Knocking down goals-against priority No. 1 for Jets next season

It's no secret what the Winnipeg Jets will have to improve upon if they wish to avoid a repeat of this season.

Just take a look at the Western Conference standings on the NHL's webpage it's right there in black and white.

Actually, make that green and red the colours used by the league to show which clubs hold a positive goal differential (scoring more goals than they allow) and which clubs carry a negative output.

In the West, the top eightteams, all headed to the postseason, are coloured green in a double-digit positive situation when it comes to goal differential, with the Minnesota Wild holding the lowest number (+11). Dallas (+34), San Jose (+31) and Los Angeles (+30) lead the conference.

Following a 2-1 overtime win in Anaheim late Tuesday night, the Jets carry a negative differential of 26. That's aprettybad number but not as bad as Edmonton (47) and Vancouver (45).

So the Jets need to do a better job of changing that number from red to green next season. How can they do that?

It begins and ends with defence, and trying to keep the puck out of the net.

Goaltending a hot-button issue

Prior to Tuesday, the club has allowed 2.89 goals against per game (25thin the league). It's been an issue since the NHL arrived back in Winnipeg. The five-season average (2011-12 to now) is 2.80 goals against per contest.

It's been the primary focus of two head coaches over that time, with both Claude Noel and Paul Maurice locating only pockets of success over stretches of games during their respective seasons.

Improving the defensive play is a big part of turning things around; Maurice saw some improvement last season, but most of that defensive goodwill has been given back this year.

Goaltending remains a hot-button issue with the Jets and their faithful, a debate largely fuelled on the premise that an upgrade for starter Ondrej Pavelec has been needed for some time now. His numbers in Winnipeg are less than extraordinary, with his .907 save percentage and 2.77 goals against average dead last for goaltenders who have made at least 200 starts over that five-year span (25thout of 25).

This season, Pavelec has a .906 save percentage and a 2.74 GAA. Talk about him being the automatic No. 1 starter next season thanks to his solid play to close out the current schedule is complete fiction. Coming into Tuesday, Pavelec was sporting an .898 save percentage since returning from injury (16 starts).

There is no reason for the Jets not to give up-and-comer Connor Hellebuyck a good chunk of the starts next year despite what Pavelec's contract says.

This isn't to dump it all on Pavelec's lap. Another way the Jets can keep the puck out of the net: limit the number of penalties and improve the penalty kill.

Penalty problems

Winnipeg has been among the league leaders in minor penalties taken the last three years (they currently sit in second this season, with 319 minors taken). If the club could kill off those penalties effectively, it wouldn't be a problem. But they can't and therefore, it is a problem.

The Jets penalty kill was at 78.8 per cent efficiency coming into the game against the Ducks, good for 25thoverall.

An NHL team that struggles to keep the puck out of its net can live with a bad power play (which the Jets also have at a league-worst 14.6 per cent) but a bad penalty kill is a recipe for disaster. The Jets have served that up as a main course this season.

The other side to addressing the goal differential balance sheet is scoring goals, but this figures to be less of a concern for the Jets. Coming into Tuesday, Winnipeg was averaging 2.56 goals per game, which is slightly off its five-year average of 2.66.

The power play is the No. 1 issue for the club offensively; that needs to get better, no doubt. But the club will also count on Mathieu Perreault to find the net a little more (his nine goals was a disappointment this season), needthe bottom six to chip in more, and for Nikolaj Ehlers to build on his rookie-season production.

And if Kyle Connor (or another scorer taken with a potentially high draft choice this summer) joins the roster, then there should be more offence to help level off the differential equation on the goals-for end.

It's the same old story in Jetsland: the offence will be fine, while the defence remains a question mark.

Until this is answered, nothing changes.