The National Hockey League returns to Winnipeg, Manitoba in 2011 for the first time since the end of the 1995-96 season. Not the same Winnipeg Jets team that fled south to become the Phoenix Coyotes, the new team will nonetheless be called the Jets. The new Jets result from the relocation of the Atlanta Thrashers.

1980-81 was a disastrous season for the original Jets. Just two years removed from winning the Avco Cup as the playoff champion of the World Hockey Association, the NHL Jets freefell to the bottom of the league.

Winnipeg won just nine games all year over the 80 game schedule. Since the 1949-50 season when the NHL moved to a 70 game schedule, only the 1974-75 Washington Capitals had won less games in a that time with eight. However, Winnipeg lost ten less games than Washington.

The 1980-81 Jets had ten goals scored against them in a game three times over the course of the season. Winnipeg fell to the Edmonton Oilers 10-4. Against the Philadelphia Flyers, the Jets suffered their worst single game deficit with a 10-1 loss. The Vancouver Canucks had their way with Winnipeg late in the season with a 10-2 romp.

Despite their incredibly poor record, which included the least goals for and the most goals against, the 1980-81 Winnipeg Jets were shutout just once. The Buffalo Sabres had their number in a 4-0 victory on February 1.

Five different goaltenders played between the pipes for Winnipeg in 1980-81. The goalie with the best goals against average was Markus Mattsson with an inflated 4.50. Mattsson was responsible for the team’s only shutout with a 2-0 downing of the Toronto Maple Leafs on January 31.

Of Winnipeg’s nine wins in 1980-81, they beat just seven different teams. Two teams lost to the lowly Jets on two occasions, the Colorado Rockies and the Toronto Maple Leafs. Both these teams had losing records on the season. In fact, five of the seven teams that Winnipeg beat were below .500. The other three were the New York Rangers, Chicago Black Hawks and Quebec Nordiques.

However, the Winnipeg Jets played ‘giant-killer’ on two occasions. On January 2, the Jets downed the Philadelphia Flyers by a score of four to three. The Flyers finished the season with 41 wins, 24 losses and 15 ties and finished third in the Clarence Campbell Conference. On March 7, the Jets were 4-2 winners over the Montreal Canadiens. The Habs finished the season third overall in the NHL with 103 points.

The crushing season allowed the Jets to choose Dale Hawerchuk first overall in the 1981 draft. Hawerchuk would go on to be the face of the team for years to come and would eventually be enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame.