Detroit — They’re the Winnipeg Jets but with a definite Michigan influence.
Four Jets players — goalie Connor Hellebuyck, defenseman Jacob Trouba and forwards Andrew Copp and Kyle Connor — are from southeast Michigan.
Trouba and Copp, in fact, have been teammates on Compuware travel teams or collegiately at Michigan (and now in Winnipeg) for 13 of the past 15 years.
All four grew up, basically, within an hour of each other — Copp in Ann Arbor, and Hellebuyck (Commerce Township), Trouba (Rochester) and Connor (Shelby Twp.) not far away — and now are key members on one of the NHL’s best teams.