When the Jets first came back in 2011, it was said repeatedly by Mark Chipman and the entire organization that the Jets were a project, they had a vision for how to build a team, and that it would take time. Maybe "five year plan" was not literally said, but it was more than extremely clear that it wasn't a quick procedure. They never lied or misled about this, not even once.
What has been made very, very clear since then is that they meant it. We can quibble about individual decisions with respect to coaching, goaltending, or whatever, but the vision has remained. This would be a team that would build by way of draft picks, scouting, and a strong farm system, so that the well would not run dry, and that once they became good, they would remain good for a long, long time.
As far as I can see, they have succeeded, almost entirely, so far. Sure, nobody's been perfect - there were mistakes such as Setoguchi, maybe Pavelec should have been bought out, maybe Noel should have been replaced a year earlier...who knows? Even Sammy Pollock made mistakes, even Scotty Bowman wasn't perfect.
People have complained that until this year, Cheveldayoff was too passive and didn't make trades, etc. What these people have conveniently ignored is that prior to this year, almost any trade the Jets could have made would have been a trade where the Jets were acting from a position of weakness, and the rest of the league knew it.
What could the Jets have reasonably done, say, two years ago? Byfuglien for a third-line centre that would have maybe given us an edge in 2012-2013, maybe even got us into the playoffs, but then become utterly insignificant? Hockey history is littered with trades like that, all of them ill-advised. Nope. Chevy waited, and the reason he didn't make any big trades before this year is that, before this year, he was never able to act from a position of strength. Good, smart management involves waiting at least as much as acting, in much the same way is the best musicians are the best musicians at least partly because not only do they know what notes to play, but also when not to play.
Think of the best, most consistent teams of the past 20 years - the Detroit Red Wings immediately come to mind, and maybe Chicago, over the past 10 years. Both of them have been built in a similar way - don't panic, have a vision, stick to it, realize that some years it doesn't work out, but that doesn't mean you're on the wrong track.
That's the difference between the Jets and the Oilers - the Oilers blow everything up every two years (or less) and start over, with the result that they've been going nowhere for a decade, and are probably doomed to keep going that way for the foreseeable future.
I'm unbelievably excited about making the playoffs this year, but even if everything had collapsed in the last week, I'd still be excited, but for next year, because this is a team that's building on its strengths, and even if they win the Stanley Cup this year (stranger things have happened), there's absolutely no doubt in my mind that they'll be even better next year. This doesn't mean that they'll win the Cup again next year if they win it this year - keep in mind that quite often, the best teams don't win every single year - only a fool, in my opinion, really believes that the Kings were better than the Blackhawks last year...no...they were better than the Blackhawks for a particular two-week period last year, but that was enough.
This is a journey. The journey was more fun this season than I could have possibly imagined, more fun that it's been since the WHA days of Hull/Hedberg/Nilsson. I'm super excited for the playoffs, and for next year. And the year after. And on and on.
The best thing about management, whether you're running a sports team, an assembly line, or anything else, is when you have a plan, you put that plan together, and you watch it come together over time, with the bumps on the road to be expected. To me, so far, this is exactly what has happened in Winnipeg, and it's been joyous to watch.
