Winnipeg Jets : 2020-21 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Cole Perfetti (C)

The NHL Entry Draft was originally planned to be held in Montréal, Québec, but was instead conducted virtually. With various trades made previously, the four named players were the only draft picks that the Winnipeg Jets got this year (in rounds 1, 2, 5, and 6). Their third round pick went to Ottawa, their fourth to Montréal, and their seventh to Toronto.

As mentioned in the question, Cole Perfetti was the Jets' first round pick, coming 10th overall. He was assigned to the Manitoba Moose (the Jets' AHL affiliate) where he finished the 2020-21 season with a record of 9 goals and 17 assists for 26 points (in 32 games played). He capped off his inaugural season in the Jets organization by representing Canada at the IIHF World Championship (in Latvia), helping the national men's team to win gold!

The other Jets draft picks were chosen as follows:

Round 2 - #40 - Daniel Torgersson (LW), Sweden
Round 5 - #133 - Anton Johannesson (D), Sweden
Round 6 - #164 - Tyrel Bauer (D), Canada.

Answer: Paul Stastny

Paul Stastny was originally acquired by the Jets in February of 2018 with a view to provide some experience to the team and some of its younger stars in advance of an expected deep playoff run. The Jets finished second overall in scoring that year, and reached the conference finals in the Stanley Cup Playoffs in their best-ever franchise year.

At the end of the season, however, Stastny signed as a free agent with the Vegas Golden Knights, locking in a three year contract with the expansion team. Fast forward to October of 2020. As the Jets sort out their team and contracts for the upcoming season, GM Kevin Cheveldayoff also chose to reacquire Paul Stastny in exchange for defenceman Carl Dahlström and a 2022 fourth-round pick, knowing that his contract (as before) would be up at the end of the season.

In 56 games played in 2021, Stastny had 13 goals and 16 assists for 29 points. He was also the hero of the second game of the first round of the playoffs, providing the overtime goal in a 1-0 victory against the team to be named later in this quiz.

Answer: The North Division

In actuality, the full name of the division for the Canadian teams was the 'Scotiabank North Division', as the League sought corporate sponsorship to offset the loss of revenue from having few (or no) fans attending games due to COVID-19 restrictions.

The other divisions were all similarly named, with the 'Discover Card Central Division', the 'MassMutual East Division', and the 'Honda West Division'. Additionally, many teams also took on corporate sponsorship that was displayed on helmets. For the Winnipeg Jets, this was Bell Canada.

Answer: Calgary Flames

The Jets got off to a moderately good start, winning four of their first five games and posting a record of 13-6-1 for 27 points in the first two months of play.

With the COVID-19 travel restrictions, each team only played the other teams in their division, which meant that the Jets only played against the other Canadian teams all season. They played ten games each against Ottawa and Toronto, while playing nine games each versus Calgary, Edmonton, Montréal and Vancouver. It was against the Calgary Flames that the Jets had their best season series, earning 13 out of a possible 18 points (6-2-1).

Answer: Columbus Blue Jackets

Despite a strong start to his season (2 goals and 1 assist in the first game of the season, including the overtime game winner), it was no secret that Laine was unhappy with aspects of his position with the Jets. A lot of speculation surrounded the potential of a move, and then before anyone expected it, he was suddenly traded. GM Cheveldayoff traded Laine along with Jack Roslovic to Columbus for Pierre-Luc Dubois and a third-round 2022 draft pick. It seemed like a win-win for everyone involved, although looking at it a few months later, it seems as though the biggest winner in the whole situation was Roslovic, who came out of it with a solid contract with the Blue Jackets, along with being back in his home state!

Laine went on to a mediocre season, scoring 10 goals and 11 assists for 21 points in 43 games with Columbus. Roslovic fared better, netting 12 goals with 22 assists for 34 points in 48 games with the Blue Jackets. Dubois, on the flip side, had 8 goals and 12 assists for 20 points in 41 games with the Jets.

Answer: Paul Stastny's 1,000th game

Paul Stastny *did* reach the 1,000-game milestone this season, but that milestone was reached the following week on May 11th in a 5-0 win over Vancouver.

Coincidentally, two of the other milestones (Scheifele's and Wheeler's) were achieved on the same scoring play as Scheifele assisted on Wheeler's goal. It took Blake Wheeler 977 games to mark 800 points (277 goals and 523 assists), while Mark Scheifele managed his 500 points in just 571 games (199 goals and 301 assists).

With his 300th win as the Jets' head coach, Paul Maurice became only the third NHL coach to achieve 300 wins with two separate teams (he had 323 wins with the Carolina Hurricanes). Incidentally, winning this game also clinched a playoff spot for the Jets.

Answer: Mark Scheifele

Mark Scheifele was the very first draft pick by the Jets in the year they relocated from Atlanta (2011). He reached his 500th point this season (on May 5th), and also his 200th goal (which he reached the following game against Ottawa on May 8th). Prior to the 2020-21 season, Scheifele was the Jets' points leader in 2016-17 (32 goals and 50 assists for 82 points), and in 2019-20, he tied with Kyle Connor for overall team points at 73, with 29 goals and 44 assists.

Answer: Edmonton Oilers

The Edmonton Oilers finished in second place in the North Division with a record of 35-19-2 for 72 points, just five points back of the division-leading Toronto Maple Leafs. Even though the Oilers were the toughest team for the Jets this season (they trounced the series with the Jets by a 7 to 2 margin), the Stanley Cup Playoffs turned out to be a brand new season, and the Jets played a strong series against their longtime foes, limiting the Oilers' stars offensive output, and getting a few lucky bounces to win the last three games of the series in overtime.

For a Jets team that had never defeated the Oilers (since joining the NHL), it was a satisfying series. The four Jets wins were 4-1, 1-0 (OT), 5-4 (OT), and 4-3 (3OT). (The other three teams in the question did not make the playoffs this year)

Answer: Mark Scheifele

Scheifele charged at Evans in an attempt to prevent him from scoring a wrap-around empty-net goal. While it was not intended maliciously, it was nevertheless a dangerous and reactive play that earned him a stiff penalty and left Evans with a concussion (he was removed from the ice on a stretcher). Scheifele accepted the suspension without appeal, although he did publicly state that, given his history (no prior suspensions, and nothing worse than one boarding penalty), he felt that the four-game suspension was "excessive".

In the same interview he said, "My intention is to try and negate a goal, No intent or malice there. Not trying to injure a hockey player. Not one charging penalty before this. My thought process is to cut him off at the post. My only thought is to prevent a goal. The result sucks. I'm more shocked than anything. I didn't think it was a bad hit. I'm coming back to try to cut him off at the post. Trying to give our team a chance to win. I've never injured anyone in my entire career. So this hurts me, I have tremendous respect for my peers. One of those things I have to learn from and know there's a plan for anything."

Answer: 4 - 0

After sweeping the Edmonton Oilers, the Jets were themselves swept by the Canadiens. Montréal came into the series after bouncing back from a three games to one deficit against the Toronto Maple Leafs, and they continued their game plan against the Jets, scoring first in every game and never letting their opponents take the lead.

This was the first ever time that Winnipeg met Montréal in the playoffs, at least since the NHL formed. (The Winnipeg Victorias faced a couple of different Montréal teams in the 'Challenge Cup' era in the late 1890s and early 1900s.)