No one would call Kevin Cheveldayoff one of the league’s most aggressive general managers. But so far this summer, something is a little different in the Winnipeg Jets front office.
The team has obsessively focused on the long-term approach since Day 1, committing to a future with Mark Scheifele, Jacob Trouba and Josh Morrissey complemented by vets Dustin Byfuglien and Blake Wheeler, among others. Patrik Laine fell in their laps to paint an even rosier picture. The one big splash trade Cheveldayoff has made, sending Zach Bogosian and Evander Kane to Buffalo, had motivation in moving on from an untenable situation.
There’s nothing wrong with this plan, of course. It’s just that at some point, when the timing fits, you need to adjust and be unafraid to take your swings.
For the Jets, that time is this summer. Now they’re trading assets and swapping picks with Vegas to keep the expansion team away from any Jet who can help Winnipeg now, and they’re committing more than $21 million to unrestricted free agents.
“I think we should focus on the now,” Cheveldayoff told reporters on July 1. “These deals were about the now. They weren’t necessarily about where we’re going to be as we move forward.”
With a couple obvious areas of need, Cheveldayoff went out and solved them in a day. Everyone knew the Jets needed a veteran goalie to split duty or perhaps take the lion’s share of the workload from Connor Hellebuyck, considering the already-tough division they reside in and the fact the Dallas Stars made a few big upgrades themselves. Steve Mason, a criminally underrated goalie coming off a down year, brings this to the Jets for $4.1 million a season — and the two-year term keeps the hope that one or both of Hellebuyck and Eric Comrie will be ready for full-time duty on a playoff team when Mason’s deal expires.
“With the addition of Steve and Helle’s going to grow as a player, there’s going to be really great competition there,” Cheveldayoff said. “I think having a guy that has played a No. 1 role in the National Hockey League is going to be a good thing for Helle because you have to learn to be a No. 1 goalie in the National Hockey League and Steve’s had his ups and his downs. Obviously he had tremendous success right out of the gate and as a young goaltender that’s a tough thing sometimes, how to handle it and how to move forward.
“I think Steve has learned all of that and certainly having Connor see the preparation and how Steve is an experienced No. 1 is only going to help him and help the franchise long-term.”
The Jets also had a need for a left-shot defenceman, although with a stout top-five on the blue-line already, it wasn’t as pronounced. Considering that context, picking up Dmitry Kulikov for three years at a $4.3 million cap hit is the most surprising move of the two since Cheveldayoff really didn’t shy away from giving good money and decent term to a guy coming off a poor and injury-shortened year.
But the Kulikov addition locks in another minute eater to a terrific six-deep blue-line corps.
“Throughout the conversations, whether it was with Steve or whether it was with Dmitry, the prevailing theme was that we feel we’re ready to try and take the next step here,” Cheveldayoff said.
As much as these additions help the immediate future, the team of course still is thinking about where it will be in two, three, four years. The difference now is they have room to make more of a push than we’ve become accustomed to. Patrik Laine is two seasons away from a big pay day up from his entry-level deal, while Nik Ehlers, Josh Morrissey and Trouba get raises next summer.
The Jets have a window here when the salary cap space is just right where they could afford to take their cuts on a couple short-term UFA signings to fill key areas of need on the roster. When these deals expire, Winnipeg should still be flush with talent, but the roster may be a little more top-heavy with its salary distribution, potentially leaving them with cap-related decisions to make.
On another long-term level, the Jets made their thin AHL team stronger with some free agency moves as well. With some new prospects ready to move up, Cheveldayoff added mid-20s skilled, depth forwards Buddy Robinson and Michael Sgarbossa to help the farm team. More importantly, their additions surround the kids down there with more of a winning environment and better prepares them for the eventual NHL jump.
Along with division-rival Dallas and a quietly improving Carolina, few teams have had as much obvious improvement as the Jets so far this summer — and they didn’t need to change as much in the first place. The competition in the West and in the Central will undoubtedly be tougher in 2017-18, but the Jets aren’t bystanders betting on the future anymore. They’re never too far away from their long-term focus, but they’re usually not this aggressive.
Winnipeg is entering a new phase with this roster as its youngsters hit or near their primes and with cap space available to surround them with complementary parts. It was time for Cheveldayoff to swing and he didn’t shy away.
“We got a lot of work to do,” he said. “You don’t make the playoffs on July 1.”
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