Despite all of that, Winnipeg (23-16-4) holds the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference and is fourth in the Central Division, four points behind the second-place Colorado Avalanche.
In addition to missing Byfuglien, the Jets have had to cope with a revamped defense after the departures of Jacob Trouba via trade (New York Rangers) and Tyler Myers (Vancouver Canucks) and Ben Chiarot (Canadiens) via free agency in the offseason.
"This group came together with all the outside noise, good, bad or indifferent and just put a cocoon around themselves and said, 'We're going to play and the people in here are the ones that matter,'" Cheveldayoff said. "That's served us well. There's a belief that we're never really out of a game, that we'll just stay in the fight and see where it turns out in the end."
The Jets, though, have floundered through the midseason mark. They are 4-6-2 and have allowed 48 goals (4.0 per game) in their past 12 games.
During this stretch, their penalty kill has failed far too often, allowing 13 power-play goals in the past 32 opportunities (59.4 percent). Winnipeg's penalty killing has dropped to last in the NHL at 72.2 percent.
"If we clean that [penalty killing] up, it's a goal pretty much per game," Jets forward Adam Lowry said. "That's a big number. Some of it has been some of our own doing. Taking care of the puck is important. I don't think it's requires drastic change.
"Look at how well we defended the stretch before (19 goals against in previous 10 games, 7-2-1 record). It's just competing on pucks. There have been large stretches of our games lately where it has been good."
No. 1 goalie Connor Hellebuyck, who is 19-12-4, with a 2.69 goals-against average and .920 save percentage, has had to adapt to a new group of defensemen that includes Neal Pionk, Luca Sbisa, Anthony Bitetto, Tucker Poolman and Carl Dahlstrom.
At the halfway point of the season, Hellebuyck said he can already feel the urgency of the second half.
"There are some accomplishments but there's also some hard times," he said. "Things are going to get interesting very soon here and we've got to start stringing together some wins. The playoff push is on."