Jets add scoring with Niederreiter

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This article was published 25/02/2023 (1007 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Some much-needed help is on the way for the struggling, offensively-challenged Winnipeg Jets.

General manager Kevin Cheveldayoff isn’t waiting for the March 3 trade deadline to make a move, swinging a Saturday afternoon deal with the Nashville Predators that brings veteran scoring forward Nino Niederreiter to town. In exchange, Winnipeg sent a 2024 second-round draft pick to Music City.

Niederreiter, 30, is in his 13th year of professional hockey after being selected fifth-overall by the New York Islanders in 2010. He has played 788 career regular-season games, with 199 goals and 197 assists. He also has 82 games of playoff experience, with 15 goals and 15 assists.

The product of Switzerland has reached the 20-goal mark six times and is closing in again this year, with 18 tallies and 10 assists in 56 games. The Predators are seven points out of a playoff spot and appear to be stripping down their roster for parts as part of a rebuild. This will be Niederreiter’s fifth NHL team, after previous stops in Long Island, Minnesota, Carolina and Nashville.

Niederreiter brings a lot of things the Jets could sorely use right now. Secondary scoring has been a major concern, especially during the past 15 games in which they’ve gone just 6-9-0 and scored only 33 goals in that span. He can certainly help in that sense, as his 18 goals this year trails only Mark Scheifele (34), Kyle Connor (26) and Pierre-Luc Dubois (24).

He also plays right wing, despite being a left-shot, and the Jets are extremely thin in that department. Niederreiter also has good size (6’2, 218 pounds) and is known as a strong forechecker with a shoot-first mentality. Winnipeg has plenty of playmakers on the roster, which often results in a pass-happy group looking for the perfect play.

Niederreiter is also more than just a pure rental. He’s signed for another season at a reasonable US $4 million. He can become an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2024. That’s also when Scheifele, Dubois, Connor Hellebuyck and Blake Wheeler can also explore the market, should they not sign extensions with the Jets before then. All of which has upped the urgency to try and take advantage of the current roster and try to win now.

Winnipeg (35-23-1) remains in the fight for first place in the wide-open Central Divison, trailing Dallas by just a single point entering play Saturday night. However, Minnesota (one point) and Colorado (two points) are hot on their heels. And the Jets only have a five-point cushion on being beneath the wildcard playoff line if they were to fall out of the top three.

They also learned this week that winger Cole Perfetti would be out for the remainder of the regular season after suffering an upper-body injury last Sunday in New Jersey. There is hope the 21-year-old could be ready in as little as eight weeks, which is when the Stanley Cup playoffs begin. Of course, the Jets are no longer the lock to qualify that they appeared to be just a few short weeks ago.

Adding Niederreiter doesn’t preclude other deals between now and March 3. Winnipeg still have as much as US $5 million in cap space to work with, and that’s without a trading partner retaining any salary. Another scoring winger, and perhaps a blue-line add, will likely be the priorities.

It’s not clear how quickly Niederreiter might be able to get to Winnipeg and join the lineup. The Jets, who lost 5-1 on Friday night to Colorado to kick off a three-game homestand, are back in action Sunday afternoon when they host the Islanders. Los Angeles closes it out with a visit on Tuesday.

Winnipeg did clear a roster spot for Niederreiter by sending forward Axel Jonsson-Fjallby down to the Manitoba Moose late Saturday afternoon.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg