Team not hesitant to wheel, deal

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This article was published 24/02/2020 (2022 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Kevin Cheveldayoff was far from the NHL’s busiest wheeler-dealer on trade-deadline day over the last decade, but he wouldn’t be accused of dereliction of duty, either.

The Winnipeg Jets general manager decided against making any player moves Monday, a business strategy he’s implemented before.

Instead, he beat the traffic by swinging a couple of deals during the week leading up to the deadline to immediately add production personnel — defenceman Dylan DeMelo and centre Cody Eakin — without losing bodies from his roster.

Cheveldayoff has gone with that method in the past. And on the two most recent occasions— not counting Monday — he’s executed player swaps of the blockbuster variety on the very last day the league’s horse-traders are eligible to bolster their stable before the stretch run to the playoffs.

During the early seasons after the franchise moved from Atlanta to the Manitoba capital in time for the 2011-12 season, Winnipeg’s GM chose to stand pat on deadline day, not because he was enamoured with his group as a whole, but because he really had little to offer without disturbing the core group.

So, through the course of three consecutive trade deadlines (2012-14), he and his pro scouts and the coaching staff of the time gathered in their war room, did whatever due diligence they felt was warranted and made exactly one deal.

Cheveldayoff was not a popular man in those days. Lots of people — most with no credentials beyond being frustrated fans — spit venom on social media, comment boards and call-in shows his way. He was viewed by many in one of two ways. He was too inexperienced to find a trading partner or lacked either the guts or wherewithal to consummate a deal. 

That perception changed during years 4 through 8 when Cheveldayoff waded into the trading frenzy. Here’s a look at what the Jets accomplished on the NHL’s annual deadline day and, in some cases, the weeks leading up to it, from 2012 to 2019:

Feb. 27, 2012 — Winnipeg delivered the pizza man to Chicago, home of the deep dish. Cheveldayoff sent defenceman Johnny Oduya (whose turnovers were referred to as ‘free pizzas’ by then-head coach Claude Noel) to the Blackhawks for second- and third-round draft picks in 2013. The third-rounder turned into JC Lipon, who has played nine games with the Jets but remains a key part of the organization with the Manitoba Moose. Oduya, it’s worth noting, played parts of five seasons in Chicago and won Stanley Cups in 2013 and 2015.

April 3, 2013 — The lockout pushed back the deadline considerably, however, it changed nothing for the Jets who were idle that day. 

March 5, 2014 — The Jets were bystanders.

March 2, 2015 — Winnipeg made no moves at the deadline, because the heavy lifting was done much earlier. Cheveldayoff orchestrated the biggest and, unquestionably, most successful trade of his time in office on Feb. 11. The Jets unloaded the talented but troublesome Evander Kane, along with defenceman Zach Bogosian and goaltending prospect Jason Kasdorf to the Buffalo Sabres for blue-liner Tyler Myers, forwards Drew Stafford and Joel Armia, the rights to junior star Brendan Lemieux along with a first-round pick (25th overall) in the 2015 NHL draft, which became forward Jack Roslovic.

Then on Feb. 25, he dealt a fifth-round pick in 2015 (Spencer Smallman) and a third-round pick in 2016 (Matt Filipe) to the Carolina Hurricanes for winger Jiri Tlusty. And on the eve of the deadline, he moved Carl Klingberg to the New York Rangers for Lee Stempniak in a flip of forwards. The moves helped Winnipeg make its first playoff appearance, which turned out to be brief as the Anaheim Ducks swept them in four games in the first round.

Feb. 29, 2016 — Again, no trades were made at the deadline. But the Jets had shipped out their captain to Chicago in a major deal four days earlier. Andrew Ladd, a Stanley Cup winner with the ’Hawks in 2010, went to the Windy City along with forward Matt Fraser and defenceman Jay Harrison for forward Mark Dano, a 2016 first-round pick, which turned out to be blue-liner Logan Stanley at the 18th pick. He’s still with the Moose and his development has been slow, although he’s fought through numerous injuries.

March 1, 2017 — The day signalled the end of the Stafford era, as he was shipped to the Boston Bruins for a fifth-round pick in 2018 (solid blue-line prospect Declan Chisholm).

Feb. 26, 2018 — This was a deadline deal Jets fans won’t ever forget. Cheveldayoff was lauded in the hockey world for his acquisition of veteran centre Paul Stastny, who turned into a great playmaker for scoring wingers Patrik Laine and Nikolaj Ehlers. Stastny, who came over from the St. Louis Blues, was a huge boost down the stretch and through playoff series wins over the Minnesota Wild and Nashville Predators before the Vegas Golden Knights stopped them in the Western Conference final.

Winnipeg surrendered defensive prospect Erik Foley, a conditional first-round pick in 2018 (later swapped to Toronto, who chose Rasmus Sandin at No. 29). In a second deal that day, the Jets traded a fourth-round pick (Milos Roman) to Montreal for defenceman Joe Morrow.

Feb. 25, 2019: — The Jets went big-game hunting to solve their second-line centre trouble for the second consecutive year, this time obtaining Kevin Hayes from the Rangers for the feisty Lemieux and a first-round pick in the summer of 2019. The deal didn’t exactly propel Winnipeg to greatness as the team bowed out in the opening round of the post-season to the Blues.

Cheveldayoff finished the day as the busiest of all NHL GMs, making five more trades. Most significant was getting defenceman Nathan Beaulieu from the Sabres for a sixth-round pick in 2019 (Karel Plasek). He also sent Nic Petan to Toronto for Par Lindholm, acquired depth blue-liner Bogdan Kiselevich from Florida for a seventh-round pick in 2021, picked up centre Matt Hendricks for a second tour of duty, at a cost of a seventh-round pick this year, and gained the rights to someone named Alex Broadhurst from Columbus for future considerations.

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell