NEWARK, New Jersey – With the dominoes beginning to fall around him, Kevin Cheveldayoff continues to work the phones looking for ways to provide the Winnipeg Jets with a boost leading up to the NHL trade deadline.
If the general manager of the Jets is waiting for a last sign from the personnel he assembled to convince him that it’s truly time to go all-in, perhaps it could come over the span of the next week to 10 days.
During that stretch, the Jets will go head-to-head with a number of playoff bound teams and another that remains in the thick of the hunt, beginning with Sunday’s matchup against the New Jersey Devils.
The other opponents include the New York Rangers, the New York Islanders (twice), the Colorado Avalanche, who are suddenly just four points behind the Jets and hold a game in hand, and the Los Angeles Kings – who remain in the mix for top spot in the Pacific Division.
“This kind of decides where you are as a team,” Jets defenceman Nate Schmidt said on Saturday afternoon after a 75-minute workout at the Devils’ practice rink. “This is really one last little audition before the deadline to say ‘hey, this is what we are.’ Against really good teams.”
Schmidt captures the mood of the moment perfectly.
There is no doubt the Jets are one of the contenders in the Western Conference.
Never mind going 0-2 against the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Jets’ body of work includes plenty of signature victories to go along with various disappointments.
That’s normal over the course of an 82-game season, and a record of 34-20-1 is a clear sign that the Jets have many of the pieces required to go on a lengthy run in the wild and wide open West.
But for a team that has struggled against many Eastern Conference opponents, this stretch could help define the approach the Jets take leading into the Mar. 3 deadline.
Other teams have made pre-emptive strikes, but most of those moves have helped East teams improve, though you can be sure GMs in the Western Conference will be making trades of their own during the coming days.
The blender was out on Saturday afternoon and outside of what that means in the day-to-day operations for the Jets, it was also a reminder that Cheveldayoff is likely in the market for a middle-six forward, a fourth-line forward and likely a blue-liner. Whether that’s just a depth piece or a top-4 guy could depend on how Neal Pionk plays during these next six games.
You can be sure most of the Jets players are keeping tabs on what’s going on around the league – including Friday’s big deal that sent St. Louis Blues captain Ryan O’Reilly and fellow centre Noel Acciari to the Toronto Maple Leafs – and are curious how big a swing Cheveldayoff is going to take.
“You’d love to be in the room. Everyone would. It’s always funny to say fly on the wall, right?” said Schmidt. “It’s that time of year where you start seeing things, seeing some teams make big deals like (Friday). Interesting time of the year.”
Schmidt has been on teams that have added pieces to the puzzle with the Washington Capitals and Vegas Golden Knights.
You can expect the Jets to be one of those teams who act similarly, it’s just a matter of whether the Jets are going to take a big swing and try to land someone like San Jose Sharks winger Timo Meier in the home run category, or look to add other players to play a specific role.
Remember, the highest profile guys don’t always make the greatest impact at the deadline, though that shouldn’t deter the Jets in their pursuit of Meier, as he’d help solidify the forward group for both the present and the future – provided a long-term extension could be reached after a potential deal.
Blues forward Ivan Barbashev remains someone who should be on the Jets’ radar, but there’s a ton of interest in him, so the Jets will need to win a bidding war as they look for someone who can contribute up and down the lineup depending on the situation.
Perhaps the Jets pivot and turn their attention to someone like Arizona Coyotes defenceman Jakob Chychrun, Blue Jackets blue-liner Vladislav Gavrikov or Luke Schenn.
No matter what the Jets do in the coming days, it will be done with the intention of strengthening the roster.
Saturday’s skate included a full turn of the blender – and some significant changes on the power play, all in the name of providing a boost for the offence.
“We haven’t been scoring goals the last couple games. We’re not getting to the net,” said Jets head coach Rick Bowness. “We’re playing two teams that are very high skill, high speed, and highly offensive minded. We’ve got a checker on each line, but we want that checker to get to the net. We’re not getting enough net presence.
“Yes it’s for defensive purposes, but just as importantly for offensive purposes. We want the checkers on the lines to get to the net. We have to start scoring some greasy goals. We need more goals from that third line, it’s as simple as that. It can’t always be the top two lines scoring goals. We need goals from that third and fourth line.”
Adding forward depth in a deal could help the Jets achieve that goal.
For the time being, it’s up to those on the roster to create some additional chemistry and find a way to find the back of the net with a bit more regularity.
As for the struggling power play, Bowness did more than just tinker with his two units, as Kyle Connor and Pierre-Luc Dubois essentially traded places with Cole Perfetti and Nate Schmidt.
Those weren’t necessarily the changes that were expected when Bowness declared that personnel changes were coming with the man-advantage.
“It’s not supposed to be sideways or up. What it’s supposed to be is to give us two even units,” said Bowness. “Yeah, we want to get back to that minute, minute (of ice-time distribution). Then figure out what unit is going that night. Listen, (Nikolaj Ehlers) was our best power play guy the other night. So we have to get him more out there, there is no question about that.
“If you have two units, you want that internal competition. It can’t be like ‘okay it’s a given, it’s a power play I’m going.’ We want more internal competition. Our power play has gone from 10th to whatever it is today. It’s just not effective enough. We’ll tweak the minutes and see where it goes.”
Perfetti will be asked to help distribute the puck through the high slot, while Schmidt moves to the top of the umbrella on the 1A unit. Josh Morrissey moves into the one-timer spot previously occupied by Kyle Connor.
“Obviously we need to score on the power play, that’s part of it,” said Perfetti. “That first unit has been really solid all year and I think (Bowness) just wanted to give it a new look, give it a new try.
“We’ll see what happens. He’s really stressing that the penalty kill and power play is a big part of these games coming down the stretch. Just doing whatever it takes to get the puck in the back of the net.”
Connor Hellebuyck returns to the crease on Sunday against the Devils after missing the past two games due to an illness. Bowness left the door open for him to make consecutive starts when the Jets face the Rangers on Monday.
“At this point we’ll consider anything,” said Bowness. “We’ll see.”
Remember, in Bowness-speak, that means the Jets bench boss has likely decided but he’s not yet ready to reveal his decision publicly.
In the meantime, here’s how the Jets are expected to start on Sunday:
Kyle Connor-Pierre-Luc Dubois-Saku Maenalanen
Cole Perfetti-Mark Scheifele-Mason Appleton
Nikolaj Ehlers-Adam Lowry-Blake Wheeler
Morgan Barron-Kevin Stenlund-Karson Kuhlman
Josh Morrissey-Dylan DeMelo
Brenden Dillon-Neal Pionk
Dylan Samberg-Nate Schmidt
Connor Hellebuyck
David Rittich
Jets PP1A
Mark Scheifele-Nate Schmidt-Josh Morrissey
Cole Perfetti-Blake Wheeler
Jets PP1B
Nikolaj Ehlers-Neal Pionk-Kyle Connor
Kevin Stenlund-Pierre-Luc Dubois