Chevy’s early activity creates suspense — is there more to come?

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/02/2015 (3868 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

No one would hold it against Kevin Cheveldayoff and the Winnipeg Jets brain trust if they spent the remaining hours leading up to Monday’s NHL trade deadline hunkered down in their war room smoking stogies, joyously clinking their beer steins and simply watching the last of the madness unfold.

After all, Cheveldayoff & Co. have already been busy, signing off on the blockbuster deal with the Buffalo Sabres earlier this month and then landing Jiri Tlusty from the Carolina Hurricanes a few days ago. So if this bunch does nothing else this weekend to augment the current roster or prospect pool, they’ll still get two thumbs up for their handiwork.

Mind you, here’s the goofy thing about all that: Given that Cheveldayoff has gone way off script this month — his trade-deadline reputation had been of a GM who primarily sat on his thumbs while steadfastly sticking to his draft-and-develop model — no one should rule out the possibility he orchestrates another deal, or two, before Monday at 2 p.m.

So, will the Jets make more noise before the deadline or will they be spectators? Here are a handful of items/issues/questions to debate among yourselves leading up to Monday:

 

1. WHO IS THIS CHEVELDAYOFF IMPOSTER?

Remember late summer 2014 when Jets faithful were lamenting the club’s inactivity in free agency — adding Mathieu Perreault and T.J. Galiardi didn’t exactly rock the NHL neighbourhood — and the GM was being cast as too timid, too methodical, too unwilling to bust up a core that had yet to accomplish anything?

Well, let’s revisit that in brief…

Perreault — regardless of the injury that will sideline him until April — has since been praised as one of the shrewdest free-agent signings of last summer. And landing Jay Harrison in December for an extra sixth-round pick acquired previously from Ottawa came at a time when the Jets blue-line corps was decimated and gave the squad a veteran blue-liner to help them tread water. Those moves in themselves get the GM a nod of approval.

But it’s the two recent deals — sending two picks to Carolina for Tlusty with Perreault and Blake Wheeler on the mend and shipping Evander Kane, gone for the season, along with Zach Bogosian and goalie prospect Jason Kasdorf to the Sabres for Tyler Myers, Drew Stafford, a late first-round pick, junior prospect Brendan Lemieux and former Buffalo first-rounder Joel Armia — that has many changing their thinking on Cheveldayoff.

These weren’t deals made from a position of power, particularly moving Kane, but the returns have yielded help in the immediate and some future pieces that haven’t taken a bite out of a prospect pool now considered one of the best in the NHL. In effect, Cheveldayoff has fed the short-term needs AND bolstered the organizational depth chart. That’s no easy task for any GM.

 

2. WHY ALL THE WHEELING AND DEALING?

The Jets aren’t without their flaws, but every morning the GM wakes up and still sees his squad in a playoff position puts the franchise one step closer to the immediate goal: Ending the NHL’s second-longest playoff drought (Edmonton, absent since the 2006 Stanley Cup final, has been absent one year longer).

Clearly the Jets are in a better position to deal than in the first few years of their reincarnation. By hoarding draft picks — and putting in the hours and spending the dollars to scout and get the majority of those selections right — the team’s futures list is far more promising than at any time in its existence. Knowing players such as Josh Morrisey, Nic Petan, Scott Kosmachuk, Nik Ehlers, Connor Hellebuyck et al. are growing under the team’s guidance has given Cheveldayoff the confidence to add a couple of rental players like Stafford and Tlusty for the current push knowing it doesn’t rob from the organizational cupboard.

That’s a position he couldn’t take last season and certainly in the years before.

It also means he doesn’t lose the trust of the current core now in their prime — guys like Wheeler, Andrew Ladd, Dustin Byfuglien, Bryan Little, Toby Enstrom — who might have been frustrated watching the GM’s blueprint slowly come to life. Now it’s up to them to do the rest of the heavy lifting.

 

3. THE BURMISTROV BARGAINING CHIP

For the record, the last game Alex Burmistrov played in the NHL came on April 25, 2013 in a 4-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens. In the two years since, the enigmatic 23-year-old Russian has been playing in the KHL, scoring 20 goals and finishing with 63 points in 107 games with Kazan Ak Bars.

His name was included in rumours about the Toronto Maple Leafs and Daniel Winnik, before the latter was sent to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Since then he’s also been linked to the Sabres — or any other NHL team in full rebuild mode.

Cheveldayoff explained Burmistrov’s situation earlier this week as thus: He is on the team’s reserve list, but not eligible to play with any NHL team for the remainder of the season. Lots of dots have been connected suggesting Burmistrov may return to the Jets now Paul Maurice and not Claude Noel is behind the bench, but his interest in returning to the NHL could mean his name is still in play in the next few days.

 

4. HELLO, MY NAME IS… (DREW, JIRI, TYLER, ERIC, CARL)

What’s left for the Jets to do, if anything, before the deadline? They still have a depth defenceman in Paul Postma spending his nights in the press box and another converted D-man in Adam Pardy taking turns up front and returning to the blueline on the penalty kill. Postma might — might — draw some interest from a team looking for a mobile third-pairing D-man.

Matt Halischuk is also expected back in the days ahead and his return could help the fourth line. Recent AHL call-ups Carl Klingberg and Eric O’Dell are also fighting for attention from the coach and O’Dell, in particular, looked comfy on the wing with Adam Lowry and Chris Thorburn in Thursday’s game against the St. Louis Blues.

All of this means there has been a ton of change in the Jets dressing room over the last few weeks. Developing line chemistry, as well as some sort of cohesion among the defencemen, has been near impossible for Maurice. But if Wheeler is to return soon, the top six will be set and the third line will be boosted with either Tlusty or Stafford sliding in with Lowry. Getting Perreault back in April for the playoffs — if they can hold on to a spot — would be a boon. Most importantly, all this means Dustin Byfuglien is back on the blue-line resuming his role as a 25-minute-a-game Tour de Force.

 

5. A HISTORY OF SILENCE (PREVIOUSLY, ON THE JETS AT THE DEADLINE…)

If Jets fans are gluttons for more and landing Harrison, Stafford, Myers and Tlusty over the past few months isn’t seen as enough to fill, Cheveldayoff’s previous efforts at the NHL trade deadline are the biggest hint it might be time to back away from the transaction buffet.

Consider:

•  2012: Traded D Johnny Oduya to Chicago for second and third-round draft choices in 2013. Those picks, included in another trade with Washington, allowed the Jets to select JC Lipon, Jimmy Lodge, Jan Kostalek and Tucker Poolman.

Also claimed D Grant Clitsome off waivers from Columbus.

• 2013: No trades. Claimed C Mike Santorelli off waivers from Florida.

• 2014: No trades. No waiver-wire claims. Signed D Mark Stuart to contract extension.

Again, it’s with an acknowledgement of that thin list above which many around the NHL applauding what the Jets have already done. And whether there is an encore, or the Jets go dark, should make the next few days even that much more riveting.

 

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPEdTait