(SportsNetwork.com) - Someday the Winnipeg Jets hope to contend for a Stanley Cup title, but the club would definitely settle for a playoff berth in 2014-15.

The Jets have missed the postseason in each of their three seasons since the franchise relocated from Atlanta following the 2010-11 campaign. Winnipeg's chances of breaking that trend looks bleak when one considers the competition in the Western Conference's Central Division.

Realignment pushed the Jets from the NHL's Eastern Conference to the West in 2013-14 and the change did not suit the club with Winnipeg finishing last out of seven teams in the Central.

Paul Maurice is back for his first full season behind the Winnipeg bench after replacing the fired Claude Noel in January. The Jets made a valiant late- season run at a playoff spot when they went 11-3-1 in Maurice's first 15 games with the club, but a six-game slide in early March sealed Winnipeg's fate again. It marked the seventh straight spring without a playoffs for the Jets/Thrashers franchise.

While trade rumors swirled this summer around Evander Kane, Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff opted to hang on to the young winger. Kane scored 30 goals as a 20-year-old in 2011-12, but has tallied only 36 times in 111 games since then, making 2014-15 campaign an important season for the former fourth overall pick of the 2009 draft.

Cheveldayoff did little to change his roster heading into this season, with the signing of centerman Mathieu Perreault to a free agent deal standing as the club's biggest move of the offseason.

With few changes to speak off on the ice, the Jets will try to improve from within in 2014-15. However, with the likes of Chicago, Colorado, St. Louis and Minnesota firmly planted as the top teams in the Central Division it seems likely Winnipeg will fall short of its playoff goals yet again.

FORWARDS - The Jets offense ranked smack in the middle of the NHL last season, with Winnipeg averaging 2.67 goals per game -- the 15th-best average in the league -- but a resurgence from Kane could help the increase the club's scoring in 2014-15.

After posting 19 goals and 41 points in 63 games in 2013-14, all eyes are on Winnipeg's 23-year-old winger to bounce back this season. Even teammate Blake Wheeler -- Winnipeg's leading scorer last season and a potential linemate for Kane -- commented in September how Kane "needs to step up and be a leader on our team."

Wheeler led the club with 28 goals and also paced the team with 69 points in what was the most productive season of the 28-year-old right winger's career. Dating back to the start of the lockout-shortened 2013 campaign, when he posted 41 points in 48 contests, Wheeler has averaged .85 points per game, making him Winnipeg's most consistent offensive weapon over the last two seasons.

Mark Scheifele seems likely to be the centerman situated between Kane and Wheeler at the start of the season. The 21-year-old was a first-round pick (7th overall) in 2011 and saw his first full run in the NHL last season, posting 13 goals and 34 points over 63 tilts.

Winnipeg has the makings of a another quality line consisting of captain Andrew Ladd, fellow winger Michael Frolik and centerman Bryan Little. Ladd and Little tied for second on the club with 23 goals in 2013-14 and the latter player finished second behind Wheeler in points with 64. Frolik tallied 15 goals and added 27 assists in his first season with the Jets, prompting Winnipeg to give the Czech right wing a one-year, $3.3 million contract this summer.

Maurice's third line expects to be an unknown commodity with free agent Perreault playing center alongside Dustin Byfuglien, who expects to make a return to right wing.

Byfuglien, of course, was drafted as a defenseman before getting moved to forward, a role he played while helping Chicago win a Stanley Cup in 2010. The 6-foot-5 American was moved back to the blue line after getting dealt to Atlanta in the summer of '10 and became an All-Star defenseman capable of creating havoc on the rush.

But, Byfuglien's overall defensive game wasn't always a pretty sight so the Jets may be onto something with the decision to move the big man back to the wing. The Minnesota native had 20 goals last season while playing mostly defense and it would be a big boost to Winnipeg's forward group if he can dial up that much offense from the wing this season.

Maurice does expect to use Byfuglien as a defenseman on Winnipeg's power play.

Perreault came to the Jets on a three-year, $9 million deal after posting 43 points (18 goals, 25 assists) in 69 games with Anaheim in 2013-14. The Jets hope he can bring some stability to the third line.

The problem for Winnipeg on offense is clearly scoring depth, and even a return to form from Kane and a seamless transition back to wing for Byfuglien may not be enough to solve the issue.

DEFENSE - Byfuglien's move to forward could adversely affect Winnipeg's ability to produce offense from the back end, but the Jets are banking on guys like Tobias Enstrom and Jacob Trouba to pick up the slack.

An even bigger concern, however, is the way Jets blueliners play in their own end. By removing the offensive-minded Byfuglien from the equation this could be a case of addition by subtraction for Winnipeg's defensive corps.

The Jets/Thrashers have finished in the bottom-10 in goals against every season since 2007-08 and last season Winnipeg finished 22nd with an average of 2.82 goals surrendered per contest. So, a big change like pushing Byfuglien up front is not uncalled for as something needed to be done to turn the tide on D.

Enstrom -- Byfuglien's former defensive partner -- led the Jets in ice time in 2013-14, logging an average of 23 minutes, 53 second per outing. After missing a total of 56 games due to injury over the previous three seasons, Enstrom played in all 82 contests for Winnipeg last year and had 10 goals and 20 assists. That's not a terrible offensive output, but with the Byfuglien moved to wing the Jets would love Enstrom to return to the 50-point form he displayed for Atlanta during the 2009-10 and 2010-11 campaigns.

Trouba, the ninth overall pick by Winnipeg in the 2012 draft, turned in a solid rookie season in 2013-14, registering 10 goals and 19 assists. The 20- year-old is tabbed as the Jets' No. 1 defenseman of the future, but it's conceivable he could fill that role as early as this season.

While Trouba appears to be a defenseman on the rise, Zach Bogosian has some work to do to get back in Winnipeg's good graces. The third overall pick by Atlanta at the 2008 draft, the 24-year-old Bogosian is known more for the time he spends on the injury list than his play on the ice. He posted three goals and eight assists over 55 games in 2013-14, but he is talented enough to play big minutes at this level if he can find a way to stay healthy.

Winnipeg's best stay-at-home option on the blue line is 30-year-old veteran Mark Stuart, who registered a team-best plus-11 rating while adding 13 points (2G, 11A) over 69 games. Stuart meshed well with Trouba last season and it seems likely the duo will play together again in 2014-15.

Grant Clitsome and Paul Postma also will be there to eat up minutes for Winnipeg's blue line.

GOALTENDING - Other than Kane, nobody on the Jets is facing more pressure to bounce back in 2014-15 than goaltender Ondrej Pavelec.

Having signed Pavelec to a five-year, $19.5 million deal prior to the 2012-13 season, the Jets have to be experiencing a bit of buyer's remorse at this point. The 27-year-old Czech netminder, who was a second-round pick by Atlanta in 2005, is coming off a poor showing in 2013-14, when he went 22-26-7 with a 3.01 goals against average and .901 save percentage.

Pavelec enters this season as an embattled goaltender who knows he needs to do better to keep his starting job. Although the Winnipeg brass gave the netminder a vote of confidence at the end of his trying 2013-14 season, there is no guarantee the No. 1 job is to keep.

"There's always pressure on the goalie and it's always challenging," Pavelec said. "It doesn't matter who's behind you. You're always try your best, if not, you're on the bench and the other goalie is playing. Training camp is always challenging. It's no different this year."

Michael Hutchinson expects to be the guy pushing Pavelec for playing time this season. The 24-year-old saw action in his first three NHL games last season with the Jets and went 2-1-0 with a 1.64 GAA and .943 save percentage. If Pavelec doesn't get his act together in the third year of his contract we may be seeing a lot more of Hutchinson in 2014-15.

WHEN ALL IS SAID AND DONE - There's a good chance Winnipeg can be better than a 84-point team in 2014-15, but the possibility of the club improving enough to make the playoffs out of the stacked Central Division still seems like a pipe dream. The fan base in Winnipeg is champing at the bit for a chance to cheer on a playoff-bound team but the Jets still don't have enough talent to make that dream a reality. Winnipeg could manage to crawl its way out of the Central Division basement in 2014-15, but the type of improvement needed to qualify for the postseason does not seem to be in the cards.