There’s no place like home

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/07/2011 (5539 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg’s Jason Gregoire was able to take advantage of a clause in the collective bargaining agreement to become an NHL free agent this summer.

That CBA, though, did not allow the 22-year-old former star for the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux to consider any whopper contract offers — two-way contracts capped at $925,000 are mandatory for all entry-level players.

The left-winger voted with his signature on Thursday, agreeing to terms with the hometown Winnipeg Jets.

“My first criteria when I was picking teams was opportunity,” said Gregoire, who had as many as nine teams vying for his services after three seasons at UND. “To play right away or have a future opportunity to kind of step in in a year or two and I thought Winnipeg fit that bill.

“Another thing was a winning team, and that’s where I thought Winnipeg was going to fit that, too. It’s tough to find the combination because if you look at some of the winning teams, they’re not going to have too many holes.

“And obviously being my hometown, it’s almost too good to be true.”

Gregoire was not made any glowing promises, Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff said Thursday. “We promised him nothing.

“We told him it was all going to be up to him, how he was going to come into training camp and how he’d play.

“We told him his play will dictate where he goes and what he does. It’s kind of like any prospect in our organization right now; if they’re at the proper level and ready to play, we’ve got a spot for him.”

Cheveldayoff did say, however, there were plenty of reasons the Jets pursued Gregoire: Hockey Sense. A responsible two-way game.

“We feel he has a real good chance to play here sometime soon,” Cheveldayoff said. “It’s exciting that he chose to come to us. We know he had a lot of other options.”

Gregoire will be at training camp this fall. Whether he can jump from NCAA to the NHL is unknown, but he’ll certainly have a leg up on the process, having played a highly regarded UND, where he put up 25 goals and 43 points in 35 games this season.

“Trust with the coaches, that they could play me in any situation,” Gregoire said about accountability under Sioux coach Dave Hakstol. “Everything about UND is so professional. They really develop players well.”

Despite losing a player with another year of eligibility, Hakstol saw only the positive to the move on Thursday.

“Jason’s ready to make this step,” Hakstol said from Grand Forks. “He’s done everything the right way here as a part of our program and he’s been a great player for us.”

Gregoire said he’s ready to do what it takes, even if that includes a time in St. John’s of the AHL.

He was drafted by the New York Islanders in the third round of 2007, while he was still in the USHL with the Lincoln Stars. He arrived at UND in 2008 and this spring, recognizing an advantageous clause in the CBA, he officially left school.

Any club with a drafted player who doesn’t graduate with his class, who’s not longer a bona fide student, retains that player’s rights only to the fourth June 1st after his draft. That put Gregoire on the open market last month, though it seemed inevitable because it was believed the Islanders weren’t going to try to sign him anyway.

Gregoire’s age mandates that he get a two-way deal for two years. The maximum compensation for an entry-level player today is $925,000 on the NHL side and $70,000 on the AHL side.

Given that the pitch would likely be the same from every team interested, what did the Jets do to persuade him?

“It’s open honesty about the opportunity that’s in front of him,” said Cheveldayoff, who met with Gregoire at the NHL draft two weeks ago. “Zinger (assistant GM Craig Heisinger) and I talked to him at length several times. He came in and saw the facilities. He knows how the organization was run in years past. We talked about the vision of the franchise moving forward.”

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca

pull quote if you like it…

Jason: “It was a tough decision; had to weigh a lot of pros and cons but playing in my hometown, couldn’t pass it up.”