5 random players you forgot were on the Winnipeg Jets, Atlanta Thrashers
By Al Daniel
2. Alexei Ponikarovsky
No one paid a steeper price for Ponikarovsky’s success than the Jets/Thrashers. In 29 career clashes, the Ukrainian winger tuned the twine 15 times, five more than he did against any other franchise.
Ponikarovsky did accumulate more points versus Montreal, but that was largely because he was in the Northeast Division for a decade. He saw action against the Habs on 16 more occasions than the Jets/Thrashers.
Come what may, after 10 years with the Maple Leafs, Ponikarovsky donned five more NHL crests over three more seasons. And for all of the trouble he caused its club and its Atlanta predecessor, Winnipeg proved the least remarkable of those stops.
Between the 2010 homestretch and 2012 playoffs, Ponikarovsky logged a minimum 16 games, two goals, and nine points apiece for the Penguins, Kings, Hurricanes, and Devils. Of particular note, he notched an assist in Games 4 and 5 of the 2012 Stanley Cup Final, thus helping his New Jersey team delay his old Los Angeles mates’ eventual championship.
After the 2012-13 lockout let up, Ponikarovsky went to Winnipeg, where he dressed for 12 games and chipped in two goals. The Jets subsequently shipped him back to New Jersey, where he logged 30 games before going to Russia for the rest of his career.
But not before his Devils faced the Jets three more times in the winter of 2013. And not before Ponikarovsky logged an assist in two of those meetings.
Granted, Winnipeg won those games in a February home-and-home series. Still, in his abbreviated final NHL season alone, Ponikarovsky scored as many points against the Jets as he did for them.