PHILADELPHIA — It’s been a train-wreck of a season, the playoff promise of a year ago derailed by a clutter of inexperience, mediocre goaltending, and disastrous special teams.
But through the present-day gloom and future uncertainty, one item shines like a sparkling gem in the dirt.
The Winnipeg Jets may finally have a No. 1 line to be reckoned with.
It’s taken five years of tinkering, drafting, deleting and shaping, but the pieces appear to be in place: rising star Mark Scheifele between speed demon Blake Wheeler and first-year wizard Nikolaj Ehlers.
If the original Jets of the old World Hockey Association had their Hot Line — Bobby Hull alongside Swedes Ulf Nilsson and Anders Hedberg — call this the Speed Line: a Canadian, an American and a Dane, all capable of making plays at full throttle.