Jets positive on prospects, but ‘there’s still work to do’ on roster

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This article was published 07/07/2024 (774 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Kevin Cheveldayoff was feeling a bit nostalgic as he met the media on Sunday following the completion of the latest Winnipeg Jets development camp.

“We didn’t have these back in our day,” the club’s 54-year-old general manager noted, reflecting on his time as a junior hockey player with the Brandon Wheat Kings preparing to try and make his mark as a pro.

Cheveldayoff, a 16th-overall pick of the New York Islanders in 1988, never did make the NHL. He spent five seasons toiling in the minors before hanging up his skates and likely would have benefited from such a valuable resource which is now a staple among all big-league teams.

However, he’s thrilled modern-day players are now getting the types of valuable lessons, leadership and mentoring that his generation missed out on.

“I think these camps are great,” he said. “I think it just shows how much the game has evolved. These players are craving knowledge, they are craving working with coaches, They want to talk to people, they want to learn and grow.”

A total of 35 students — 17 recent Winnipeg draft picks and 18 free agents — spent the past five days soaking up plenty of on- and off-ice lessons which they’ll now take into the rest of a summer and beyond.

“It’s a great time of the year here in Winnipeg. Unfortunately not a lot of players get to see just how wonderful the summers are here,” said Cheveldayoff.

“I think it is important for everyone to see the passion of this community, to see the stands in the middle of summer at development camp. It shows these players that hockey matters here, hockey is a big deal here, and you’re going to be part of a community that loves the game and loves you and hoping they will love it back.”

From workout plans and nutrition to social media and mental health, the Jets tried to cover as much ground as possible while also adding in several team-bonding sessions.

“Mental health has been something that when we first started doing these, we didn’t really touch on that. Now it’s such a big component of this week,” said Cheveldayoff.

“Young players want to get there so fast and people are telling them, ‘You need to get there, you need this, you need that’ but you have to help them understand where they are in the game, where they are in their head space.”

The Jets are feeling positive about their prospect pool, with promising forwards such as Brad Lambert, Nikita Chibrikov, Chaz Lucius and Colby Barlow, defencemen such as Elias Salomonsson, Alfons Freij and Garrett Brown and goaltenders like Thomas Milic and Domenic DiVincentiis leading the way.

Lambert, Chibrikov and Salomonsson could all force their way into the Jets conversation as early as training camp this fall. However, Cheveldayoff has also spent the past several days with an eye on the present, bringing in a handful of players who could prove safety nets should some of the kids not immediately be ready.

Since free agency began last Monday, the Jets signed goaltenders Eric Comrie and Kaapo Kahkonen, forwards Jaret Anderson-Dolan and Mason Shaw, and defenceman Haydn Fleury. They also obtained blue-liner Dylan Coghlan in a trade with the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday (future considerations went the other way).

“For us, Haydn Fleury’s been someone that we’ve scouted and seen for a long period of time, has experience in the league and has had some ups and downs. It’s a good opportunity for him and Coghlan to come in and compete and push,” said Cheveldayoff.

“It gives the organization some depth and also some options. Anderson-Dolan is a player who is kind of right there. We watched him in the LA organization. He got claimed on waivers and didn’t quite play as much as maybe he wanted. But he plays hard, plays with energy. Shaw plays hard. So there’s going to be lots of competition at those levels.”

Cheveldayoff also re-signed unrestricted free agent defenceman Colin Miller and got new deals done with restricted free agent defenceman Logan Stanley (two years, US $1.25 million per season) and forward David Gustafsson (two years, US $835,000).

Time to now put the feet up after a whirlwind week which also included the draft in Las Vegas? Not quite.

“There’s still work to be done,” said Cheveldayoff.

Forward Cole Perfetti and a trio of defencemen in Coghlan, Ville Heinola and Simon Lundmark are the remaining RFAs who still need new deals.

There is still plenty of trade buzz surrounding forward Nikolaj Ehlers, who has just one year left on his current contract. And forward prospect Rutger McGroarty, who didn’t attend development camp this week, could also be moved due to a stalemate with the organization over the direction of his future.

The Jets also project to have more than US$4 million in salary cap space that they could potentially weaponize between now and the start of the 2024-25 season on Oct. 9 — especially since there could be several clubs who are currently above the US$88 million cap ceiling and will need to shed players in order to be compliant.

“You know, it all comes down to opportunity. If there’s an opportunity we feel is right we obviously have the ability to jump on it,” said Cheveldayoff.

“But you don’t use cap space just for the sake of saying I’m going to use cap space. There’s lots of different avenues, things that could unfold.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X: @mikemcintyrewpg