After going through an arbitration hearing with defenseman Jacob Trouba, the Jets were able to avoid that step with winger Brandon Tanev, announcing (Twitter link) that they have inked him to a one-year contract. Team reporter Jamie Thomas adds via Twitter that the deal is worth $1.15MM. That represents a nice raise on the $700K he earned last season while he will be eligible for unrestricted free agency next summer.
Tanev is coming off of his best NHL season, posting eight goals and ten assists in 61 games in 2017-18 while logging 12:40 per night in ice time. He followed that up with a strong showing in the postseason, collecting four goals and two helpers in just 17 games while seeing an uptick in playing time to 17:19 per night.
The 26-year-old figures to reprise his role in Winnipeg’s bottom six and should once again play an important role on their penalty kill. He averaged 1:58 per night shorthanded, third among all forwards. For perspective, center Adam Lowry, who also re-signed earlier in the week, ranked first among forwards at 2:02 per night.
Meanwhile, the Jets still have plenty of work to do on the free agent front. The team still has seven restricted free agents to sign, headlined by defenseman Josh Morrissey. Of that group, only forward Marko Dano has an arbitration hearing on the horizon. They have more than $10MM of cap space to work with so they shouldn’t have any trouble getting anyone locked up although they will likely want to leave themselves some space for any in-season moves as well as expected bonuses from their entry-level players such as wingers Patrik Laine and Kyle Connor.