One down, only 999 to go

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/06/2011 (5250 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Craig Heisinger leaned on a railing at the XCel Energy Center as the picture of organized chaos unfolded directly behind him.

Tables were taken apart and chairs packed up as the stage that provided the backdrop to the National Hockey League entry draft was being dismantled.

And in many ways it was a scene that best described the perpetual motion that is life for Heisinger and the rest of the Winnipeg Jets management team these days. There is little time to sit back, throw their feet up and relax — although they did have occasion to do just that Friday night during the first round of the draft.

“We made our pick there early (seventh overall) and then sat there for three hours,” said Heisinger. “I said to Chevy (GM Kevin Cheveldayoff), ‘This is the most time off we’ve had in three weeks, sitting and waiting for this to be over.’ “

The draft is now yesterday’s news. Next is preparing for the opening of this week’s free agency market by making qualifying offers to captain Andrew Ladd and other restricted free agents like Blake Wheeler, Zach Bogosian and Anthony Stewart and also finding assistant coaches for Claude Noel, getting the operation set up with their AHL affiliate in St. John’s, planning for a rookie camp…

“I was sitting with Zinger and I turned to him after we made our last pick and said, ‘All right, cross that one off the list and let’s go on to the next thing,’ ” said Cheveldayoff. “There’s lots of different things that we have to accomplish, but bit by bit we’ll get it all done.”

Yes, this organization has already proven it can think on its feet. As evidence, we give you the whirlwind that has been the last few days, from meeting with the scouting staff that came north from Atlanta for the first time, to choosing Noel as the head coach, ‘Jets’ as the team nickname, to making two trades on the second day of the draft and calling out seven names over the two-day affair.

It’s hard to imagine any franchise anywhere in sport having a longer to-do list to complete in a shorter period of time. Next: the qualifying offers to the restricted free agents must be submitted today with free agency beginning on Canada Day.

“We’ll be as aggressive as is feasible and reasonable,” said Cheveldayoff, who stressed the Jets will spend in the mid-range of a salary cap that has a floor of $48.3 million and a ceiling of $64.3 million. “This is going to be a process. There’s not going to be a quick fix that is out there just to say one guy is going to put us over the top. For now, we’ll spend some time going over a couple of things from the pro-scouting staff and getting ready for free agency.

“There’s lots of things that still need to happen,” Cheveldayoff added. “It’s going to be a busy, busy summer from a free-agency standpoint, from a team-building standpoint and also from the relocation of the team standpoint.”

The Jets, like all 30 teams at the draft, were thrilled with their handiwork over Friday and Saturday. As Heisinger warned, however: “Every team left with the same opinion. In three years we’ll know.”

Winnipeg went big on big North American-born skaters on the weekend, selecting Barrie Colts centre Mark Scheifele seventh overall; Swift Current Broncos left-winger Adam Lowry (67th); sending two later-round picks to Montreal to move up and grab defenceman Brennan Serville (78th), who will be attending the University of Michigan; doing the same with San Jose to slide up to select Tri-City Americans D-man Zach Yuen (119th) before completing their haul with Belleville Bulls right-winger Austen Brassard (149th), Portage Terriers goaltender Jason Kasdorf (157th), off to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in September; and defenceman Aaron Harstad (187th), who will be headed to Colorado College in the fall.

In the end, the Jets’ collective approach to all this — from the long to-do list to simply being back with the big boys of the NHL — might be best represented by Scheifele, the Dale Hawerchuk-coached first-round selection who simply couldn’t stop grinning Friday night and through the weekend.

“That kid,” cracked Heisinger, “is going to have a sore face from smiling so much.”

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca