Jets GM enthusiastic about team, future

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This article was published 24/04/2015 (3846 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Kevin Cheveldayoff is going to do everything he can to keep the band together.

The Winnipeg Jets GM spoke with the media today in his annual season-ending address and raved about the group of players who took this team to its first playoff berth since relocation — and set a franchise record for points along the way with 99 — before being swept out of the first round of the playoffs by the Anaheim Ducks.

“I’m just real proud of that group,” said Cheveldayoff. “Obviously, there’s a sense of emptiness, sitting here today and talking to most of the guys. You fight so hard to get that opportunity to play in the playoffs and it just makes you that much more appreciative of just how hard it is to get there and then what it’s going to take to continue to take the next steps as an organization.

“I like the group in there and if we can keep as much of it together as we can, that’s good. Obviously, there’s going to be some change. That’s inevitable, just given the amount of players and transitions that we made. Plus, we have some guys in the organization that could be knocking on the door.”

The Jets enter the offseason with nine players scheduled to become unrestricted free agents: forwards Michael Frolik, Drew Stafford, Jiri Tlusty, Lee Stempniak, Jim Slater, Matt Halischuk, TJ Galiardi and Eric O’Dell and defenceman Adam Pardy. Four more players, Ben Chiarot, Anthony Peluso, Paul Postma and Keaton Ellerby, are also scheduled to become restricted free agents.

There’s also the not-so tiny matter of dealing with key cogs like Andrew Ladd and Dustin Byfuglien, both entering the final year of their contracts, and how to get all of that to fit under the moving target that is the salary cap.

Asked what the Jets need to do to take the next step, Cheveldayoff spoke of the continuing maturity of the group both in the room and on the ice.

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“You bank on the players that are here that they’re going to continue to grow,” he said. “We have a young enough leadership core that there’s still room for them to grow in their game and their leadership in that room. We do have some young players that pitted up against some experienced guys that had gone through those battles before. They’re going to grow from that, they’re going to learn the positives and negatives that were in their own game and in the team game.

“We’ve got a great leader in that room in Paul Maurice, as the coach. Those guys are going to continue to teach and help the players take that next step. The guys that I have seen (in exit meetings), they appreciate what it takes to get there. It’s not so much the points and, obviously, 99 points this year was a great accomplishment. But down the stretch… you want them to learn the lessons along the way. It is the marathon of the season that ultimately gets you there in the end. That’s important. But you’ve got to be ready to take your game to the next level when you get that opportunity to run in the playoffs.

“Nothing’s ever guaranteed in this game. You get the opportunity to reinvent yourself every day and that’s important.”

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPEdTait