The Jets could find themselves with a much different-looking top-six forward group next season. They’re likely to make winger Nikolaj Ehlers available for trade in the weeks leading up to the 2024 NHL Draft in Las Vegas, The Athletic’s Murat Ates reports.
Ehlers, 28, has one year left on his contract at a $6MM cap hit. He can block a trade to 10 teams with his modified no-trade clause.
Signed to a seven-year, $42MM extension back in 2017, Ehlers has been a Winnipeg fixture for nearly a decade. The Danish winger has 201 goals and 457 points in 605 games since breaking into the league in 2015-16, good enough for sixth all-time in scoring in Jets/Thrashers franchise history. His career +92 rating is the franchise record.
Ehlers played in all 82 games this season, his first healthy season since the pandemic, but his 0.74 points per game were his lowest since the 2018-19 season. He was pushed down the lineup with offseason trade pickup Gabriel Vilardi making a home for himself on the top line alongside Mark Scheifele, and midseason acquisitions Sean Monahan and Tyler Toffoli reduced the amount of available ice time. As a result, Ehlers averaged under 16 minutes per game for the second straight season.
Despite the slight offensive decline, Ehlers remained a consistently positive possession force. His shot-attempt share at even strength has been above the Jets’ team average in all nine of his NHL seasons, including a 54.4 CF% mark this season (5.2% higher than Winnipeg’s CF% without Ehlers on the ice). He also posted a career-high +11.1 expected rating based on shot quality when he was on the ice.
In a supplementary article today, Ates listed the Hurricanes, Penguins, Red Wings, Sabres, Senators and NHL Utah as speculative trade matches. Working with someone on a sign-and-trade after July 1 would allow them to get a much better return – after all, Ehlers is slated for unrestricted free agency upon his current deal’s expiry in 2025, and there’s no guarantee he’d stay with a new team for more than one season.
One stat that may damage his value is his playoff performance. He’s made 37 postseason appearances across six campaigns but has only managed four goals and 14 points, half of his career regular-season points per game rate. His last playoff goal came in the first round of the 2021 playoffs against the Oilers. He was limited to two assists and a -4 rating in five games against the Avalanche in this year’s first-round elimination.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.
I hope this isn’t a homer take but I think the Flyers would be a perfect fit
No recent playoff success but a $6mil cap hit. Plus you gotta give up assets to acquire? Pass.
No way would the Canes pay $6 million for this guy.
Paging Kevyn Adams
Heck no. 1 year. $6mil cap hit? What’s his extension cost? The same x 6+ years? Acquisition cost? 1st + prospect(s)? Again GMKA needs to pass on him.
Sabres are better off signing Stephenson from Vegas for probably a lower cap hit.
I feel like Nashville could try a guy like this. They want scoring forwards and under Brunette’s offensive coaching strategy he may do very well under him. Also they have a good amount of cap space too
Straight up for Reilly Smith? Pens take on extra money but could be a good change of scenery and both are on expiring deals.
He’s worth more than Smith but I could see a move there. Neither really needs a change of scenery though (Smith been there only one season, Ehlers just needs playing time instead of a fresh start)
Pens should absolutely not be buying at this point, and Ehlers is a much better player than Smith. Makes no sense for either team. Pittsburgh should be preparing to tank gracefully until they’re finally free of the cap crunch.
I would love to see Ehlers and Timo Meier playing together again. Those two were dynamite together in the Q, and seemed to make each other better.
Ehlers for RFA Hronek – he’ll be asking for about $6m… Makes too much sense.
Hronek’s camp is looking for closer to $8MM link to prohockeyrumors.com