As Patrik Laine and the Winnipeg Jets prepare to head to his native country of Finland for their two-day NHL global series against the struggling Florida Panthers, their fans are facing a bit of uncertainty.

In all, the Jets will end the month of October with a record of 7–4–1, a leg up on their 2017 record of 6–3–2. While all this is well and good from a numbers point of view, the fact remains that this isn’t quite the team we expected to see this year. 

But just how much do Jets fans need to worry? This, of course, is a loaded question.

First things first, it should not be overlooked that the Jets are currently tied for second in the league with 15 points. Much of that can in be accredited to their work on the power play, where the Jets have been lethal, converting on 31 percent of their opportunities. Led by Blake Wheeler, the Jets have one of the best units in the league, with shooters all over the ice that can punish you in an instant. Even when the Jets couldn’t call on Byfuglien, Josh Morrissey proved to be a viable option, scoring three points in the short time he saw on the top unit.

The real struggle, however, has been at even strength. This has been well documented in the first month of play, with Laine receiving a demotion to the fourth line due to his inability to score at five on five. 

We’ll get to Laine and his play in a second, but as a team the Jets rank twentieth in the league with only 18 even-strength goals to date. Factor in 24 even-strength goals against, the Jets have a minus-six ratio—this coming off a season where the Jets were plus-32 at even strength.

What’s behind this dip in play? Of course, Laine’s inability to score has been a serious blow. The Finnish sniper scored 13.6 percent of the Jets’ even-strength goals last season and has yet to score even one in the first 12 games of the season. This may have been what earned him the aforementioned demotion, though Paul Maurice claims the change was just meant to get more production out of Matthieu Perrault, who had averaged less than 10 minutes of ice-time per game. 

I personally find that explanation hard to believe. After struggling to score through the first eight games of the season, Maurice bumped Laine up to the first line, alongside Wheeler and Scheifele, to try and give him a jump. And once that didn’t work he sent him to the fourth line as sort of a wake-up call.

Laine isn’t the only forward struggling to score at even strength. Nikolaj Ehlers has been horrible through his first 12 games, scoring only one goal and adding three assists. I’ve found this to be rather strange, especially considering the way the game has been played league-wide this season. There’s a bigger emphasis on speed than ever before, and Ehlers is one of the league’s better rush leaders.

In the end, these are all good problems for the Jets to be dealing with now. Because of that, I don’t think Jets fans should have much to worry about. Laine and Ehlers will eventually start scoring again, and the defence will get better as the season rolls along.

Yes, it’s true that Jets have blown two third-period leads, but I didn’t mention it because the team will find itself. The Jets, after all, will be the Jets.