Barn Burner: Boomer & Pinder with Rhett Warrener - The Jets Keep LOSING… And The Questions Are Getting Louder 🚨 w/TSN's Darren Dreger | BB Clips

Episode Date: January 2, 2026

Boomer and Rhett are joined by TSN’s Darren Dreger to dig into the state of the Winnipeg Jets, who suddenly find themselves near the bottom of the NHL and matching their longest losing streak since relocation. Things are getting rough — so should the Jets start thinking about selling assets and tanking, or is there still something worth saving here? The guys break down what’s gone wrong, what options management really has, and how brutal this stretch has become.VIDEO LINK: https://youtu.be/Ve_w9AHJcgw#nhl #nhlshorts #nhlplayoffs #nhlpredictions #nhlhockey #nhlpicks #stanleycup #stanleycupfinal #winnipegjets #winnipeg CHECK OUT OUR STUFF ⬇️BARN BURNER MERCHhttps://nationgear.ca/collections/shirts/FlamesnationBARN BURNER SHORTS https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLj_bcGtvvo-cW2DHEDZ6dEO5ePDmlhZc9&si=jo8iNGxT4ImhS2Y8📲 Follow us:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fnbarnburner/X (Twitter): https://x.com/barnburnerfn?lang=en🎧 Listen on:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/be/podcast/barn-burner-boomer-pinder-with-rhett-warrener/id1648562889Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Mc6Qd5U22R2zbMlQ7RxIiProducer: Jack Haverstock Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Let's pivot there. I wanted to ask you about Winnipeg. They had a 2-0, a 4-1 and a 5-4 lead. They chased Joseph Wall out of the net in Toronto. Couldn't have started better. Right? And then lose again in regulation. It's 8 straight, one win in their last 12.

They are last in the standings today. We've talked about it for the better part of a week and a bit. I still look at this roster. So you got a heart trophy guy in Shifley. Yeah. Olympian. Carl Conner is on the Olympic team. Josh Morrissey.

One of the best leaders in Lowry. Yeah, they have a team you would think. Those are the foundational pieces you'd love to have. They can't get a win. What's, I mean, I can imagine what the tone and tenor is, but what are your thoughts? Can they pull out of this? Well, okay, so it's easy to pick it a carcass.

And right now, that's what the Winnipeg Jets are. And you look around the league, okay, they make a call on Nick Eilers. Now Nick Elyler's was a pending on a restricted free agent, and some will tell you, he probably wanted to get out of Winnipeg. With all due respect to Winnipe, you just wanted to change. You earn that right when you're an unrestricted free agent. So you lose a high level of speed with Nick Eilers going to the Carolina Hurricanes. Mason Appleton, again, a very quick player.

They bring in Jonathan Taves. What a great story. Sold a ton of jerseys in Winnipeg. This guy's headed straight to the Hall of Fame. You know, good friends with the owner, Mark Chitman, Jonathan Taves. And I don't think that there were many who were very critical of that signing, right? I mean, how could you be? But they needed Jonathan Taves to step into that two-center hole and be a number two-center.

And even though his game is trending upwards right now, he hasn't been able to sustain that level of play as a two-see. He hasn't been. His face-offs are off to scale, man. like this guy is he's the best draw taker there is in the national hockey league. But for me, that's put too much emphasis on the lack of speed in that lineup. And now you're looking at Cole Profetti, who's not a speedy player. He's a gifted, skilled offensive player.

He makes plays, all of that. He's not going to drive a line. So they have too many complimentary guys up front especially, and they look slow and they look old. and on top of that, you've got Scott Arniel, who's desperate for wins. Just check out some of the minutes played by Kyle Connor and Mark Schifle, game in and game out. There was a bit more balance against the Maple Leafs last night, but I looked at their event summary last week, I think it was.

And those two guys were like 26, 27 minutes each. And that's only because the coach is chasing. He's desperate, and he doesn't have anything other than those top line that he feels confident. in leaning on. So it looks at the moment. That caused you to lose the bottom lines. Yeah.

Yeah, I think it does. A hundred percent, I mentioned Perfetti. I mean, there have been nights where he's playing 10 minutes or less. And now a part of that is on him. Like, you know, he's been around the league long enough. He's got to find a way. But then, you know,

I signal him out because they made, they made a decision to not aggressively try and extend Nick Eilers because they visualize Cole Perfetti as filling his spot. You know, in the lineup, on the power play, all of those things. So it's a tough fix in Winnipeg, fellas. It is because it's, it looks to be an architectural issue, which means Kevin Chauvel-A-off is the guy that's going to have to find a way to fix it. And he, he's been pretty aggressive at or around the trade deadline, but it's coming

at expense. And that expense is first-round draft picks and things like that. He has assets. Brad Lambert's a nice player, Vili Hanola. Those are pieces he'd consider trade. but maybe they've got to dig a little bit deeper on the trade front. Well, and you feel like that's a team that's designed to be a four line, not a... The way they play.

Yeah, right? Roll them and go. Yeah. But they're, you know what? I mean, they just have them in good rate out of the gate. And then, you know, Halebuck gets, well, you heard himself in training camp and then played through it until he couldn't. But this isn't a goaltending thing. Their goaltending is fine.

It's just they're just. But when do you decide you can't do? Like when does several days? And do you? Like I don't know if that's a message that could be well. Fans in Winnipeg or the ownership. They've been so good for so long.

I brought it up jokingly with you to tell Zito, dang, can get a topic. Well, they're not. I feel like Winnipeg's very similar where it's like, but at some point, you're in last place halfway through the season.

Yeah, that's the thing. Florida was kind of middle of the, they were within striking distance. the Jets out. It was just being a smart ass, but like at some point, they have to look at this and go, okay, we have 40 games left. We're going to have to win 30 of them. Yeah. Is this realistic or are we selling? Like, well, and that's where it gets real tricky here, fellows,

because, you know, Winnipeg is that market. I remember having conversation on the show, you know, before this is going back a bit here, but just taking us through the process of, of why they didn't go into full rebuild mold when they had Shifley up and they had Hala Buck up. And they just realized after a pretty exhaustive research stretch of time where they talked to Detroit, and they talked to teams that had gone through a several year process. And Winnipeg ownership just flat out acknowledged that they couldn't do it. They couldn't survive that. The fan base there is an educated fan base.

They're not paying top dollar to come and watch a team that can't win. for the next five years. And so can you retool on the fly? And then what does that look like? Do you move out some of your veteran pieces? We're not talking about top end guys here, but they've got enough, you know, kind of middle of the pack forwards, maybe a defenseman or two that you can push out and maybe try and get younger and do some

sort of a rebuild on the fly. I don't know, but they're getting to that place. Do they have their first rounder this year? because to me it wouldn't be it wouldn't be long before I'm going we're selling no second no fourth I'm going to take the year because I actually

it's the same as the Florida this isn't a last place team with the talent they have but it might be a situation where and sadly Arneal's going to get his ass canned because that's just what happens but they might be smarter to accept it

and like I said try and get a top three pick any of those top three guys are going to be game changes for you down the road. Now you have a compliment for the top end guys you already have and that's where your depth comes in. Plus you probably can move like you said some of the guys that are good players

and can go help another team and recuperate some more talent. And look, whether they're at that place or not I mean, it's not a rebuild. No, it isn't. It's not a full tear down. I hear it. you. And most clubs are going to their pro scouting meetings here in the next couple of weeks, right?

And, you know, that's where you really start to dig down on, you know, somewhat of a guessing game, what other clubs are going to do, the players that could maybe likely are going to be available. What about our own guys? But you also then have to have the conversation about dangling the carrot, right? Sure. You can put domestic off on the trade block. Guys like that, you know, good players. but are they moving the needle in terms of a bigger trade? Probably not.

You know, you put a Logan Stanley out there as an example, and I just throw his name randomly out there. I mean, you could shoot high and say perfetti. He's in a contract here, right? So I doubt very much that those two young pieces could ever be in play. But if you're talking about what you're suggesting here, Red, and that's getting into that conversation of a top pick this year, Yeah, top three pick.

You're going to have to put out some valued pieces, right? Not depth, guys. Like young players that are still trying to find their way that are attractive commodities out there. You know, maybe that conversation has to be had in Winnipeg because right now, man. And there is value when you look at this draft class. You can visualize some of the pieces in that top 10, expected to go in the top 10, that maybe two years from being borderline impactful in NHL players, right? And that has to be scintillating for a lot of teams that are kind of just hanging around.

And Winnipeg isn't hanging around. They're beneath that line. Yeah, I don't know. At some point, if you're halfway through the season and you're just looking like, well, it helps when you're last. We're hypocritical too because we critique the flames heavily and they've climbed out of it or now. But they started earlier, and they've had a hell of a run, and they're still not in.

And that's the problem. It's like, oh, great. Well, we want out of eight out of ten. Yeah. You're not in the playoffs. No. You're not in the playoffs. Sorry.

Well, I'll look at what, not to shift gears, but look at what Buffalo had to do to get into the, the, the, the, the, the playoffs equation. I mean, you know, can, it doesn't, I mean, is it possible Winnipeg can run off 10, 11 straight wins? I guess. I mean, I haven't done a deep dive on what their schedule looks like. With that goalie, it's plausible. If the Sabres can do it, anybody can do it. It's not a shot, but it's true, right? It's just the likelihood of it.

And what's the upside? And we talk about it here. Okay, now you're going to slide into a wild card spot and go into Colorado. Do you think that you're, and the other thing for the Jets, and I'll say this, as good as they've been, they haven't had a ton of playoff success. They should have lost in the first round last year. Right.

They've flipped one out at the end, which give them credit, I guess, but the score back all that late and move on and win it in overtime and games. Holy, I think you're out played by the blues and got through that, which is fortunate. You have never cruised

in the playoffs. It's always been a grind. It's the type of hockey you play, but that's why I'm sitting there talking to the owner. I'm going, dude, we're going for a top three pick. Either that speed, the defenseman, or mechanic. I don't care which one we get, but I want to be in that category. And you know probably more about the rest of the, you said top 10, you can have hell of a

players. But I'd be selling and going after something. Because I don't think it's a lot like being here. As good as Ben has been in Peg's Bean and they're making a playoff slots, there's not a ton of, when they go into a playoff round, are they getting picked all the time? I think if you if you've got Hellebuck and you've got a lot of the high-end players that they have

and then you add one of these other guys, then you're a favorite in a playoff series. But until then, you're still a team that has to grind out wins. That's right. And you're last place. Last place.