Jets using 'frauds' comment as bulletin board material

The Winnipeg Jets are looking to prove the doubters wrong in the first round against the Colorado Avalanche.

"There's been some talk, obviously, that maybe we aren't where we're supposed to be, and we know that we are," forward Nikolaj Ehlers said Sunday. "So we wanna show ourselves and prove to each and every guy in here that we got what it takes to be a Stanley Cup champion."

Ehlers confirmed the team is using a comment from the "Spittin' Chiclets" podcast as bulletin board material entering Round 1, according to TSN's John Lu.

"I had a player in the NHL on a team currently sitting in a playoff spot tell me that the Winnipeg Jets are the biggest frauds in the league and that they'll lose in the first round," podcast host and former NHLer Ryan Whitney said on the March 1 edition of the show.

Meanwhile, forward Mason Appleton reiterated his team's self-belief.

"This is the hungriest I've seen this group," Appleton said, per the Winnipeg Free Press' Mike McIntyre. "We really have a lot of belief in this room and in this team."

That belief goes all the way to head coach Rick Bowness, who noted he likes this iteration of his team more than last year's entering the postseason.

"This team is far better prepared going into the playoffs today this year than we were last year," Bowness said, according to The Athletic's Murat Ates. "As I mentioned, we were scrambling to get in, and it just felt like that scramble carried through, through the playoffs."

He added: "So again, I think it's a more confident group. It's a deeper group, it's a tighter group, and we'll see that come into play. And I just feel going into these playoffs that we're much better prepared."

The Jets face the Avalanche in Game 1 on Sunday at 7 p.m. ET.