to add to the roster as it tries to climb out of the basement in the New Year.
“Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff is looking to add some extra fire power to his lineup and would like to add a second-line goalscorer who is under contract beyond this season,” wrote Pagnotta, “but the hunt has proven to be difficult, thus far.”
Winnipeg could certainly use some secondary scoring; after Kyle Connor (49 points), Mark Scheifele (48 points) and Gabriel Vilardi (37 points), no forward has more than 15.
That's not a recipe for any kind of success at the National Hockey League level, and the glaring lack of depth has been a huge problem in Manitoba this season.
It'll be interesting to see how the month of January goes for the Jets — and whether it leads to widespread changes ahead of the March 6 NHL Trade Deadline.
