Jets select swift Swedish blue-liner

The Winnipeg Jets have added another mobile, puck-moving defenceman to the pipeline.

With the 28th overall pick in the NHL Draft, the Jets chose Swedish blue-liner Sascha Boumedienne, who spent last season with the Boston University Terriers and had three goals and 13 points in 40 NCAA games.

Boumedienne is known for his offensive game and skating ability and boosted his stock with an exceptional showing at the World U18 championship in Texas, setting a tournament record for assists (13) and points (14) by a defenceman.

“You just watch his progression over the course of the year. His best plays were in the toughest moments. He played big minutes down the stretch in all situations,” Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff said during a Zoom call at the conclusion of Friday’s first round. “Yeah, certainly that (skating ability) is an attribute that jumps out at you. He transports the puck, he can beat pressure with his skating. Good two-way game. Comes from a family that obviously has been in the game, so he’s been around it his whole life. It’s an exciting time for us to be able to add that kind of quality of a player picking at 28.”

The left-handed shooting blue-liner has enjoyed an interesting development path, as he was born in Finland and grew up in Stockholm, Sweden. He eventually made his way to North America to play in the Ohio Blue Jackets AAA program before joining the Youngstown Phantoms of the USHL.

There’s some NHL lineage as well, as Boumedienne’s father, Josef, had a lengthy professional hockey career that included 47 games as a defenceman with the New Jersey Devils, Tampa Bay Lightning and Washington Capitals.

“I say it all the time. I wouldn’t be where I am today without my dad. He’s been in my shoes right now and he’s kind of taken these steps on his own when he was younger,” said Boumedienne, when asked about his father’s influence and having him as a sounding board. “He’s been alongside me every step of the way and I lean on him a lot. Obviously, he has done everything I’m doing right now and will be doing. I lean on him a lot and I’m very thankful for not only him but my mother as well.”

Boumedienne was the seventh defenceman chosen in the first round and he’s considered to have a high ceiling, as someone who can run a power play and eventually projects to be a Top-4 D-man.

“I describe myself as a two-way defenseman who plays really hard all over the ice and uses his skating to my advantage,” said Boumedienne. “I like to join the rush and create offense and kind of make quick plays and a quick shot and kind of create offence from there. So, a defenceman who will play hard all over the ice and kind of do a little bit of everything.”

Boumedienne was encouraged by his multiple meetings with the Jets, which included one before the NHL combine, another at the NHL combine in Buffalo earlier this month and then a final Zoom call on Thursday morning.

“If I was available at 28, I had a really good feeling about it,” he said. “Obviously, my feeling was right. All of my talks with Winnipeg have been great, so I’m really happy about it.”

There were plenty of different projections in the various mock drafts out there regarding where Boumedienne might go, though most had him in the final third of the first round.

“I know what I’m capable of,” said Boumedienne. “I know where I’m going to take my game and I’m confident in my game, so I actually didn’t look too deep into what people had to say. But yeah, obviously there’s a lot of different stuff. People say different things before the draft but I didn’t look too deep into it, no.”

Boumedienne is playing to return to Boston University for his sophomore year.

“I look to keep developing all areas of the game,” he said. “I felt like I really set a good foundation for myself, especially at the end of the year, of how I want to play and what type of defenceman I want to be. Just look to keep growing all parts of my game.”

The Jets didn’t have a first-rounder in 2024, but their first pick was Alfons Freij, who has a similar prospect profile and recently signed his entry-level contract with the Jets — though he’s expected to return to play in Sweden’s top league next season.

There’s a good chance that Boumedienne and Freij could be teammates for Sweden at the 2026 World Junior Hockey Championship.

Looking ahead to Day 2 of the 2025 NHL Draft, the Jets have four more selections currently, the next one coming in the third round (92nd overall).

The Jets also have picks scheduled for the fourth, sixth and seventh rounds.

It will be interesting to see what strategy the Jets use on the second day and whether they look to trade up into the second round or look to add additional draft capital as the day moves along.

Multiple swaps of picks were made on Day 1, but Cheveldayoff said nothing really came close to fruition on the trade front for the Jets.

“Moving up would’ve been difficult for us given the lack of draft capital we have,” he said. “So, we had a couple different thought processes we went into the draft with. So we spent a lot of time today, honestly, looking at the board and trying to prognosticate who was going to be there.

“We made a few calls during the day to see if there was an opportunity to potentially move down if we didn’t have something in our wheelhouse there. We heard from those teams as we neared our pick and we were going to solidly pick at that point.”

Everett Silvertips forward Carter Bear of West St. Paul was the first Manitoba chosen as he went 13th overall to the Detroit Red Wings.

The other player with Manitoba connections, Brandon Wheat Kings centre Roger McQueen went 10th overall to the Anaheim Ducks.

Although the draft is taking centre stage, there’s already been plenty of talk about the additions to the roster that the Jets need to make in the coming days.

Bringing in Winnipegger Jonathan Toews, who has agreed to a one-year deal that will be official on July 1, was an important step but the Jets will be looking to further augment the roster.

With just a few more days to go before free agency opens on July 1, there’s been some speculation about what the Jets might do if forward Nikolaj Ehlers opts to sign elsewhere.

Although Ehlers hasn’t ruled out staying with the Jets, with Sam Bennett staying with the Florida Panthers and John Tavares signing an extension with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday, the expectation is Ehlers will have plenty of suitors who are offering a significant raise from the US$6 million he’s been making during the past seven seasons.

Once Mitch Marner decides where he’s going to go, Ehlers will be one of the most highly sought-after forwards this summer on the open market.

One of the possible replacements for Ehlers is right-winger Brock Boeser, who spent the past eight seasons and change with the Vancouver Canucks after finishing his NCAA career with the University of North Dakota.

Boeser, 28, has amassed 204 goals, 230 assists and 434 points in 554 NHL games — including 25 goals and 50 points in 75 games last season.

Boeser is one season removed from posting career-highs of 40 goals and 73 points and he carried that into the playoffs, where he collected 12 points in 12 post-season games.

Although Boeser’s not as dynamic as Ehlers, he’s a proven goal-scorer that has eclipsed 20 goals on six different occasions in his first eight full seasons.

ken.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

X and Bluesky: @WiebesWorld