Friday: The deal is now official, Stastny is a Jet. Vegas will receive defenseman Carl Dahlstrom along with Winnipeg’s fourth-round pick in 2022. The draft pick is conditional on Stastny playing five games with the Jets, according to Craig Custance of The Athletic. This is likely just a safeguard against the possibility of a canceled 2020-21 season.
Thursday: The Winnipeg Jets are working to bring back a familiar face, as Jason Bell of the Winnipeg Free Press and several others are reporting that the team is closing in on a deal for Vegas Golden Knights center Paul Stastny. If the deal is completed, Murat Ates of The Athletic tweets that it will include draft picks headed in both directions.
Winnipeg has long been looking for a second-line center to play behind Mark Scheifele, and for a few games in 2018 they found one. When Stastny was winding down his last contract with the St. Louis Blues, they sent him to Winnipeg in exchange for a first-round pick and prospect Erik Foley, despite being in a playoff run. The veteran forward immediately found success with the Jets on a line between Patrik Laine and Nikolaj Ehlers, scoring 13 points in the 19 games down the stretch. In the playoffs, Stastny was exactly what the Jets had hoped for and trailed only Scheifele, Blake Wheeler, and Dustin Byfuglien in postseason scoring.
That offseason, the Jets made an attempt to keep him, even moving Steve Mason’s contract out to make cap room. It didn’t work, as Stastny took a three-year deal with the Golden Knights that carried a whopping $6.5MM AAV and was asked to replace some of the production the team was losing from free agents James Neal and David Perron.
Now, two years into that deal and hours before free agency opens, the Golden Knights obviously feel there are better things they can use that cap space on.
The 34-year-old Stastny was still effective this season, but he did take a substantial step backward in offensive statistics. In fact, his 38 points in 71 games was easily the worst per-game production of his career, though that did still include 17 goals.
More than anything, the Jets may be trying to find a way to recapture that magic the team showed in 2018 when they went all the way to the Western Conference Finals with Stastny in the middle of the ice. Or even perhaps motivate an enigmatic Laine who has expressed his frustration in the past at weaker linemates but did enjoy his time with the veteran pivot. Of course, Laine’s name has also been in the rumor mill quite a bit this summer, and taking on Stastny’s $6.5MM cap hit doesn’t leave a ton of room for upgrades to the rest of the roster.
For the Golden Knights, if they’re able to rid themselves of the entire Stastny cap hit they will not only be cap-compliant again, but a lot closer to taking a swing at one of the high profile free agents. The team has been linked to Alex Pietrangelo, though nothing is certain on that front as the Blues re-engaged their captain recently. They have also been trying to move Marc-Andre Fleury’s deal, which would give them ample space to add on the free agent market. Nate Schmidt and Jonathan Marchessault have also been mentioned as potential trade candidates.
Currently, the Golden Knights project to be nearly $3MM over the salary cap of $81.5MM for next season. While you can operate up to 10% over that ceiling in the offseason, clearing Stastny’s contract off the books would give them a lot more flexibility in the coming days.
This was the most obvious move of the off season. Mostly because it makes perfect sense for each side.
Jets fill their 2C slot with a player they like with a low acquisition cost.
Knights move out big money and slide Cody Glass into his spot.
@forwhomjoshbelltolls – Who knows? This may turn out to be the smartest trade of the off-season! You know Bergevin isn’t done with his carnage, so it’s kind of nice to see Chevy do something to try to restore balance.
Disappointed on a few fronts. . . .
I know Winnipeg is not a draw as far as attracting UFA’s, but I still really hoped the Jets would take a run at the 2C spot on a player like Granlund (Nashville) or Wennberg, as I’ve mentioned elsewhere.
I like Stastny, and hope he can be close to the same player that he was for the Jets a few years ago. But Vegas has been a thorn in the side when it comes to the players we try to trade for and/or sign, and I don’t know why we didn’t extract more from them to “do them a favor.” At the least, I would have been happier if the 4th round pick was FROM Vegas, and not TO Vegas . . . I guess when the team you’re dealing with understands you have needs and challenges meeting them, Winnipeg did pretty well, all things considered. But still disappointing.
Furthermore, the Stastny deal is frustrating when I think of this question . . . Where was Winnipeg on the Ryan Murray front? A 5th Round pick for top 4 D-man! Isn’t he what Winnipeg is seeking, also? Yes I know he’s injury prone but he’s 27 or 28 and a solid contributor, to be sure. I would have been happy to see him line up behind Morrissey on the LD depth chart, giving Niku, Samberg, Heinola time to develop and/or some healthy competition for 3rd pair D minutes. But no . . . we spend a 4th Rounder on a “diminished” asset on an expiring contract without even exploring the UFA market first.
If he does perform well, similar to his first go-round with the Jets, I pray we don’t watch him walk again next off-season!
But I digress. Hope there’s more Cheveldayoff does this off-season. So far all he’s done is resigned some players. Is Winnipeg really that shitty a place to live, people!?!?!