NHL insiders break down what has gone wrong for the Jets this season

The Jets are careening towards a finish in last place after a performance this year that would have been considered laughable even in more desperate times. The issues are many and deep-seated.

The Jets are now the oldest and most sluggish team in the league. The forecheck is incapable of shutting down distance. The team is perilously top-heavy with Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor, and Gabriel Vilardi accounting for 52 of their 107 goals.

James Mirtle and Murat Ates outlined how last season's top team is now facing potential heartbreak in 2026.

The offense underwent numerous changes with the arrival of Jonathan Toews, Gustav Nyquist, Tanner Pearson, and Cole Koepke.

They lost Nikolaj Ehlers, Mason Appleton, Rasmus Kupari, Brandon Tanev, and Dominic Toninato. The defense and goalies remained the same.

The loss of Adam Lowry has been crucial to the club. For the last two years playing under head coaches Rick Bowness and current coach Scott Arniel, Lowry played a de facto second-line centering role, taking on elite opposition and succeeding against them. That presence is now absent after his hip surgery over the summer.

Injuries piled on. Connor Hellebuyck missed four weeks with a knee problem, the longest injury absence in his NHL career to date. Eric Comrie struggled mightily in relief.

Losing Ehlers showed the importance of his pace and playmaking to the secondary scoring game, which contributed to declines from Cole Perfetti and Vladislav Namestnikov.

Arniel's continued usage of a line combination featuring both Scheifele and Connor is the largest unanswered question.

With the team mired in last place, the Jets still haven't addressed the possibility of using a lineup split between the two to have two scoring lines instead of just one. Here's hoping 2026 is a better year for the Jets.