Since the Florida Panthers won the Stanley Cup, I thought it was time to write a new roundup of Winnipeg Jets related news. I'll also be including other NHL news throughout the article, as there wouldn't be much to talk about if I focused solely on the Jets. I'll also be updating my section on the ongoing draft and keeping you up to date on Winnipeg news and other noteworthy news items.
We start with the NHL Awards Night. Colorado Avalanche's Nathan MacKinnon won the first Hart Memorial Trophy as the league's most valuable player. The Winnipeg Jets also won a trophy, with Connor Hellebuch receiving both the Vezina Trophy and the William M. Jennings Trophy. The Jets' starting goaltender nearly swept the NHL's GM voting, receiving 31 of 32 first-place votes for the Vezina Trophy, putting him in prime position to claim the top goalie spot for the U.S. team in the upcoming Four Nations Faceoff. Bucky also won the Jennings Trophy, given to the franchise's player with the fewest goals allowed, and in his acceptance speech he thanked fellow goaltender Laurent Brossoit and his teammates, as well as the fans at the Canada Life Centre, for their contributions to the team's regular season success.
Other winners included Vancouver's Quinn Hughes, who won the Norris Trophy, and the Hawks' Connor Bedard, who predictably won the Calder Trophy.Wild's Brock Faber had a good run), Canucks' Rick Tocquet won the Jack Adams Award over Jets' Rick Bowness and Predators' Andrew Brunette, Panthers' Aleksander Barkov won the Lady Byng Award, and the Avalanche's MacKinnon was also named NHL Most Valuable Player by the NHLPA (Ted Lindsay Award).
Not much has been done in terms of moves GM Kevin Cheveldayoff has made to clarify the roster for next season. The Winnipeg Jets did make one significant move by signing soon-to-be unrestricted free agent (UFA) Dylan DeMelo to a new contract with an average annual salary of $4.9 million. Our good friends at PuckPedia provide an overview of the deal:
With DeMelo under contract, the Jets defense returns five of last season's six starters, with Brenden Dillon set to become a UFA on July 1. With Ville Heinola poised to potentially fill the left-hander spot, has Chevy stopped making moves to strengthen his squad or does he have more plans in the summer?
Now, on to the NHL Entry Draft, which is currently underway. I usually get pretty excited about the draft, but the lack of selection from the Winnipeg Jets has dampened that excitement. However, trade rumors surrounding speed forward Nikolaj Ehlers and prospect Rutger McGroarty forced me to watch over three hours of the first round in case Chevy makes a move to acquire an early pick. News has it that the Jets were in serious talks with the Minnesota Wild for the 13th overall pick, and McGroarty could have been close to being selected in reverse. Unfortunately, the Wild ended up with a player they really liked falling further down the order than expected, so the franchise moved up to 12th instead to select the best offensive defenseman in the draft (Zeev BuiumDespite the large number of transactions taking place (Mostly draft picks for the sake of draft picks), Winnipeg ended up not making it to the first round, but unless they received an offer they couldn’t refuse, that was probably the right decision.
When the Jets' first pick (#37) finally came around, the two teams above them ended up selecting big right-handed defensemen, resulting in the Chevy selection of left-handed Alfons Frei. The 6'1″, 196 pound Swede is known for his offensive ability, but is also projected to be highly rated as a top-pairing defender if he can improve his defensive and physical game. Here is a link to an article from The Hockey Writers that talks about his strengths and weaknesses.
With the draft only just entering the fourth round, there is still some time before the Winnipeg Jets make their next selection, and it would be a good idea to fill the time by looking at who was selected at the position the Jets would have selected had they not made the trade earlier.
It ultimately took the 26th overall pick to acquire Sean Monahan, and with several teams swapping spots, the Los Angeles Kings ended up taking 6'2″ winger Liam Greentree. Winnipeg's second-round pick was traded to the Nashville Predators for Nino Niederreiter, but was then moved to the Philadelphia Flyers in the draft, who acquired 6'3″ running back Spencer Gill. The Jets' third-round pick was involved in a trade with the New Jersey Devils for Tyler Toffoli, which ultimately led to the Jets acquiring 6'3″ swingarm Herman Traff.
The Winnipeg Jets are currently waiting until the 123rd pick, at which point they could add another prospect to their pool, and they also currently have one pick in each of the other three rounds.
Now, the Jets made a trade (more on that below) to move up the rankings a bit, and ultimately selected Kevin Hee with the 109th pick. Here is a pre-draft scouting article on the 5-foot-11 Canadian winger.
More Jets draft picks are expected to come in the future…
There have been plenty of moves from other teams, but here are some of the notable transactions so far.
- OTT received Linus Ullmark from BOS, along with Jonas Korpisalo, Mark Kastelic and 25th place overall (Dean Letourneau).
- WSH acquired Andrew Mangiapane from CGY in exchange for a second-round pick (2025).
- UTAH acquired Mikhail Sergachev from TB in exchange for JJ Moser, Connor Geekie and a second or seventh round pick.
- UTAH traded John Marino and a fifth-round pick for a second-round pick (Mikhail Yegorov) and a second-round pick (EDM in 2025).
- LA acquired Tanner Jeannot from TB in exchange for a second-round (2025) and fourth-round (2024) pick.
- PIT acquired Kevin Hayes and a 2nd rounder (2025) from STL for future considerations.
- WSH currently acquires Logan Thompson from VEG in exchange for two third-round picks (2024 and 2025).
- WPG traded their 4th (123rd) and 7th (219th) picks to BUF and received the 4th (109th – Kevin He).
Looking for an easy way to support Arctic Ice Hockey? Use our affiliate links when purchasing your off-season hockey gear..
