Jets at draft table: the good, bad and ugly By: Mike McIntyre Posted: 2:19 PM CDT Friday, Jun. 23, 2023

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 23/06/2023 (840 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

With so much speculation surrounding key players on the Winnipeg Jets these days, it’s easy to forget the NHL draft is just around the corner.

The annual teenage hockey talent show goes down next week in Nashville, with the first round in prime time on Wednesday evening and rounds two through seven on Thursday.

While it might not be front of mind for many fans who are preoccupied with the fate of players such as Pierre-Luc Dubois, Connor Hellebuyck, Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler, general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff and his staff certainly haven’t overlooked the draft.

It’s always an important time of year, especially for a franchise that relies on the “draft and develop” model more than many other rivals. Blockbuster trades and big-ticket free-agent signings just haven’t been the way of the world around here. Finding the next wave of homegrown talent is paramount.

The organization is slated to add five more fresh faces to the ranks down in Music City, barring any deals that go down between now and then. To get you set for what’s to come, the Free Press spent some time this week looking back at the dozen drafts that have taken place since the NHL returned to our neck of the woods in 2011.

Fun fact: There have been 78 prospects who have had their name called out by the Jets in that span. Of those, 31 can say they made it to the big leagues, although a few were just for quick pit stops and not always with Winnipeg. The other 47 are either still battling to eventually get to the NHL, or have seen that ship sail entirely.

As you will see, there have been plenty of home runs — but also more than a few swings and misses.

Currently on the roster (13)

Any doubt about the importance of building through the draft quickly disappears when you study the active roster. It’s a major piece of the current operation.

F Mark Scheifele (1st round, 2011), F Adam Lowry (3rd round, 2011), G Connor Hellebuyck (5th round, 2012), D Josh Morrissey (1st round, 2013), F Nikolaj Ehlers (1st round, 2014), F Kyle Connor (1st round, 2015), F Jansen Harkins (2nd round, 2015), F Mason Appleton (6th round, 2015), D Logan Stanley (1st round, 2016), D Dylan Samberg (2nd round, 2017), F David Gustafsson (2nd round, 2018), D Ville Heinola (1st round, 2019) and F Cole Perfetti (1st round, 2020) all played big-league games last season.

That’s a large number, especially when you look at the significant contributions from many of them.

By comparison, the Vegas Golden Knights just won the Stanley Cup while ONE homegrown product, defenceman Nic Hague, was on the ice. They do things a little differently down in Sin City, which is a major destination for obvious reasons (climate, lifestyle, tax situation …did we mention climate?)

One notable trend about the above players. After some terrific years between 2011-2015, things have gone a bit dry. That would certainly help explain why the team has been trending in the wrong direction in recent seasons, with just one playoff series victory since going to the Western Conference Final in 2018.

Samberg took a big step forward last year, while Stanley and Gustafsson did not. Heinola barely got a look, while Perfetti was once again battling injuries. Getting more out of some of these young guns would provide a much-needed boost.

 

Down on the farm (10)

Consider these guys the “next wave”, but whether they can make a big splash at the NHL level remains to be seen.

G Arvid Holm (6th round, 2017), D Declan Chisholm (5th round, 2018), D Simon Lundmark (2nd round, 2019), F Henri Nikkanen (4th round, 2019), F Daniel Torgersson (2nd round, 2020), D Tyrel Bauer (6th round, 2020), F Chaz Lucius (1st round, 2021) and F Brad Lambert (1st round, 2022) all played games with the Manitoba Moose last year. Chisholm is the only one with any NHL experience so far, having played two games in the 2021-22 campaign.

F Nikita Chibrikov (2nd round, 2021) and D Dmitry Kuzmin (3rd round, 2021) joined the Moose during their playoff run after finishing up their respective seasons with their junior teams.

Lambert and Lucius are the two who stand out. Both were returned to junior after some American Hockey League experience, and they proceeded to rip it up against their peers. Lambert carried that all the way to the Memorial Cup, while Lucius, unfortunately, got hurt.

If they can both blossom into something special, and the likes of Perfetti and Heinola can do the same, the future certainly seems brighter. Chibrikov and Kuzmin are intriguing talents as well.

 

Back home in Europe (3)

Winnipeg has really focused on Europe in recent drafts, but there are significant risks associated with that. Case in point: A trio of players who seemingly got tired of waiting for an opportunity here and have gone back overseas to play.

G Mikhail Berdin (6th round, 2016), F Kristian Vesalainen (1st round, 2017) and D Leon Gawanke (5th round, 2017).

Sure, you could argue that no damage really has been done to the Jets. But these ultimately end up feeling like wasted picks, with no real return on the investment. Only Vesalainen saw NHL action, to the tune of 70 games.

Winnipeg still retains their NHL rights, but don’t hold your breath waiting for any of them to return.

 

In the pipeline (13)

Like all teams, the Jets still have a number of players who are in the system, but not yet at the professional ranks. The clock is ticking on some of the older ones, while others are still just starting out. Obviously, the hope is a handful can turn into NHL regulars, and maybe one or two could be diamonds in the rough.

F Pavel Kraskovsky (6th round, 2014), G Jared Moe (6th round, 2018), F Austin Wong (7th round, 2018), F Harrison Blaisdell (5th round, 2019), G Logan Neaton (5th round, 2019), D Anton Johannesson (5th round, 2020), F Dmitri Rashevsky (5th round, 2021), F Rutger McGroarty (1st round, 2022), D Elias Salomonsson (2nd round, 2022), F Danny Zhilkin (3rd round, 2022), D Garrett Brown (4th round, 2022), F Fabian Wagner (6th round, 2022) and G Dominic DiVincentiis (7th round, 2022) are all relatively recent selections.

Of those, McGroarty is the most promising young forward, Salomonsson is a blue-liner worth keeping an eye on, and DiVincentiis is coming off a sizzling Ontario Hockey League campaign where he was named goaltender of the year. Rashevsky, should he ever come over from Russia, is a potential steal.

Just don’t count on any making an immediate impact. Patience is required with this group.

 

Gone, but left a mark (16)

Winnipeg has had a number of drafted and developed players get to the NHL with them, only to part for various reasons (trades, not re-signed, waivers) and continue playing in other markets.

They include D Jacob Trouba (1st round, 2012), F Nic Petan (2nd round, 2013), G Eric Comrie (2nd round, 2013), F Andrew Copp (4th round, 2013), D Tucker Poolman (5th round, 2013), F Chase De Leo (4th round, 2014), F CJ Suess (5th round, 2014), F Jack Roslovic (1st round, 2015), D Sami Niku (7th round, 2015), F Patrik Laine (1st round, 2016) and D Johnathan Kovacevic (3rd round, 2017).

F Scott Kosmachuk (3rd round, 2012), F JC Lipon (3rd round, 2013) and D Nelson Nogier (4th round, 2014) had brief looks with the Jets, only to be cut loose where they continued to play in other leagues including Europe. (but not the NHL or AHL).

G Jason Kasdorf (6th round, 2011) and F Nathan Smith (3rd round, 2018) both made their NHL debuts only after they moved on from Winnipeg.

Many outsiders see Winnipeg as a team that has trouble keeping players in the fold, but that’s not really true. As the numbers show, they nearly had as many drafted skaters on their roster last season alone (13) as they have players with NHL experience who have moved in their 12 years of existence (16).

Obviously, high-profile ones such as Trouba, Copp and Laine have made headlines, and the fate of current players such as Scheifele and Hellebuyck has led to that old narrative being resurrected, as misleading as it might be.

 

Vanished without a trace (23)

It’s not unusual to see late-round draft picks not pan out. In fact, the odds are very much against any of them making it. So the majority of these listed below aren’t exactly epic failures.

Still, a number of second-, third- and fourth-round picks who never got a sniff of the NHL certainly stings. Teams definitely want to limit how often that occurs. It also serves as a timely reminder that just because a player gets drafted, the journey is far from over. In fact, it’s really only the beginning.

There’s a good chance you’re not going to see many, if any, of these jerseys around town. Some made it as far as the Moose. Others didn’t even get to that level.

D Brennan Serville (3rd round, 2011), D Zach Yuen (4th round, 2011), F Austen Brassard (5th round, 2011), D Aaron Harstad (7th round, 2011), F Lukas Sutter (2nd round, 2012), F Ryan Olsen (6th round, 2012), G Jamie Phillips (7th round, 2012), F Jimmy Lodge (3rd round, 2013), D Jan Kostalek (4th round, 2013), D Brenden Kichton (7th round, 2013), D Marcus Karlstrom (7th round, 2013), D Jack Glover (3rd round, 2014), F Matt Ustaski (7th round, 2014), F Erik Foley (3rd round, 2015), F Michael Spacek (4th round, 2015), F Matteo Gennaro (7th round, 2015), D Luke Green (3rd round, 2016), D Jacob Cederholm (4th round, 2016), F Jordy Stallard (5th round, 2016), F Santeri Virtanen (4th round, 2017), F Skyler McKenzie (7th round, 2017), D Croix Evingson (7th round, 2017) and D Giovanni Vallati (5th round, 2018).

Gentlemen, we hardly knew ye!

 

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg