Sports is, and always will be, the best “reality TV” show.

Games can be unpredictable, frustrating, riveting, boring or pulsating depending on the day or the opponent. Some outcomes are expected, but upsets happen regularly, and performances can vary from electric to horrific, and sometimes those occur in the same game.

The season of the Winnipeg Jets is a perfect example. The Jets led the NHL with 116 points last season, and their 56 wins were tied for the fifth most in the salary cap era. It was a great season, and while I don’t think anyone expected them to produce another 116-point campaign, no one thought they’d plummet down the standings and rank dead last at the halfway mark of this season. If it continues, it will be the worst decline in NHL history.

No team in the modern era has gone from first to worst. The 1941-42 New York Rangers finished first with 60 points (29-17-2), but finished in 1943 going 11-31-8 (30 points). Their 30-point decline in the season after finishing first is the second most in NHL history in seasons where teams played the same or more games in the second season.

The 1996 Detroit Red Wings dipped 37 points from 131 to 94 in 1997, but they won the Cup in 1997, so that drop wasn’t looked at as a massive negative.

Other Presidents’ Trophy winners have had a larger drop in points, but that was due to them playing a shorter season the following year. The 1994 Rangers won the Presidents’ Trophy and the Stanley Cup, then dropped 65 points to 47, but they only played 48 games, and they made the playoffs. The 2012 Vancouver Canucks led the league with 111 points, and dropped 52 points down to 59 in 2013, but they only played 48 games due to another lockout. The 2019 Lightning dropped 36 points from 128 down to 92 in 2020, but they only played 70 games in 2020 due to COVID, and they won the Cup in 2020.

But the Jets could best all of them. They are on pace for 70 points, which would be a 46-point drop in a full season. They need to finish with 80 points to avoid tying or besting the 1996 Red Wings, but the Red Wings were a playoff team, while the Jets’ playoff hopes look bleak, at best, right now.

The Jets have fallen apart at both ends of the ice.

They are 23rd in goals at 2.85/GP. Their power play is 19th at 18.8 percent. They rank 19th in goals against at 3.15/GP and their PK is 25th at 77.4 percent.

Compare that to last season where the Jets ranked 1st on the PP at 28.9 percent, were fourth in goals at 3.35/GP, ranked first in goals against at 2.32/GP and 13th on the PK.

The differences are staggering. Some would argue the Jets weren’t as good as their record last season and aren’t as bad as their record this season, but I’d counter with you are what your record says you are. Over the course of 82 games that is who you are and right now the Jets are the playing like the worst team in the NHL. They are 1-9-4 in their last 14 and during that time they rank 28th in GF/GP at 2.50, 29th in GA/GP at 3.64, their PP is 29th at 13.2% (5 of 38) and their PK is 32nd at 67.4% (14 of 43).

The Jets are brutal, and while no one expected them to be a draft lottery team, they are playing like one.

— The Oilers are 9-3 in Winnipeg since the 2021 season. They’ve outscored the Jets 45-31 and have won their last four visits to Winnipeg. Connor McDavid has 26 points in 12 games while Leon Draisaitl has 11 goals in the 11 games he played.

— The Oilers dominate when they score first. They are 18-1-3 when scoring first and have the second best winning percentage (.818). Buffalo has a better winning percentage at .833 going 15-2-1. The problem for the Oilers is that they have the second-lowest winning percentage when trailing first at .143 percent. They are 3-15-3. Only the Jets are worse at .105 as they have won two of 19 games (2-15-2) when allowing the first goal.

Winnipeg has scored first in their past three games but lost all three. They were up 2-0 on Vegas and 3-2 late in the third before losing in overtime. They were up 1-0 on Ottawa, before the Senators scored three straight and eventually won 4-2, and Winnipeg led Toronto 2-0 after the first period, and they led 4-1 only 5:24 into the second frame, before blowing the lead and losing 6-5.

— The St. Louis Blues lost 7-3 last night in Chicago and ruined their chance to win three consecutive games. They and the Oilers remain the only teams in the NHL without a three-game winning streak this season. The loss did have one of the funniest moments of the season. When Louis Crevier made it 7-2 with 7:04 remaining in the game, Blues head coach Jim Montgomery tried to pull Jordan Binnington. It didn’t work.

It is odd to pull a goalie with only seven minutes remaining, but damn that is some funny stuff. I’m sure Montgomery wasn’t impressed with his goalies, but the tandem was on the same page. Who will be the last team to win three-in-a-row: the Oilers or Blues?

— Adam Henrique is out until after the Olympic break. He was placed on IR. Curtis Lazar will get an extended look as the fourth line centre. Lazar has played well over the past six weeks when in the lineup, and now he will have an opportunity to get into even more of a rhythm. And Henrique’s injury gives Stan Bowman more time to try and facilitate a trade for Andrew Mangiapane.

Earlier this week the Oilers moved Tristan Jarry to LTIR, so they could activate Kasperi Kapanen. Jake Walman is expected to come off LTIR next week, likely on the road trip in either Chicago or Nashville. They can activate Walman, send Riley Stillman to Bakersfield and be cap and roster compliant. But when Jarry needs to be activated, likely around the 20th or 22nd of January, the Oilers will need to make a roster move.

With Henrique out until after the Olympics, the Oilers could move him to LTIR when Jarry is ready and then send one forward or a goalie to Bakersfield and they’d be cap compliant. However, ideally, the Oilers would like to not be in LTIR during the three-week Olympic break, because they could accrue cap space if they aren’t. They’d rather just keep Henrique on IR, but to do that and be cap compliant they have to move Mangiapane or Trent Frederic (highly doubtful). It isn’t a must to accrue cap space, but it would be a benefit with no games from February 5th to 24th.

— Connor McDavid has 39 points during his current 16-game point streak. He’s had two streaks of 17 games in his career. From October 13th to November 20th, 2021, he scored 12-20-32 and from November 26th to December 30th, 2022, he scored 16-21-37.

— The NHL has witnessed a 20-game point streak 31 times.

Wayne Gretzky had seven that lasted 51, 39, 30, 28, 25, 24 and 23 games.

Mario Lemieux (46, 28 games), Guy Lafleur (28, 25), Steve Yzerman (28,22), Patrick Kane (26, 20), Brett Hull (25, 20) and Adam Oates (21, 20) did it twice.

Mats Sundin (30), Paul Coffey (28), Bryan Trottier, Sidney Crosby and Bernie Nicholls (25), Mitch Marner (23), Dany Heatley and Bronco Horvath (22), Dave Taylor and Bobby Hull (21) and Brian Bellows and Paul Stastny also reached 20 games.

— McDavid’s ridiculous run of 39 points in 16 games would have him the leading scorer on 10 NHL teams. Those teams with their point leaders in parenthesis include:

Buffalo and Utah (38)
Nashville (36)
New York Islanders (35)
Los Angeles (34)
New Jersey (33)
Calgary (32)
St. Louis (30)
Seattle (28)
Vancouver (26)

— Ryan Nugent-Hopkins notched his 500th career assist v. Nashville. RNH is the 179th player in NHL history to reach 500 assists. He has a chance to finish in the top 100 in assists before his career ends. He’ll need another 120 assists to do that. He is sixth on the Oilers’ all-timer list and will pass Jari Kurri (569) for fifth in the coming seasons.

— Our condolences to Glenn Hall’s family. The Hall-of-Fame goalie passed away in Stony Plain hospital yesterday at the age of 94. Hall was the pioneer of the butterfly style that all goalies use today. He holds an NHL record that will NEVER be broken: 502 consecutive games played.

He started all 70 games for seven consecutive seasons from 1956-1962. He played in 66 of 70 games in 1963 and 65 of 70 in 1964. Unreal. The most consecutive games played by a goalie this season is eight by Connor Hellebuyck. Only one active NHL skater has currently played more than 500 consecutive games — Brent Burns with 967. Hall’s ability and his availability made him one of the greatest goalies ever. And he was an exceptional human being. I had the pleasure to have Glenn on my show a few times, but I also was lucky enough to chat with him about life, farming and hockey at different events. He was a huge part of the Stony Plain hockey community, and I look forward to the next time our team plays in the Glenn Hall arena in Stony. Rest in peace Glenn, you lived an amazing life.