Mission far from accomplished but Jets GM enjoying team success

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This article was published 11/01/2024 (635 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

They’ve hit the midway mark of the season in uncharted waters. The man who built the good ship Winnipeg admits seeing his Jets sitting atop the NHL standings brings a smile to his face.

“I’m a Prairie boy,” general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff said Thursday, during his first media availability since training camp began in September.

“I grew up north of Saskatoon in a little town called Blaine Lake with 550 people. I played my junior hockey in Brandon. I’ve spent the most time of my life here in Winnipeg. There’s a sense of pride. When you come from the Prairies, there’s always that feeling that you need to punch above your weight.”

The Jets have done just that, taking a 27-9-4 record into battle Thursday night against the Chicago Blackhawks which was Game 41 of the 82-game regular-season slate. As Cheveldayoff spoke a few hours prior to puck drop, they’d already matched a franchise record with seven straight wins, had gone 11-0-2 in the past 13, 15-1-2 in the past 18 and had not surrendered more than three goals in 30 games in a row.

Cheveldayoff, now in his 13th year at the helm, admits Winnipeg’s sizzling, record-setting start is surprising even to him.

“Obviously, you expect and you hope for the best result. But one thing, I guess, that has been very nice to see is the way the players have taken to what ‘Bones’ and ‘Arnie’ and the coaches have been preaching,” he said.

“At the end of the day, those players have to go out and execute. And that’s what they’ve done to this point. And that’s what they’re going to try and strive and continue to do moving forward.”

He’s referring, of course, to head coach Rick Bowness and associate coach Scott Arniel, who led Winnipeg to a 9-2-2 record over a 13-game stretch when Bowness took a leave to be at the side of his wife, Judy, who suffered a seizure and other medical issues early in the campaign.

“At the end of the day, it’s about the players performing and it’s about the players trying to reach new levels,” Cheveldayoff continued. “We always talked about, in that room, ‘What are we capable of?’ And they’re trying to prove to themselves and to each and every person, their linemate or their seatmate, what they can achieve.”

The Jets ended last season in disarray, with the team fading badly down the stretch and quickly being eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. Bowness blasted his troops publicly for their performance and lack of “pushback”, which led a handful of players to criticize the veteran bench boss in front of the media.

Tough times were ahead, especially with stars Connor Hellebuyck and Mark Scheifele entering the final year of their respective contracts and rumours swirling both might be moved. But in a stunning twist, each signed seven-year extensions just days before the start of the regular season which, Cheveldayoff admits, helped calm the waters.

“They’re two foundational pieces,” he said.

“I’d be lying if I stood up and said this is how I planned it all out because, again, you have to methodically go through things. And if it works, it works for both sides and things happen. But, at the end of the day, I do think that it does show that — and I think it rings even truer now — the two things that I talked to both of those players through that negotiation process is: one, their very first and foremost thing was that they wanted to win; and two, they wanted to win with this group. And they’re the ones that are walking the walk, so to speak, and that’s what drives this team.”

Winnipeg’s roster is now as deep as it’s ever been, thanks to trade deadline additions Nino Niederreiter and Vlad Namestnikov (who have also re-upped for term), and the Pierre-Luc Dubois summer blockbuster that brought a trio of forwards (Gabe Vilardi, Alex Iafallo and Rasmus Kupari) into the fold. Former captain Blake Wheeler was also bought out to usher in a new era.

What a difference a few months can make.

“It’s the nature of this job that you are looked at with a very critical lens, and you should not get into this industry if you don’t think that that’s part of the equation,” Cheveldayoff said.

“We had to make some tough decisions this summer, and we systematically worked through a process of making those decisions. One thing sometimes does lead to another when you do make some decisions that kind of piggyback on top of each other.”

Now, the Jets are enjoying the fruits of that labour, something Cheveldayoff sees firsthand when he’s out and about in the NHL’s smallest market.

“Coffee is actually some of the funnest time for me here in Winnipeg because — through the good times and the bad — you get to feel the passion of the people,” he said.

Cheveldayoff’s focus now turns to scouting meetings he’ll hold next week, and this year’s trade deadline on March 8 where the front-running team could be looking to bulk up even more.

“Certainly, if your 32nd I think your mindset is a little bit different. If you’re 16 or 17 or 18 or 19 your mindset is maybe a little bit different. But those are the conversations that are slowly starting to happen here now,” he said.

“There’s very real factors, and cap space is a factor. There’s performance-bonus factors, different things like that. The script isn’t even written yet. All I can say is we’ll be prepared as we always are to make the proper decisions.”

There are also ongoing discussions with the agents for pending UFA blue-liners Brenden Dillon and Dylan DeMelo, who are key parts of the league’s best defensive group.

As the Jets head into the second half, Cheveldayoff cautioned that it won’t always be smooth sailing but believes his group is well-equipped to handle whatever comes their way.

“Moving forward here, to continue to sustain success, you have to get lucky, too. You have to hope injuries don’t rear their head or different things like that,” he said.

“That’s why this game is humbling at times because you can have everything going your way and something doesn’t go right. You can have nothing go your way on a night and win a hockey game. There are a lot of nights where we’ve won the game analytically but lost on the scoreboard and vice-versa. It’s just important that the players understand that winning just doesn’t happen. There has to be a process. There has to be that buy-in to that certain thing.”

The season, he reminded everyone, really is a marathon, not a sprint.

“We’ve accomplished nothing yet. They’ve accomplished nothing yet. They know that. But you put yourself in a good situation if you play like that night after night,” said Cheveldayoff.

“You expect to win every night, but you know that that doesn’t happen. Obviously, you expect your best every night, but you know that that doesn’t happen. But when you can find a way to win more than you lose on a nightly basis, it is something that they can take pride in.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X: @mikemcintyrewpg