Frustrated Jets say they're sorry for letting 'best' fans, city down

Winnipeg Jets head coach Scott Arniel reacts on the bench against the San Jose Sharks during third period NHL action in Winnipeg, Thursday, April 16, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods

WINNIPEG — Scott Arniel wished he could apologize to Winnipeg Jets fans.

Not just the capacity crowd of 15,225 that watched the team get burned 6-1 by the San Jose Sharks Thursday night and still gave it a standing ovation at Canada Life Centre, but all the fans who won’t get to cheer for the Jets in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

“You’re disappointed that you weren’t better and you didn’t win those games,” said Arniel, who finished his second season as head coach.

“The other thing for me is that they’re not all getting ready for The Whiteout. And that’s the big thing, is that I know how much this city and this province loves playoff time.

“That’s the hard part, is that you’ve disappointed them. They can’t get dressed up, they can’t get crazy and can’t have the street parties.”

Winnipeg’s final record of 35-35-12 for 82 points was a drastic drop-off from last season, when the club won the Presidents’ Trophy with an NHL-best 116 points — a 34-point fall. The team ended up getting eliminated in the second round.

The Jets are the fifth NHL team to win the trophy and not qualify for the playoffs the following season.

They finished 26th overall and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2021-22.

“We felt like we were so close,” Arniel said. “We thought we were going to get in (the playoffs) and everybody had the belief that it was going to happen, and when it doesn’t it is a gut punch.”

Jets veteran defenceman Dylan DeMelo also felt bad for fans who stood up and cheered after the team lost its fourth consecutive game to end the season — and was outscored 24-7 in those matches.

“I think we let them down tonight. Let ourselves down,” DeMelo said. “Just a real bad showing to end it off.”

Macklin Celebrini set a Sharks’ franchise record for points in a season with a goal and pair of assists. He finished with 45 goals and 70 assists, his 115 points surpassing former San Jose great Joe Thornton’s 114 points in 2006-07.

Celebrini’s 45th goal made it 6-1 just over a minute into the third period, but fans still tried to have a good time.

“Thank you for hanging in there with us,” DeMelo said, when asked what he’d like to tell fans. “Tough year, no, really disappointing year.

“Obviously, you know, they’re doing the wave when we’re down 6-1. And like you said, a standing ovation. We have the best fans in the league, and they deserved better tonight. They deserved better all year. And hopefully we can come back better next year and turn this thing around.”

The Jets finished 19-16-6 at home, not reaching the 20-win mark for the first time in nine full seasons.

A second straight sellout capped the season. The building only sold out nine times, compared to last season’s 16 regular-season full houses.

“We are not going to have hockey here again until September,” Arniel said. “It is a letdown and we feel like we let (fans) down, and not just in these last two games.

“When you don’t make the playoffs there are 82 games you have to look at to find the reasons why.”

And he’s ready to dig for answers.

“You get into the playoffs, you don’t know when that last game is,” Arniel said. “That’s the most frustrating part about it. You know tomorrow that you’re done.

“In this business, it’s a result-driven business. I have to be better. Certainly our team has to be better, our players have to be better. We all have to step up. For me, I’m already questioning some of the things I’m going to do, some of the things I want to do and change.

“I got four months here to kind of grind this out and find an answer. It’s hard. It’s hard to not play at this time of year and be in the middle of all the fun. I’m going to have a tough time Saturday watching some of these (playoff) games. I’ll watch them, but it’s hard to watch when you’re not in the race.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 16, 2026.

Judy Owen, The Canadian Press