A question on most people’s minds as the Winnipeg Jets began the 2024-25 season was how they were going to replicate the success they had in 2023-24 considering the players they lost in free agency.

There were two potential ways new head coach Scott Arniel and company could respond to the question of how they were going to avoid regression. The first: to keep building on what they already did well during the 52-win 2023-24. The second: to find new areas to improve in and get contributions they didn’t a season ago. The Jets have done both early on, getting off to an NHL-best and Jets 2.0 franchise-best 13-1-0 record.

Here, we’ll focus on the latter and dive into three things the Jets are getting this season they didn’t last season — things that are contributing to their improved start and have them looking like a serious wagon.

1: Consistent Power-Play Production

From dumpster fire to on fire in a single season: take a bow, Davis Payne, for the work you’ve done on the Jets’ power play.

The Jets are converting on a ridiculous and league-leading 42.11 per cent of their man advantages (16/38.) Both units assembled by new assistant coach Payne have looked consistently dangerous and move the puck wonderfully, with the first unit (Nikolaj Ehlers/Gabriel Vilardi/Mark Scheifele/Kyle Connor/Josh Morrissey) cashing in for nine goals and the second unit (Nino Niederreiter/Vladislav Namestnikov/Cole Perfetti/Alex Iafallo/Neal Pionk) cashing in for seven.

“You’ve seen that in multiple games where if our unit doesn’t score, the first unit will come out and get a big one for us and vice versa. It’s really important to have two threats on the power play and we don’t give any team any breaks on the penalty kill,” Perfetti, who has three power-play goals, said recently. (From ‘Jets enjoying success as Connor’s game matures,’ Winnipeg Free Press, Nov. 5, 2024.)

Our power play is so good it’s almost a passing grade on a report card

pic.twitter.com/ChALxUqEjj

— Winnipeg Jets (@NHLJets)November 6, 2024

It’s quite the departure from last season, when the 22nd-ranked power play converted at just 18.75 per cent and was too often predictable, passive, and static.

The Jets were one of the NHL’s best teams at five on five last season and the team needs to retain a focus on five on five as a key part of their identity. However, the few minutes a team spends up or down a man or two can play an outsized role in a final result and it’s a much-welcome development that the power play is helping them win games instead of costing them.

2: A Healthy Vilardi

2023-24 couldn’t have started worse for Gabriel Vilardi. In his first campaign with the Jets after coming over from the Los Angeles Kings in the trade that sent Pierre-Luc Dubois the other way — and in a campaign where expectations were high he’d take another step to becoming a star — he hit a major roadblock just three games in. Early into the Oct. 17, 2023 game versus the Kings, he suffered an ACL sprain due to former teammate Blake Lizotte tripping him from behind; the injury cost him six weeks and 16 games.

Vilardi was able to get back up to speed and build some overdue chemistry with his new teammates through December, but then missed two games in January due to an undisclosed lower-body injury and 15 more down the stretch due to an enlarged spleen and undisclosed upper-body injury. His playing only 47 games was a continuation of his unfortunate career-long trend of racking up injuries.

Vilardi, who put up 36 points in the 47 games he played last season and displayed uncanny net-front and puck-handling abilities, has been healthy thus far, playing in all 14 games in first line and top power-play roles. Despite scoring no goals in his first five games, he is up to six goals and six assists for 12 points in 14 games and is riding a six-game point streak.

Quite simply, no other Jet possesses a skillset similar to the now-25-year-old’s, and are a much better team when he’s in the lineup. If the pending restricted free agent can stay off the shelf for long stretches this season, he will be in good position to cash in on a longer-term contract this summer.

3: Solid Play From Second Defensive Pairing

The Jets entered the season with only one defensive pairing — the top one of Morrissey and Dylan DeMelo — pretty much guaranteed to be high quality. Brenden Dillon and Nate Schmidt departing in free agency and no big free-agent signings to replace them cast some doubt over whether the blue line would be able to replicate their play from a season ago, where they were key to the team allowing a league-low 198 goals and winning the William M. Jennings Trophy. Ville Heinola being out long term after he needed a second ankle surgery during training camp to repair an infected screw cast further doubts about the defense’s overall quality and viability.

Pionk and Dylan Samberg appeared to take that doubt as a challenge to excel.

Pionk, who has struggled over the past few seasons from a defensive standpoint in a top-four role, looks like a new player in the final year of his four-year contract. The now 29-year-old has three goals and 10 assists for 13 points and a plus-nine rating in 14 games and is on pace to break his career-high in points, which is 45. Much more importantly, he has done a better job not allowing his shifts to devolve into chaos and not turning the puck over, illustrated by his possession metrics being the best they’ve been — and the best by far — since 2019-20.

Samberg, his fellow Minnesotan Pionk’s new partner, has seized his first chance for top-four minutes and is thriving in his new role. The now 25-year-old has been rock solid overall, averaging 20-plus minutes per night and posting three goals, two assists, and a plus-seven rating. The patience the organization has shown during his slow-but-steady development path — he spent three seasons in university, two in the American Hockey League with the Manitoba Moose, and two on the Jets’ bottom pairing since being drafted in 2017 — is beginning to pay big dividends.

The second pairing’s reliability has allowed Arniel to deploy his three trios more evenly, ensuring he doesn’t burn out DeMelo/Morrissey by the season’s end. Even the three third-pairing d-men who have suited up this season — Haydn Fleury, Miller, and Logan Stanley — are getting 14 to 15-plus minutes per game.

The Jets wrap up a four-game homestand Saturday afternoon with a tilt against the Dallas Stars. If the Jets are victorious, they will be the first team in NHL history to win 14 of their first 15 games.