Jets place Mark Stuart on unconditional waivers

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This article was published 30/06/2017 (2990 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Jets placed veteran defenceman Mark Stuart on unconditional waivers Friday for the purpose of buying out his contract.

The move was not unexpected. Stuart’s effectiveness and playing time had diminished in 2016-17, when he scored twice and added two assists in 42 games.

The 33-year-old product of Rochester, Minn., was chosen in the first round (21st overall) in the 2003 NHL Draft by the Boston Bruins. He was entering the final year of a four-year contract that was slated to pay him US$2.625 million.

“In a lot of ways I’m happy for Mark,” said Jets head coach Paul Maurice following the final session of the club’s development camp at the Bell MTS Iceplex Friday afternoon. “He’s such a great pro for this team and we all know, not just in the locker room, the battles on the ice but in the community. His role diminished last year to the point, and looking forward, I can’t honestly say it would increase. He deserves, he’s earned an opportunity to play somewhere else. So, I’m hopeful that he gets that chance.”

According to CapFriendly.com, the buyout will cost the Jets US$583,333 in each of the next two seasons. The salary cap hit, meanwhile, will be US$1.458 million in 2017-18 and US$583,333 in 2018-19.

“Mark Stuart has been a tremendous leader for the Winnipeg Jets organization on and off the ice for the past six years,” said Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff in a release. “We are forever grateful for his mentorship to our young players and the ambassador he has been in the community. This was a difficult decision to make and we wish Mark and his family all the best in the future.”

Stuart was with the franchise when it relocated from Atlanta for the 2011-12 season.

In seven seasons with the Jets-Thrashers franchise, he had 53 points, including 13 goals, in 390 regular-season games. After the departure of Stuart and Chris Thorburn, lost to the Vegas Golden Knights in the recent expansion draft, leaving Blake Wheeler, Bryan Little, Dustin Byfuglien and Toby Enstrom as the club’s only regulars who are holdovers from the first season in Winnipeg.

Nelson Nogier, a 21-year-old blue-liner who spent most of 2016-17 with the AHL’s Manitoba Moose, was grateful he had a chance to learn from Stuart during a 10-game call-up late in the season.

“I can’t thank that guy enough for helping me out while I was up there,” said Nogier. “From the day I stepped into that dressing room on my first call-up, he took me right under his wing and kinda showed me the ropes… There’s leadership qualities in him that I just tried to soak in while I was up there.”

TOP PICK IMPRESSES

First-round draft pick Kristian Vesalainen made a good accounting of himself at D-camp. The 18-year-old winger, who will play professionally in Finland this fall, scored once in the White team’s 5-2 win over the Blue squad in Friday’s scrimmage and impressed Maurice.

“Handles the puck well and he does it with his eyes up so he has an advantage then on a lot of young guys is he can make some plays and see some room,” said Maurice. “I don’t look at these camps as the scrimmages holding anything. It’s still individual skill assessements, where these guys are at. But this guy’s a skilled young player, very very smooth. So much like at the other good ones — at 18 years old you know what they want to do and you know in two or three years they’re gonna be able to do it.”

Brendan Lemieux and Jared Spooner scored two goals each for the winners, while Matt Ustaski and Skyler McKenzie had singles for the Blue team.

Maurice was asked for for an assessment of 2017 draft choices Dylan Samberg and Johnathan Kovacevic, a pair of towering defencemen selected in the second and third round, respectively. Maurice declined to give a specific rating but had a more general appraisal.

“I thought all the young defencemen we brought in moved so much better than the young defencemen of 10 or 15 years ago,” said Maurice. “Almost everyone out there, you’d say skating’s a strength for them, right?”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14