Jets 2024 Free Agency Preview: Eyeing potential solutions at centre and in goal

A few major question marks float over the Winnipeg Jets when it comes to how the team will approach free agency.

Winnipeg entered the off-season with not one, but two significant pieces that could be pushed into the trade market. The one we saw coming was Nikolaj Ehlers, who has one year left on his contract before he can hit the open market in 2025. The second threw many people for a loop, as 2022 first-rounder Rutger McGroarty suddenly seems like he’s headed for a split with the organization.

General manager Kevin Cheveldayoff is being predictably tight-lipped about both situations, but McGroarty was certainly involved in trade talk at the draft, with Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman noting on the 32 Thoughts Podcast that he believed there were substantial conversations with the Montreal Canadiens.

“The Rutger situation here right now, I think for me, I think there’s a time and a place when I’ll comment on something,” Cheveldayoff said in Vegas. “Rutger is a prospect within our organization and that’s where it’s at right now.”

If the Jets wind up making a move involving McGroarty or Ehlers around July 1, the return could wind up filling an area of need. In fact, if a big name is to make his way to Manitoba in the next few days, it’s more likely to be via swap than monster signing.

The other big variable that will dictate what the next few days look like for Winnipeg is what happens with pending UFAs who wore the Jets uniform this past season. The club has three guys at three different positions — centre Sean Monahan, defenceman Brenden Dillon and backup goalie Laurent Brossoit — who, to varying degrees, played important roles in Winnipeg last year and can leave for nothing on July 1. In all three cases it seems like there could be a path to remaining with the Jets, but we’re at the 11^th hour now and pen has yet to be put to paper.

If Monahan bolts, Winnipeg has a sizable hole at 2C. The 29-year-old was a dream fit with the team after being acquired from the Canadiens at the all-star break and seems like, by some distance, the squad’s best realistic option to play behind top pivot Mark Scheifele.

Brossoit was a marvellous backup to Vezina-winning Connor Hellebuyck and has played his best NHL hockey during his two stops in Winnipeg. At 31 years old, he could be looking for a nice pay day from a club that views him almost as a 1B who can play 35 games.

Dillon brings size and some snarl to the blueline. However, the club was able to strike a new deal with right-shooting defenceman Dylan DeMelo before he hit free agency and you wonder if the squad might be better served sniffing round for another righty who can play lower down in the lineup.

It could be fascinating couple days in Winnipeg.

Salary Cap Space: $8,752,976
Roster Size: 18/23
Salary Committed to Forwards: $43,622,024 (49.6 per cent of cap)
Salary Committed to Defence: $24,375,000 (27.7 per cent)
Salary Committed to Goalies: $8,500,000 (9.7 per cent)

Potential UFA Targets

Eric Comrie, G
Comrie’s best year in the NHL was 2021-22 with Winnipeg, when he formed a strong battery with Hellebuyck and posted a .920 save percentage in 19 contests. He used that showing to ink a free-agent deal with Buffalo to compete for a starting position and things just never worked out for him in Western New York.

Would the Edmonton native return to the site of his best NHL play in the hopes of rebuilding his game once again? It obviously helps that both sides have familiarity with each other and Comrie, who turns 29 this week, would come in understanding his job is to take 25 starts of Hellebuyck’s load.

Chandler Stephenson, C
Stephenson is a Prairie boy, hailing from Saskatoon. He’s a late-bloomer who found his NHL game after Vegas paid just a fifth-round pick to get him from the Washington Capitals five years ago.

Stephenson, who turned 30 in April, had 64 points three years ago, a career-best 65 the following year (when he also got a couple Selke votes) and fell back to 51 this past season. He’s not going to break any scoring records, but he’s a dependable forward who can line up at centre or wing. He also comes with the added bonus of playing in two Cup finals — against Vegas in 2018 with the Caps and winning the 2023 title with the Knights — and boasts 95 games’ worth of post-season experience.

If Monahan leaves, perhaps Stephenson is the first call.

Alexandre Carrier, RHD
Carrier was rumoured to be in play ahead of the trade deadline, but the surging Nashville Predators kept him in-house for their own playoff push. The 27-year-old broke through two seasons ago, making the 2021-22 NHL All-Rookie Team.

Carrier isn’t going to wow you, but he’s a steadying presence who could slot in on the right side of your third pair. He’s not afraid to get his nose dirty despite being five-foot-11 and 174 pounds. Carrier was also Nashville’s blocked shots/60 leader with 5.98.

Matt Dumba, RHD
Dumba’s star has faded in the past few years and you would not be inking this player to skate on your top 4. Dumba’s trajectory is that of a player who is never going to match the early heights of his career — he was a 50-point guy with the Minnesota Wild in 2017-18 — but is beginning to settle into a new version of himself. And that current form still has some value.

Dumba, who turns 30 in July, plays with edge and has a lot of experience at this point. He comes in the coveted right-shot package and the Saskatchewan native could log decent minutes playing on Winnipeg’s third pair.

Kaapo Kahkonen, G
The Jets know Kahkonen pretty well as he’s spent the vast majority of his career in the Western Conference with Minnesota and San Jose. The Finn, who turns 28 this summer, has been on some pretty awful Sharks teams the past couple seasons, but looked good in an extremely limited run with the Devils post-trade deadline, registering a .923 save percentage in a half-dozen showings.

Could he be the kind of goalie who really eases the burden on Hellebuyck as the latter runs through his early 30s?