Jets ink one-year deal with veteran centre Nate Thompson

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This article was published 10/10/2020 (1832 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Jets love their long-in-the-tooth journeymen depth forwards. And they added the latest well-seasoned member to that club on the second day of NHL free agency.

Meet Nate Thompson, a 36-year-old from Alaska who has played 767 career regular-season games with eight different teams since breaking into the league with the Boston Bruins way back in 2006. The six-foot-one, 205-pound centre inked a one-year contract with the Jets on Saturday that will pay him $750,000 for 2020-21 season.

“It never gets old signing a NHL contract! Can’t wait to get started! Grateful for the opportunity,” Thompson tweeted a few hours after the signing.

Thompson began last season with the Montreal Canadiens, appearing in 63 games. He had four goals and 10 assists. He was then sent to Philadelphia at the trade deadline, recording one assist in seven games prior to the COVID-19 pause. He also skated in 16 post-season games with the Flyers, scoring one goal.

Thompson is a defensive centre who could compete for work on Winnipeg’s fourth line and penalty killing unit. He has 62 goals and 94 assists during his career, which has also included stops with the New York Islanders, Tampa Bay Lightning, Anaheim Ducks, Ottawa Senators and Los Angeles Kings.

Think of him as this year’s version of Mark Letestu, who was signed prior to the 2019-20 season as veteran centre depth, or Nick Shore, who was picked up on waivers to replace Letestu when he suffered a season-ending heart ailment. Matt Hendricks filled a similar role the previous season.

How much Thompson plays with his new club remains to be seen. The Jets are grooming centre David Gustafsson, the 20-year-old smooth-skating Swede, for that fourth-line spot. He appeared in 22 games as a rookie last year. Thompson could be a valuable mentor, along with an insurance policy, if the young man isn’t ready to assume a full-time role.

So far, the Jets have made just a slight ripple, rather than a big splash, in free agency. They signed two of their own unrestricted free agents in defencemen Nathan Beaulieu and Luca Sbisa on Friday, following similar moves earlier in the week with backup goalie Laurent Brossoit and blue-liner Dylan DeMelo.

The biggest move to date was re-acquiring centre Paul Stastny on Friday from Vegas in exchange for a fourth-round draft pick and defenceman Carl Dahlstrom. He’s expected to step into the second line centre role that was first occupied last season by Bryan Little, who suffered what appears to be a career-ending injury last November. The Jets later traded for local product Cody Eakin, sending a fourth-round pick to the Golden Knights, but did not re-sign him. Eakin inked a two-year deal on Saturday with the Buffalo Sabres, paying him $2.25 million per year.

Winnipeg did not re-sign a number of depth forwards who were on expiring contracts, including Letestu, Shore, Gabriel Bourque, Logan Shaw and Seth Griffith. In addition to Thompson, they may look to add a few more to push for work with the big club with the option of sending them to the Manitoba Moose of the AHL. Another defencemen or two, preferably one that could play in the top four on the left-side, should also be a priority.

However, the club has very little room under the salary cap, with less than $2 million of available space as of Saturday and three restricted free agents in Jack Roslovic, Jansen Harkins and Sami Niku still to sign.

Teams can exceed the $81.5 million ceiling by as much as 10 per cent during the off-season, so there is at least some temporary flexibility available to general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff. However, teams must be compliant be the start of the season, which is projected to be on Jan. 1. Winnipeg will also be able to wipe Little’s $5.2 million off the books by putting him on long-term injured reserve, but that can’t happen until the puck drops on a new campaign.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg