WINNIPEG – That Kevin Cheveldayoff is once again banking on his core to take care of business should come as no surprise.
Quite simply, it’s what the general manager of the Winnipeg Jets does.
It’s his go-to move, if you will.
That the Jets didn’t invest more heavily in the aforementioned group with a bigger swing before Friday's NHL trade deadline is open to interpretation and something that will be fascinating to monitor during the final quarter of the season.
Cheveldayoff’s lone move of the day was to bring in an experienced, versatile forward in Vladislav Namestnikov, who is expected to skate on the wing on either the third or fourth line.
That left the total number of pre-deadline moves made by the Jets at two: with winger Nino Niederreiter arriving a few days earlier, adding an element of physical play and complementary scoring that the Jets have been lacking while going through this lengthy stretch of uneven play.
There was an expectation the Jets would add to the defence corps, but that didn’t happen.
The number of assets going out the door was also two: a second-rounder in 2024 for Niederreiter and a fourth-rounder in 2025 for Namestnikov – who has some familiarity with Jets head coach Rick Bowness after he was acquired by the Dallas Stars at the NHL trade deadline in 2022.
“It’s a good addition,” Bowness told reporters in Edmonton. “He’s a very versatile forward who can play all three forward positions. He can kill penalties, you can throw him into the top-six every now and then, and if the power play is struggling, he can help that. It’s his versatility that’s the big attraction to him. Plus, he’s a good teammate and a great person.”
Namestnikov, a pending unrestricted free agent who carries a cap hit of $1.25 million, was scheduled to arrive in Winnipeg on Friday night and could be in the lineup on Saturday when the Jets play the Oilers.
Cheveldayoff took questions roughly one hour after the deadline had passed with barely a ripple around these parts, and there was the usual expression of belief in a group that has won just one playoff series since a run to the Western Conference final in 2018.
But in this case, do Cheveldayoff’s actions match the words?
“We didn’t move anybody out at the deadline,” said Cheveldayoff. “This is the group that got us to this point. We’ve added a couple of strategic pieces that we felt were important and that this group is good enough to take us to the next level.”
Is this a case of blind faith or are the Jets going to reward Cheveldayoff by getting things turned back around during the stretch run?
Could the lack of a blockbuster move to try to keep up with some of the Joneses’ both in the Western Conference and the ridiculous arms race in the East be some kind of an emotional letdown as the Jets play a home-and-home with the Edmonton Oilers on Friday and Saturday?
It won’t take long to find out.
With history as our guide, it’s easy to see that when Cheveldayoff saw the Jets in the midst of a window of contention in 2018, he was comfortable spending a first-round draft pick in the deal that brought Paul Stastny into the fold.
Then, again at the 2019 deadline, with the Jets still battling for top spot in the Central Division, there was Cheveldayoff willing to spend a first-rounder once again in the deal for Kevin Hayes.
Cheveldayoff insisted the high prices weren’t an impediment to making a splashier deal at this deadline.
So, why was it important for Cheveldayoff to hang onto the first-rounders for 2023 and 2024 this time around rather than using them as assets to augment the roster?
“Well, you said it was important, I didn’t say it was important. I’m just saying there wasn’t an opportunity to use it,” said Cheveldayoff, answering a question about when a GM knows that it’s time to take an all-in approach. “The interesting thing here is (the) quote 'all-in.' To win in the National Hockey League, you need to have a team. You need to construct a team that works well together and you need to construct a team that has cohesiveness. It’s not about getting the next new shiny toy.
“It’s about the pieces that you think that can fit the character and work together with your room. I think the opportunity for these players to show this group here, that we believed in, can take you to the next level with a couple of additions. That’s what we did.”
One of the theories circulating in recent days was that Cheveldayoff chose to alter his approach to this deadline based on some of the struggles the Jets have endured.
A group that has occupied top spot in both the Central Division and Western Conference standings not long ago is suddenly in a wild-card battle and trying to hold off the Calgary Flames and Nashville Predators.
Since a 20-9-1 start, the Jets have dipped dramatically, going 15-15-1 during the next 31 games, so you can imagine why a GM might not be as willing to go as “all-in” as some of the other teams that made bold moves to bolster their respective teams.
Cheveldayoff was quick to dismiss the theory.
“Well, that’s not factoring into the approach. I think you approach the deadline with the goal in mind of filling the areas that you can in front of you with the options that are real. Again, that’s what you have to deal with,” said Cheveldayoff. “So, we didn’t necessarily look and say, 'Because of how we’re playing here, we’re not going to do this, we’re not going to do that.' But you have to deal with what’s real in front of you. We felt these were the best options.
“This isn’t fantasy hockey. There’s a real hard cap. There are assets that organizations have, and everyone talks about trading picks, you saw a lot of picks traded over this course of time. We’ve traded a lot of picks over the period of time to assemble this team. We were aggressive. We were in the market. We’ve got players that we feel help us win right now, and that’s the most important thing. So, if you look at all the different components as to why you think you should be able to compete for a Stanley Cup, I think we’ve got it.”
The theory is about to be put to the test and how those players respond could go a long way toward determining what type of offseason is ahead for the Jets.
“Everybody talks about different windows and everything like that, but these guys are players that are good players, they’re the ones that are going to take us to the championship here,” said Cheveldayoff. “It’s not the players necessarily that you acquire at the deadline or different things like that. You do your work in constructing your team during the summer. So, you do your tweaking at a deadline.”
After a relatively quiet summer, the tweaking is now complete and it mostly resembles another half measure.
If things don’t go well for the Jets during the next several months, Cheveldayoff has left himself open to criticism about why he didn’t do more to help this team.
Or why he didn’t act sooner, before some of the other potential targets were already off the board.
Mortgaging too much of the future certainly could have serious consequences for the Jets.
So, too, could not adding another piece or two to the puzzle before this window of contention potentially narrows once again.
