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The New York Jets have fired coach Robert Saleh after the team’s 2-3 start in his fourth season, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press.

Saleh was 20-36 as coach of the Jets, who are trying to snap the NFL’s longest active playoff drought at 13 seasons.

Defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich will act as the interim coach, according to the person who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity Tuesday because the Jets hadn’t announced Saleh’s firing.

It is the first time in owner Woody Johnson’s 25-year tenure that a head coach has been fired during the season.

The surprising move came a day after Saleh said he was confident Aaron Rodgers and the Jets would be able to turn things around after losing two straight, including falling 23-17 to undefeated Minnesota on Sunday in London. Rodgers had his worst game with New York, throwing three interceptions.

“There’s so much football to be played,” Saleh said Monday. “There’s so many things that we can get better at, and there’s so many things that we can continue to build on, the things that we are doing well.

“So, I’m not panicked. Nobody in the building is panicked.”

But apparently Johnson had seen enough from Saleh to make a change.

The Jets face the Buffalo Bills (3-2) on Monday night with a chance to share the AFC East lead with a victory. But instead of Saleh, it will be the 47-year-old Ulbrich leading the team on the sideline.

Ulbrich, who played linebacker for 10 seasons with San Francisco, joined the Jets as part of Saleh’s initial staff in 2021. Ulbrich was an an assistant with Atlanta for six seasons before coming to New York.

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CALGARY – Rebuild, retool, revamp, pick your term. The Calgary Flames are a team in transition heading into the 2024-25 NHL season.

The Flames open Wednesday on the road against the Vancouver Canucks with a younger, cheaper roster that’s just a few million above the cap floor.

Calgary (38-39-5) finished 17 points out of a playoff spot last spring and endured a second straight extended summer. A 2-6-1 start combined with roster flux from traded big names unwilling to sign contract extensions impeded efforts to get on track.

Winger Blake Coleman believes the Flames can use this season’s low expectations as fuel.

Young players hungry to make a name for themselves in the league can inspire veterans to remarkable results, the 33-year-old said.

“There’s very little expectation being placed on this team right now,” Coleman said.

“It’s an exciting way to play when there’s no pressure, no expectations. Inside the room, we have a much different view of ourselves than outside.”

Said captain Mikael Backlund: “We’re here to make the playoffs, and we want to show people, prove people wrong.”

But the Flames will start the season minus their leading goal scorer of last season. Yegor Sharangovich was placed on injured reserve Monday with a lower-body injury sustained in Calgary’s final pre-season game.

A trickle-down effect means more responsibility will fall immediately onto the shoulders of players such as 23-year-old Connor Zary and 21-year-old Matt Coronato, and even 19-year-old Samuel Honzek with a team-leading two goals and five assists in six pre-season games.

But it’s the Calgary back end that’s most transformed with Dan Vladar and Dustin Wolf vying for starts after Jacob Markstrom’s trade, plus newcomers Kevin Bahl, Jake Bean and Tyson Barrie settling in on defence.

“We have a lot of young guys who want to show they can be good players in this league,” Backlund said. “As veterans, we want to drive this team, and we want to get back to playoffs after missing two years.”

The teams’ fortunes rest heavily on the leadership and performances of core veterans Backlund, Coleman, Jonathan Huberdeau, Nazem Kadri and defencemen Mackenzie Weegar and Rasmus Andersson.

“An enormous amount would probably be the light way to put it,” said Ryan Huska, who starts his second season as Calgary’s head coach. “We need them to be the guys that go out and lead by example all the time.”

Kadri’s team-leading 75 points (29 goals, 46 assists) in 2023-24 was the second-highest total of his career. Coleman’s 30 goals and 24 assists were a career-high as were Weegar’s 20 goals and 32 assists.

The Flames need more of that in 2024-25.

WHITHER HUBERDEAU?

Speaking of needing more, Flames fans are still waiting for Huberdeau to produce at a level befitting his US$10.5 million annual salary.

The left-winger totalled 107 points over his first two seasons in Calgary after a single-season 115 with the Florida Panthers. Huberdeau’s average points-per-game increasing from .5 to .8 in the second half of last season signals a more positive trend.

“He changed how he did things this summer because he hasn’t been happy with the way things went for a couple years,” Huska said. “He’s come back with a really good mindset, and he’s in shape right now and that’s something that we need.”

GOALIE DRAMA

Training camp didn’t definitively settle Calgary’s No. 1, so expect competition to continue and the Flames to go with whoever has the hot hand at the moment.

Vladar, 28, will try to parlay his superior NHL experience into more starts. As he has at every level of his career, the 23-year-old Wolf will try to prove an undersized goalie can cut it in the NHL.

SCHEDULE WATCH

The Flames are in Salt Lake City’s Delta Centre on Oct. 30 to face the new Utah club relocated from Arizona. Former No. 1 Calgary goalie Jacob Markstrom is set to return to the Saddledome on Nov. 1 with the New Jersey Devils. The Columbus Blue Jackets in town Dec. 3 will resonate with Flames fans. Johnny Gaudreau was two seasons removed from his eight years in Calgary when he and brother Matthew were struck by a vehicle while cycling and died Aug. 29. Johnny’s absence from the Blue Jackets lineup will be felt at the Saddledome, where he was a star for so many years.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2024.

WINNIPEG – The Winnipeg Jets are focusing on the regular season, but many of their fans will look beyond that to gauge the team’s success.

After being bounced out of the NHL playoffs in the first round the past two seasons, a deep post-season run may be the only thing to satisfy their followers.

New head coach Scott Arniel knows the early playoff exits linger in the minds of fans and some players, but he’s concentrating on a style that produces sustainable strong play.

“I’m not (thinking) that far down the road. I’m worrying about Edmonton and Game 1,” Arniel said of Winnipeg’s regular-season opener on the road against the Oilers on Wednesday.

“We’ve talked an awful lot about compete and making sure that when we get into games that our level of compete is higher than the opposition. Hopefully on those tough nights and tough travel, tough back-to-backs or whatever they might be, that that’s the difference in the hockey game.”

Arniel, 62, was hired after Rick Bowness retired at the end of last season. He was associate coach the past two seasons and went 15-7-3 filling in during Bowness’s absences for family or health reasons.

Winnipeg’s first-round loss to Colorado in five games last season came after the team finished fourth overall in the NHL with a 52-24-6 record. The Jets had swept the Avalanche in their three-game season series but were outplayed in the playoffs.

Jets veteran Connor Hellebuyck had his name etched on the William M. Jennings Trophy for being the netminder on the team that allowed the fewest goals against.

He also won a second Vezina Trophy as the league’s top goalie, but struggled in the playoffs with a 5.23 goals-against average and .870 save percentage.

Winnipeg hasn’t reached the second round of the post-season since 2021.

Second-year captain Adam Lowry likes Arniel’s emphasis of ramping up the way the Jets compete, whether it’s battling individually during five-on-five play or on special teams.

“(It’s) digging in and finding the extra way to create one more opportunity for your team or eliminating one more chance that the other team is going to generate,” Lowry said.

Winnipeg’s roster hasn’t changed much from last season, although there were a few veteran departures and unexpected early injuries.

Defencemen Brenden Dillon and Nate Schmidt are gone, as well as forwards Sean Monahan and Tyler Toffoli.

Early in camp, defencemen Ville Heinola (ankle) and Logan Stanley (knee) both underwent surgeries and were expected to be out for at least a month.

“We’ve got some good depth here and we’ll have to rely on that early on,” star defenceman Josh Morrissey said.

He doesn’t foresee counting on Hellebuyck any more than usual because of the injuries.

“We were the No. 1 defensive team in the league last year for goals against,” Morrissey said. “Of course, a lot of that goes on the goaltending, but a lot of that’s on our five-on-five play and special teams that we’re trying to work on.”

Morrissey will be paired again with Dylan DeMelo. Dylan Samberg and Neal Pionk are the next duo, while Colin Miller is expected to skate with newcomer Haydn Fleury.

Winnipeg’s forward lines feature the top trio of centre Mark Scheifele flanked by Kyle Connor and Gabriel Vilardi.

Scheifele led the team in scoring last season with 25 goals and 72 points in 74 games. Connor had a team-high 34 goals in 65 outings.

With Monahan not re-signed, Winnipeg’s second line has been running with centre Vladislav Namestnikov and wingers Cole Perfetti and Nikolaj Ehlers.

Morrissey has buried thoughts about the quick exit from the post-season now that the new campaign is here.

“The parity in the league is as good as it’s ever been,” he said. “So if you’re looking at the playoffs already, I think you’re in trouble.

“We’re trying to build off of the things that we got better at last year.”

BEING SPECIAL

Arniel brought in assistant Davis Payne to coach the forwards and power play, while newcomer Dean Chynoweth is responsible for the defence corps and penalty kill.

Winnipeg ranked 22nd on the power play last season and 21st on the penalty kill.

Ehlers has been moved up to the first power-play unit while Scheifele and Connor have spent time working on the kill.

NEXT MAN IN NET

Hellebuyck had a 37-19-4 record last season with five shutouts while Laurent Brossoit, who signed with the Chicago Blackhawks this season, was 15-5-2 with three shutouts.

Kaapo Kahkonen and Eric Comrie are the backup options this season.

On Monday, the Jets announced forwards Nikita Chibrikov and Brad Lambert were assigned to the AHL’s Manitoba Moose.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2024.