Team travel top priority

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This article was published 17/11/2011 (5073 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Travel will trump all factors when it comes to deciding how much better off the Wininpeg Jets will be after the coming NHL re-alignment.

The Atlanta Thrashers-turned-Jets were left to stay in the Eastern Conference’s Southeast Division last spring when the Atlanta franchise was relocated to the Manitoba capital, with the promise from commissioner Gary Bettman that the team would move to the Western Conference for 2012-13.

Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff heard an update of those owner-level discussions at this week’s NHL general managers’ meetings in Toronto and told reporters here Wednesday that travel is his priority.

“For us, from a pure hockey perspective, travel is the biggest thing,” Cheveldayoff said. “I’d pick the one that has the best travel.”

One pre-season calculation has the Jets traveling 44,627 miles on this season’s schedule while playing in the Eastern Conference. While it’s only 10th-highest in the NHL, it’s a number the team would hope to reduce in the future.

Cheveldayoff fielded a number of questions about possible alignment, including suggestions that the Jets might land with other Western Canadian teams, or with teams in their own Central time zone, the option favoured by many.

“Time zones do help from the travel perspective,” he said. “Anything that throws off your body clock, that is something you do want to take into consideration.”

Cheveldayoff admitted there would be a “certain allure” to being matched with the likes of Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver in the same division.

“There is a tremendous amount of interest whenever we play a Canadian team, both in our market and theirs,” he said. “I think it’s great from the standpoint of developing Jets Nation even further and further. You see a lot of Jets jerseys wherever you go, which is very exciting.”

But Cheveldayoff said he also has seen Jets jerseys in U.S. cities where the team has played.

“Either one of those directions would work out fine for us,” he said.

The Jets GM said he gets the sense that the re-alignment will not be put off due to pockets of franchise instability, like in Phoenix.

“I would assume that through all the talk of realignment, that there will be some tangible realignment,” he said. “Where, when, who, I don’t know.”

One thing he looks forward to, he said, is developing rivalries once the divisions are realigned and the Jets get to a more logical home.

“I’d love to develop some rivalries because for me, rivalries are developed in the playoffs,” he said. “From a fan’s perspective, fans can identify with different cities more but from a player’s perspective, when you have that intense competition of a playoff series, that’s where rivalries are born.”

Other topics discussed on Tuesday included protection of goalies, the 1-3-1 defensive system, hybrid icing and the mandatory use of visors.

GMs have been asked to keep an eye on these issues so they can examine what recommended changes, if any will come from their March meetings.

Cheveldayoff said he supported the group’s request for vice-president of player safety Brendan Shanahan to play close attention to goalie contact.

“They need to be protected,” Cheveldayoff said. “As far as any wide-ranging rule changes, there hasn’t been anything discussed in those regards.

“It was a mandate from the general managers that there needs to be some heightened awareness around them. Certainly I support the recommendation. I’m glad we did discuss it and that it was brought out into the open.”

It was also suggested to Cheveldayoff Wednesday that this week’s meetings sparked a new wave of trade discussions in the NHL.

He said it wasn’t necessarily the case.

“Over a period of a week, you’d probably touch base with half to three-quarters (of GMs) in the league on something,” he said. “Sometimes those lead to things, sometimes those plant seeds for the future.”

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca