Talk about a wake-up call: For the first time this season, the Winnipeg Jets awoke Wednesday morning to discover they were looking up in the standings at every other team in the Central Division.
The combination of a Winnipeg loss to the St. Louis Blues and a Colorado Avalanche win over the Chicago Blackhawks Tuesday night vaulted the Avs into sixth place in the Central, one point ahead of the now cellar-dwelling Jets.
Suffice to say, that’s a long way from where the Jets and their fans thought they’d be at this point in the season.
A 2014-15 season that included the franchise’s first playoff appearance since the Jets moved back to Winnipeg raised expectations and had many pegging a return to the playoffs as the bare minimum expected for this team — and, dare to dream, perhaps even something a little more.