Buffalo just took on a whole new appeal

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This article was published 02/05/2016 (3537 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Preparations for the 2016 NHL Draft in Buffalo just underwent a course correction for the Winnipeg Jets.

The Jets made the biggest move of Saturday’s NHL Draft lottery, bouncing from sixth to the second-overall choice on June 24.

Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff and his amateur scouts now have some clarity on the first round and will be looking at things a little differently.

“It probably will change a bit,” Cheveldayoff said after Saturday’s drawings in Toronto. “You know where you’re drafting now. The preparation throughout the year, that never changed. You prepared like you’re drafting everywhere because certainly in our situation with two picks in the first round, you know there is a lottery situation and the amateur scouts are focused on that all year round.”

Cheveldayoff already has a good book on the top players but now his focus will become even more intense.

He watched one of the top-ranked Finns, Jesse Puljujarvi, help Finland to the gold at the recent world under-18 tournament in Grand Forks, N.D.

In a matter of days, the GM will be off to Russia to watch Auston Matthews of the U.S. and Patrik Laine of Finland — the pair in the top three of most rankings — play in the world championship.

“I was going over (to Russia) regardless to watch Kyle Connor,” Cheveldayoff said. “So now it’s dual duty.

“It’s a lot more interesting now.”

Cheveldayoff’s enthusiasm after Saturday’s lottery was a clear sign he believes the team’s fortunes just took a major turn for the good.

Asked if this will be taking some of the sting out of the disappointing regular season, the GM answered: “These things are always there to learn from, to instruct from. You don’t just diminish what you’ve gone through in this past year.

“It’s an exciting moment for the franchise moving forward because this is a player that can potentially be a foundation piece for years ahead. But you have to learn from every experience you’ve had. It doesn’t just close the door on what happened in the regular season. That would be diminishing all the things we’ve gone through, disappointment on one side and fantastic things on the other side.”

‘It’s a lot more interesting now’– Jets’ GM Kevin Cheveldayoff, on preparations for the draft June 30

He said the proceedings in the Sportsnet studios became a blur once they started. He was parked on a stool on the program’s set with representatives from each of the 13 other lottery teams.

“You’ve got a cross-section of hockey management there and you know all of them from your travels and it was a long afternoon already,” Cheveldayoff said. “The actual time sitting there was about 30 minutes and it did fly by. Sometimes you think these things might slow down, but quite honestly, when I saw six (NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly revealing Calgary had the sixth pick) happen, it really was a blur for me after that.

“We knew then we were in the top three and then the next process was to go to a commercial with three guys standing there.”

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca