Winnipeg Jets: Development Camp Edition

General Manager Kevin Cheveldayoff has kept himself busy so far this summer by signing some unrestricted free agents (D Dylan DeMelo, D Colin Miller, F Jaret Anderson-Dolan, F Mason Shaw, D Hayden Fleury), avoiding arbitration by re-upping a couple of his restricted free agents (F David Gustafsson & D Logan Stanley), trading for D Dylan Coghlan, and fielding calls on rumoured trade-baits Nikolaj Ehlers & Rutger McGroarty. It could be notable that the Jets’ management is talking the same way about Ehlers as they did with Connor Hellebuyck and Mark Scheifele last off-season. Does that mean re-signing Fly is still on the table? Because even a dunce at analytics can see the Dane makes his linemates better, so maybe any potential changes to the top six could focus on another player?

The long-time Winnipeg Jets’ GM also made time to mingle with the franchise’s prospects at the team’s development camp and impart the following messages to the young players in attendance. Here are some of the things Cheveldayoff discussed:

Outlook for prospects with Winnipeg’s NHL club:

“If I’m a young player in the Jets organization today, I’m pretty excited about the opportunities in front of me. I’m working hard in the off-season to make sure I can take full advantage.”

The need for players to step up when chances present themselves:

“If you want to try and move forward in this league, you have to take different opportunities that are in front of you – whether you’re a team or whether you’re a player. It’s about seizing that moment. Everybody talks about wanting more. This is the opportunity for some of them to get that.”

Why he believes time in the AHL is a positive for a player’s development:

“All those guys that get the opportunity to go over the boards on a regular basis, I think that’s important. You need to grow.”

How does the team tell when a prospect is ready to make the jump to the NHL:

“You try and develop the young players to the American Hockey League level to get them to the point where they force you to make decisions – whether that’s at training camp or throughout the year.”

The franchise continued to send that message when current Jets’ captain Adam Lowry dropped by to chat with the attendees. Director of Player Development Jimmy Roy summed up his visit with the following quotes:

“He talked about his path from where he grew up with his dad and being a hockey family. He talked about where he lived, the places he played junior hockey in Swift Current. He talked about the things that he does to prepare himself for games.”

“His path, the first time he was sent down and how disappointed he was, how he had to go back down to St. John’s at the time, the Moose at the time, and work on his game and figure that out to get back up there. Those are all great growing experiences that kids are going, it’s going to happen. So, to hear it from him, I think it has huge impact, more than I could ever tell a kid or a coach could ever tell a kid.“

Now I am sure that information was important for Winnipeg’s future NHL hopefuls to hear, I believe Chevy was also trying to send a message to wayward prospect McGroarty’s camp. Basically he was suggesting that there is plenty of opportunity for McG with the Jets and even if he has to start his career in the AHL, all he has to do is play well enough and he’ll find himself in the big leagues quick enough. Sounds totally reasonable to me since I could find only three current Winnipeg players that didn’t spend some time in the AHL. Those include a couple of top 10 draft picks (Mark Scheifele & Nikolaj Ehlers) and bottom six forward Alex Iafallo (he was 24 yrs old when he played his first professional game as an undrafted UFA).

Manitoba Moose head coach Mark Morrison also reinforced the message of the importance of getting a taste of professional hockey in the AHL by saying it’s obvious how much players like Colby Barlow and Brad Lambert have grown from the experience they’ve gained over the last 12 months.

“It’s interesting what that year does to their personalities and how they carry themselves and how they act within the group.”

“You can tell the maturity level there of some of the guys — like Brad for example — he comes in now with a little swagger to him and carries himself within this group as a leader. Talking to Colby, at the end of the year he got a little bit of ice-time with us and that helps. He knows where he stands and knows the things he has to improve on.“

Possibly hearing more from some of the Jets’ high end prospects on their time in the AHL would help? Here are a couple of comments from Lambert about his time in the minors last season and the opportunity he will have in the organization this season:

“We had a great group of guys. I love being around the guys. I love being a part of that team. It was a great team atmosphere and had a lot of fun playing with those guys. It was great.”

“Obviously there’s a lot of work ahead of me this summer. So that’s kind of my thought process, is taking it a day at a time trying to get as much better as I can. So that come training camp and ready to compete.”

While Chevy is saying that Lambert has a legit shot at the NHL this season, I’m not sure his actions (i.e. trying to sign Monahan & Henrique) totally match those words. He did say those things after those two potential 2C’s spurned the Jets advances, so possibly it’s more of a Plan B type of thing. It also could be that there are more moves to come and I am judging an incomplete picture. Either way, the young Finn deserves a shot after the season he put in, preferably at center…no need to stifle his current confidence levels.

Barlow also chimed in about his brief stint with the Moose last season:

“It showed me what I had to get better at to reach that level. That’s what I’m working on this summer. I’m feeling good, I feel good here. I’m just going to get better as the summer continues with those things in mind and come back the best player I can be.”

A lower draft pick than McGroarty (3rd round), forward Danil Zhilkin also discussed some of the differences between being a non-professional and a professional hockey player after completing his first season with Manitoba:

“Just everyday habits. You’re coming from junior where you’re not really focusing on habits. You’re having fun with your buddies and going out and playing. It’s not really a job yet. Here, it’s pro hockey and you’re battling for spots. You’re trying to make a career for yourself.”

Prospect Jacob Julien talked about working with Jets development staff (Roy & Mike Keane), noting that they spent a lot of time this season helping Julien improve his game in person and over the phone.

“Obviously they are great development guys, they helped me a lot whether it’s just simple things like winning 50/50 puck battles or getting your feet moving a little bit more. They really helped me especially with my self-evaluation. They guided me through that.”

From the sound of it, not only has Julien’s experience with Winnipeg’s development team been positive, he also made a new friend at last year’s camp. It seems he and fellow prospect Connor Levis are in regular contact, perhaps building some future chemistry for the Jets’ future bottom six?

“We talked all the time throughout the season, just to see how each other were doing. Kind of just started talking last season and hanging out a little bit more and ended up becoming friends.” said Julien.

“We just like to spend a lot of time hanging out. We’ve become really close friends. We’ve been pretty much hanging out the whole time here.” quipped Levis.

During his development camp presser, Cheveldayoff also discussed the decision to buyout Nate Schmidt’s contract:

“I want to extend my gratitude and appreciation to Nate and what he brought to our organization. When we made the trade for Nate, he had the opportunity to have a no-trade in his contract and he waived it to come here.”

“For us, it was a tough decision, but we wanted to open up some opportunities within the organization for some of the players that have been here. Even more so, I didn’t want to put Nate through the situation as a veteran guy getting scratched. It just wasn’t right.”

The veteran defender landed on his feet by signing with the defending Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers, so hopefully that results in him getting a shot at more consistent NHL time. What I took from that quote was the team appears to be willing to give young defenders like Ville Heinola & Elias Salomonsson a shot at an NHL roster spot.

Before I sign off on this article, I thought I would take a quick peek at where I believe a lot of the prospects will play in 2024-25. The following list will touch on the Winnipeg Jets’ young prospects not expected to play in either the NHL or AHL next season, as well as giving us a bit of an idea of where they are on their developmental path.

Garrett Brown – RD (4^th rd in 2022): The 20 yr old is expected to play a big role for the defending NCAA champions – University of Denver. After an injury in practice cost him all except 8 games last season, the 6’2” defender will be completely healthy to start the collegiate hockey season. Prior to his season ending accident, Brown was finding his offensive upside by putting up 4 assists in his final 4 games.

Alfons Freij – LD/RD (2^nd rd in 2024): The 18 yr old plans to work on his physicality this summer in order to prepare to play against men next season in Sweden’s top league (Vaxko Lakers). A big step for the offensive defenseman and if he does well, he could follow in the footsteps of fellow Swede Salomonsson by making the jump to North America the following season.

Kevin He – LW (4^th rd in 2024): The highest ever drafted China-born player in NHL history will be entering his 3^rd season in the OHL. The 18 yr old will try to follow up 34 pt & 53 pt seasons with the Niagara IceDogs as he takes on more of a key role with the team. EliteProspects’ scouting report on the 5’11” left winger makes me excited about his progression: “An elite motor – that’s the source of He’s success. It powers every part of his game, including his non-stop forechecking presence, knack for stealing the puck at the blue line, and explosive open-ice hits. It’s also how He generates offence. He burns past defenders with powerful strides to get to the net, dropping the shoulder if necessary.” Especially when you see that comes with a goal scoring touch (21 goals as a rookie & 31 as a sophomore).

Jacob Julien – C (5^th rd in 2023): The 6’4” forward is coming off quite the season. His OHL team (London Knights) had a fantastic year on route to the league championship, while falling just short of the Memorial Cup with a heart-breaking loss in the finals. Individually, Julien also exploded offensively as he put up an impressive 78 pts as a secondary scoring threat. Although Jacob is only 19 yr old, he will turn 20 just prior to NHL training camps so he will be eligible for the Manitoba Moose. However, at this point he remains unsigned by the Winnipeg Jets and he may be heading back to the OHL to play a more leading role on his junior squad in 2024-25.

Markus Loponen – C (5^th rd in 2024): The Victoria Royals feel they might have had the steal of the 2024 Canadian Hockey League import draft with the 23^rd overall selection when they picked up the 6’1” forward. “Markus is a competitive two-way player that brings skill and playmaking ability to our lineup,” said GM Jake Heisinger, the son of Jets director of hockey operations Craig Heisinger. “He is a guy we expect will play in all situations and will be a key contributor to our group,”. Loponen was the captain and third-leading scorer last season with Kärpät of the U-20 Finnish SM-sarja with 25 goals and 29 assists for 54 points in 45 games. The 18 yr old also chipped in 11 pts in 19 games for Finland’s U-18 team. Hopefully following fellow Finn Brad Lambert’s developmental path in the WHL will pay dividends for Markus too.

Connor Levis – RW (7^th rd in 2023): The 6’2” forward has played two and a half seasons in the WHL with the Kamloops Blazers & the Vancouver Giants. The 19 yr old is coming off a 55 pt season in 65 games combined between the above noted teams, but picked up his scoring pace after being moved to the Giants (27 pts in 28 gms). Very much like his buddy Julien, it is likely that Levis returns to Juniors for a bigger role to keep his development moving in the right direction.

Kieron Walton – C/LW (6^th rd in 2024): The 18 yr old was the final player the Winnipeg Jets selected at the most recent draft and it appears that the franchise has added a prospect with size (6’6” 211 lbs), as well as great vision and puck skills. In his first season in the OHL, Walton put up 13 pts in 46 games, but he blossomed last season with the Sudbury Wolves (43 pts in 65 games). The big Canadian forward will have a couple more seasons in the OHL to continue his progression and see if he can develop into a legit top six threat at that level.

Dmitri Rashevsky – RW (5^th rd in 2021): I really don’t know if the 23 yr old Russian forward will ever consider making the jump to the NHL, but there is plenty of reason for the Winnipeg Jets to hope he does. The 6’1” 185 lb lefty is another high-motor player in the Jets’ prospect pool and has displayed the ability to play professional hockey for the past 3 seasons in the KHL. With the Moscow Dynamo, Rashevsky has had two 19 goal seasons and followed that up with 24 last year. Not exactly a prolific scorer (.642 pts/gm in 2023-24), the winger has shown strong defensive abilities (+14, +17, & +20 in his 3 yrs) so he could be a solid addition to the middle six of the Jets lineup in the future. We probably won’t know anything until next season, when his contract with the Dynamo expires and he has a decision to make.

Well, now that is done I guess I will go back to waiting for the Winnipeg Jets to do something that clarifies the direction they are taking this season. At some point in the summer I am planning to look at every NHL teams salary cap outlook, but might wait until the end of July for a few more signings/transactions to occur.