Jets sign Stafford to a $8.7M, 2-year deal

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This article was published 30/06/2015 (3783 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Drew Stafford’s re-signing with the Winnipeg Jets today isn’t the first example of the NHL team being able to retain its own players but it’s a clear example that the Jets’ organizational methods do resonate.

Players say a lot of things about what they might or like to do, but their actions — like Stafford’s agreement on a two-year, $8.7-million deal when he could have been an unrestricted free agent at midday Wednesday — say a whole lot more.

“I did have this in mind as far as extending in Winnipeg,” Stafford told reporters late this afternoon via a conference call. “It was an option from Day 1 when I arrived. I had such a great experience there.

“I got the offer and I was extremely excited. Winnipeg is one of those places where I had a great time.”

The 29-year-old Milwaukee-born left-winger had 18 goals in 76 regular-season games last year, split between the hapless Buffalo Sabres and the Winnipeg Jets, who acquired him in early February.

Stafford had nine goals in 26 games for the Jets, 19 points in total, then had a goal and two points in the team’s short playoff series against Anaheim.

The fact that the Jets finished strongly and reached 99 points and the post-season was an integral part of that experience for Stafford.

“There were a lot of unknowns with Buffalo and the way things were going,” he said. “Everyone knows how that year ended up and for Tyler (Myers) and I to get out of there and go to a place like Winnipeg where we were treated the way we were treated and the way the room is, it’s such a great experience to be back in that.

“I definitely took that into account when I was making some decisions. It was an extremely easy choice.

“The bottom line is I’m coming back to an organization I’m extremely comfortable with and I was treated unbelievably by everybody from top down. There’s a lot of value in that to me.”

Stafford’s camp said today that there were four firm offers in play for the winger, no doubt some product of the official courting period for free agents that opened last Thursday.

He decided in the end that UFA status as of Wednesday wasn’t as important as getting the offer from the Jets he deemed to be “quality.”

“It’s not really my position to speak about what other teams are doing or what other offers are out there or that process,” Stafford said. “That’s between my agent and Chevy (Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff) but from my point of view, I was really happy with the offer that was presented.

“It doesn’t matter the date.”

In his career, the former UND skater has 154 goals and 341 points in 589 regular-season games. His career high for goals was 31 in the 2010-11 season for the Buffalo Sabres, who drafted him in the first round of 2004.

Stafford’s new deal gives him a small raise from the four-year, $16-million contract he just finished.

Now Stafford said the work is already underway to continue to improve his game, to at worst keep pace with the increasing speed of the NHL.

“For myself, that’s one of my focuses for the summer,” he said. “As far as training camp, I guess the only thing I can comment on is that it’s a culture thing. What Paul (Maurice, head coach) enforced with his leaders and having a guy like Andrew Ladd as your captain, he’s just a phenomenal example of a guy who takes care of himself and he’s a hundred per cent professional, it starts with your leadership.

“It’s the way you carry yourself and especially now that we have some younger guys coming up, you leave a pretty big impact on them the way they carry yourself every day.”

The Jets enter Wednesday’s free agent opening with eight players headed for UFA status and going into the open market — forwards Michael Frolik, Jim Slater, Matt Halischuk, Lee Stempniak, Jiri Tlusty, Eric O’Dell and Patrice Cormier and defenceman Adam Pardy.

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Forward T.J. Galiardi will also be a UFA but has already signed to play in Europe.

And by not offering qualifying contracts, the team has also cut three players loose to become complete free agents — to goalie Jussi Olkinuora, defenceman Keaton Ellerby and forward Patrick Holland.

Holland has already signed a deal in Finland for next season.

Among the team’s restricted free agents, who would be eligible for offers from other teams, are forwards John Albert and Ivan Telegin and defencemen Paul Postma and Julian Melchiori.

tim.campbell@freepressm.b.ca