Winnipeg’s defence is worse than it was last season. It’s much worse than it was two seasons ago. And yet, systems wise, there is one bright light.



“Half of our defensive game is really good,” Paul Maurice told reporters on Thursday morning. “Our odd-man rushes and our controlled entries are really, really good. Better than they were last year and better than they were two years ago. And then there’s a big chunk of our defensive numbers that we don’t like at all.”



Winnipeg has made a personnel-based neutral zone adjustment that’s mostly been successful. Compared to 2017-18 and 2018-19 — two playoff seasons with a much deeper defensive roster — Winnipeg has been much more aggressive trying to stop zone entries at its own blue line. The gaps have been tighter, the forwards have come back hard enough to allow for that and the percentage of pucks challenged at or above Winnipeg’s blue line has...