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Adam Lowry

Jets Sign Adam Lowry To Five-Year Contract Extension

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Only a few short months ago, the 2026 UFA class looked like it could be one of the best in NHL history.  But since then, the list has been thinned out quite quickly.  Another player can now be crossed off that list as the team announced that they’ve signed center Adam Lowry to a five-year contract extension.  TSN’s Darren Dreger adds (Twitter link) that the deal will carry a $5MM AAV and be worth $25MM in total.

The two sides were reported to be making progress on an extension earlier this month so it’s not too surprising to see this get across the finish line.

The 32-year-old is in the final season of his five-year, $16.25MM deal signed back in 2021.  He has never been a high-end offensive contributor in his 12-year NHL career (his highest point total is 36) but over the past few years, he has become a reliable two-way player.   The captain has long been a sound defensive player who brought plenty of physicality to the table and that’s a combination that is especially appealing in a team’s bottom six.

Lowry missed the start of the season while recovering from hip surgery but has jumped right back into his usual role since returning.  In seven games, he has a goal and two assists along with 16 hits in 14:22 of playing time.  For his career (spent in its entirety with the Jets who drafted him in the third round back in 2011), Lowry has 122 goals and 154 hits in 782 games.

This deal represents a nice raise from his current $3.25MM AAV while getting a long-term agreement for the second straight contract.  While a $5MM AAV for someone whose production is more in the third-line range, those other elements he brings made it likely that he could have landed a deal at or higher than this price point on the open market.

Meanwhile, the Jets also get some much-needed stability down the middle.  Mark Scheifele is also signed through 2030-31, meaning that Winnipeg has two of their top three centers in place for the long haul.  GM Kevin Cheveldayoff still has some work to do to secure a long-term fit for their second center position (a role filled by Jonathan Toews this year) but that’s a strong foundation down the middle to build off of.

With the signing, the Jets now have around $78.7MM in commitments for the 2026-27 season, per PuckPedia.  That gives them around $25MM in cap room based on the projected $104MM Upper Limit.  Cole Perfetti, a pending restricted free agent with salary arbitration rights, will take up a good chunk of that but the rest of their pending free agents (all unrestricted) are for players more in depth roles.  That could give Cheveldayoff a chance to try to make a splash to add another core piece to his roster, either via trade or free agency this summer.

Murat Ates of The Athletic was the first to report that an extension had been agreed upon.

Photo courtesy of Ed Mulholland-Imagn Images.

Jets And Adam Lowry Making Progress In Extension Talks

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Earlier this season, the Jets took care of their top prominent pending unrestricted free agent when they signed Kyle Connor to an eight-year extension.  Next on their priority list appears to be their captain Adam Lowry, who just made his season debut on Tuesday after missing the first four weeks of the season while recovering from hip surgery.

While an agreement in a new deal isn’t in place yet, it appears they’re making progress on that front.  TSN’s Darren Dreger recently reported in a TSN Insider Trading segment that the Jets view getting the center signed to a long-term deal and it’s getting closer to being completed.

The 32-year-old is in the final season of his five-year, $16.25MM deal signed back in 2021.  While Lowry isn’t a significant offensive producer (his career high in points in 36), he’s a strong defensive player who typically is a little above average on faceoffs and can play a shutdown role when needed or hold his own in the top six.  As a result, it’s fair to say that Winnipeg has gotten a strong return on that contract.

Those types of versatile players tend to have a sizable list of suitors in free agency and the fact he’s a center will only make that list grow larger.  It’s not implausible to think that Lowry will be in a good position to surpass $4MM per season on his next contract and receive a long-term deal.  He presently has a six-team no-trade clause and should be in a position to improve upon that as well.

Even with Connor locked up to a team-record $96MM contract beginning next season, the Jets have more than ample cap flexibility.  Per PuckPedia, they project to have around $27.5MM in cap room for 2026-27 and only around six players needed to sign with that money.  That would leave plenty of room for a new deal for Lowry and a long-term agreement for RFA Cole Perfetti, while still having wiggle room to reshape the roster.

In past weeks, we’ve seen a flurry of potential unrestricted free agents eschew testing the open market next July and opt to re-sign with their current teams.  It seems likely that Lowry, a veteran of a dozen seasons in Winnipeg, will be joining that list soon enough.

Winnipeg Jets To Activate Adam Lowry

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The Winnipeg Jets captain has fully recovered from hip surgery. According to a team announcement, the Jets will activate Adam Lowry from the long-term injured reserve tomorrow. He’s expected to suit up for his first contest of the season against the Los Angeles Kings.

Lowry’s return couldn’t come at a better time. Color analyst Mitchell Clinton reported earlier that Morgan Barron is expected to miss the next weeks with a lower-body injury. Now, Lowry can easily replace Barron on the team’s third line or push Jonathan Toews down one forward unit.

Winnipeg will have only missed Lowry for 12 games to begin the 2025-26 campaign. The team performed well in his absence, managing a 9-3-0 record while sitting in second place in the NHL’s Central Division.

Still, Lowry’s value to Winnipeg’s lineup can’t be understated. In the past three years, he has scored 41 goals and accumulated 105 points in 236 games, averaging 15:44 of ice time per game. Additionally, Lowry has achieved a 50.3% success rate in the dot while maintaining his ability to be one of the most physical middlemen in the game.

Factoring in his prowess on the defensive side of the puck, Lowry is a prototypical third-line center and one of the best at it. Once Barron returns from his injury, the Jets will have a much better-looking center core.

Central Notes: Hintz, Lowry, Bertuzzi

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While the Dallas Stars managed to secure a victory over one of the NHL’s best teams last night, their win wasn’t without cost: center Roope Hintz left the contest with an injury, and the club did not issue an update to his status other than the fact that he is still being evaluated, per Sam Nestler of DLLS Sports. The injury occurred when Hurricanes forward Taylor Hall delivered a heavy hit on Hintz – Hall was assessed a two-minute minor for charging on the play.

Should Hintz miss any time due to this injury, it would be a significant blow to the Stars, who are already dealing with injuries to other key veteran forwards. Last season’s leading scorer Matt Duchene has not played since Oct. 18 due to injury, while captain Jamie Benn hasn’t even made his season debut due to a collapsed lung. Depth forward Oskar Back, who was a full-time NHLer in Dallas last season, also hasn’t yet made his 2025-26 debut due to an undisclosed injury. Those injuries have contributed to the Stars’ somewhat underwhelming start to the season. Expected to be one of the NHL’s most dominant teams, they have a 4-3-1 record eight games into Glen Gulutzan’s tenure as head coach.

Other notes from the Central Division:

  • The Winnipeg Jets have been without their captain Adam Lowry for the early part of the season due to an injury, but it appears that absence is drawing to a close. TSN’s Danielle Bain reported yesterday that Lowry was back at practice in a regular jersey, and seemed “to be inching closer to a return.” It’s an important year for Lowry in terms of his Jets future. The respected all-around center is playing out the final year of a five-year, $3.25MM AAV pact, and could end up receiving a notable pay raise. It was previously reported that the Jets, who have managed to re-sign several key contributors over the last few years (including Connor Hellebuyck, Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor and Neal Pionk) have made re-signing Lowry a top priority.
  • Chicago Blackhawks forward Tyler Bertuzzi is dealing with a day-to-day injury and is questionable to play in tonight’s game against the Los Angeles Kings, reports Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times. This development positions Bertuzzi to potentially miss a game this season for the first time, as he’s skated in all eight of the Blackhawks’ contests up to this point. The 30-year-old has played a notable role in helping Chicago get off to a fast start to the 2025-26 season, beating most industry projections en route to a solid 4-2-2 record. Bertuzzi has scored two goals and six points through eight games, and combined with the recent trade of Lukas Reichel to the Vancouver Canucks, this injury is only further testing the Blackhawks’ forward depth, although there is a chance Bertuzzi is able to play in tonight’s game.

Latest Injury Updates On Cole Perfetti, Adam Lowry, Dylan Samberg

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Winnipeg Jets head coach Scott Arniel spoke with the Winnipeg Free Press’ Mike McIntyre today, issuing updates on the recovery timelines of three crucial Jets players who are each out with an injury.

According to Arniel, Cole Perfetti, who skated both today and yesterday, is “slightly ahead of schedule” in his recovery from an ankle sprain he suffered in a preseason game. Perfetti is reportedly aiming to return at some point in the middle of November.

Adam Lowry, the Jets’ captain, is reportedly “trending towards” a return close to the end of October or early November. Lowry is still completing his recovery from a hip surgery he underwent in May. Lowry returned to practice two days ago in a non-contact jersey, an undeniably positive sign for the likelihood that he’ll be able to return at some point next week, or the week after.

It was announced in September that defenseman Dylan Samberg would miss about six to eight weeks with a broken wrist, and Arniel’s update on Samberg’s status was less definitive, and less positive, than the other two players’. Per McIntyre, Samberg’s exact recovery timeline is at this point “still TBD.” It’s a difficult break for Samberg, who emerged last season as an important top-four anchor for the Jets. He scored 20 points in 60 games, averaged 21:08 time on ice per game (good for No. 4 among Jets blueliners) and played a massive role on the penalty kill, leading Jets players in shorthanded ice time per game during the team’s highly successful 2024-25 regular season.

Samberg, who is repped by Pete Rutili of Wasserman Hockey, signed a three-year $5.75MM AAV contract extension in July. As a result, this significant injury won’t impact Samberg’s earning potential, at least in the short to medium term, though it will cost him the chance to play in a full 82-game season for what would have been the first time in his career.

While Samberg has the security of a freshly signed contract, the same cannot be said for the other two injured Jets players. Lowry is currently slated to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, and is likely to expect a sizable raise from the $3.25MM AAV he earned on his last deal. He’s firmly established himself as a valuable middle-six center in Winnipeg, and provides the team with significant all-around value both on and off the ice.

His injury does not appear to have changed where he stands in the minds of the Jets’ lead hockey operations decision-makers, though, as it was reported earlier this month that re-signing Lowry is one of the team’s top remaining priorities. It can take players some time to get back to their full on-ice ability after a significant hip surgery, so it will be interesting to see how quickly Lowry is able to regain his footing on the ice once he returns in the next few weeks.

Like Lowry, Perfetti is also a pending free agent, though he is a pending RFA, not a UFA. It’s unwise to speculate on how Perfetti’s ankle sprain might impact negotiations for his next deal, but it is worth mentioning that this absence has robbed him of an opportunity to build off of his solid 2024-25 season in the early portion of 2025-26. Perfetti’s most recent year went a long way in justifying the team’s investment of a top-10 pick to draft him, as he set a career high scoring 50 points in 82 games.

With the salary cap set to continue to rise, Perfetti is likely hoping to be able to earn a significant raise from the $3.25MM AAV on his most recent deal. If he can hit the ground running upon returning next month, a productive follow-up to his breakout 2024-25 will go a long way in convincing Jets decision-makers that he’s worth the additional investment.

Evening Notes: Dubois, Marchessault, Lowry

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Washington Capitals centerman Pierre-Luc Dubois donned a non-contact jersey for a second-straight practice on Friday. He won’t be ready for Washington’s Sunday matchup against the Vancouver Canucks, but could return on Tuesday, head coach Spencer Carbery told Washington Post’s Bailey Johnson. Dubois has been day-to-day with a lower-body injury for much of the last week.

Dubois appeared in three games before sustaining his injury. His only notable stat changes came in the form of five shots on net, two hits, and a plus-one. He continued to serve as a top-six center for the Capitals, centering Aliaksei Protas and Tom Wilson. Washington has turned towards Connor McMichael to fill that role in Dubois’ absence. McMichael has one point – his first of the year – and a plus-one in the relief role. That scoring surely won’t be enough to command Dubois’ spot once he’s back to full health. Dubois should be expected to return in the coming week, and continue his hunt for his first score of the year.

Other notes from around the NHL:

  • Winger Jonathan Marchessault sat out of the Nashville Predators’ Saturday matchup against the Winnipeg Jets. He is day-to-day with a lower-body injury, per a team announcement. Nashville opted to ice seven defensemen in the matchup – pulling defender Nick Blackenburg into the lineup. They went on to lose by a score of 1-4. Marchessault is tied for the Predators’ lead in scoring with four points through five games this season. He finished second on the team in scoring last season, with 56 points in 78 game placing him behind only Filip Forsberg, who scored 76 points in 82 games. That standing will make Marchessault’s absence quickly felt, even if he’s only out for the short term.
  • On the other side of that matchup, Winnipeg received a bit of positive injury news when captain Adam Lowry returned to practice in a no-contact jersey on Saturday, per NHL.com’s Mitchell Clinton. Lowry has been recovering from hip surgery he underwent in late May. He is still working back to full health this season, but did manage 13 appearances and scored four goals in the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs. He also scored 34 points in 73 regular season games. Lowry is a core piece of Winnipeg’s lineup when healthy, offering stout two-way play from a middle-six center role. He will be slotted back into a busy role as soon as he’s ready to make his season debut.

Re-Signing Adam Lowry Top Priority For Winnipeg Jets

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After signing star winger Kyle Connor to an eight-year contract extension, attention has shifted in Winnipeg to the status of team captain Adam Lowry. The 32-year-old veteran center is a pending unrestricted free agent and appears poised to receive a solid raise off of the $3.25MM AAV he has earned on his current contract.

On TSN’s Insider Trading segment, Darren Dreger reported that while contract talks between the Jets and Lowry’s agent (Craig Oster of Newport Sports Management) are currently at a “preliminary” stage, reaching an agreement on an extension “is now a top priority.”

With Connor now locked in, Lowry is without question the Jets’ most important remaining pending unrestricted free agent. Not only does he play a significant role as a leader and captain, Lowry’s on-ice role for the Jets is also significant. He’s consistently scored right around 35 points in each of the last three seasons, but his calling card isn’t his offense, it’s his all-around value.

Lowry was the Jets’ top penalty-killing forward last season in terms of usage, and also was an asset at the faceoff dot, winning nearly 52% of his draws. He’s been able to match up against his opponents’ top scorers and more than hold his own. When one considers the whole of what he offers the Jets, both on and off the ice, it’s easy to make the case that he’s in the upper echelon of third-line centers in the NHL.

Examining the construction of the Jets’ roster, the importance of re-signing Lowry only becomes more clear. The Jets’ other middle-six center candidates this season are Jonathan Toews, who is also a pending unrestricted free agent, and Vladislav Namestnikov, who is under contract for an additional year but is set to turn 33 in November. In other words, the Jets do not appear to have someone ready in the organizational pipeline to be able to fill the void losing Lowry would create in future seasons.

As for what Lowry could earn, the projected sharp increase of the salary cap combined with new record-setting contracts makes projecting his contract extension a more challenging exercise. Lowry is not the same caliber of player as the stars who have re-set the forward market, of course, but just as the price ranges for star players will rise, so will the price range for players expected to fill spots lower in the lineup.

AFP Analytics projects a two-year, $3.92MM AAV contract extension for Lowry, a value that, while a modest raise from his current AAV, may not be a reflection of Lowry’s current market value. He’s not in line to shatter the market, but established centers, especially ones who can make an all-around impact, are always in demand.

The Jets are expected to once again be one of the NHL’s top teams this season, and Lowry plays a key role in making their whole operation run smoothly. Based on Dreger’s report, it’s clear that the Jets understand Lowry’s importance, and have made re-signing him a top priority moving forward.

Photo courtesy of James Carey Lauder-Imagn Images

Jets’ Adam Lowry Continues To Recover From Hip Surgery

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Sept. 11th: Pushing back somewhat on last month’s report, Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Free Press spoke with Lowry today and indicated that although his recovery is going very well, he’s still targeting a return in late October or early November. Still, given that a sixth-month recovery would have projected Lowry for a late November return, today’s update indicates he’s on the early end of the recovery timeline.

Aug. 26th: In somewhat of a surprising revelation, given the original recovery timeline, the Jets shared an update of Lowry taking part in an informal skate this morning, donning his full equipment. This doesn’t necessarily mean that Lowry will be ready to start the season on time, but it does indicate he could be available far earlier than expected. An earlier return should prove a boon for Winnipeg, as they’re set to open the 2025-26 season with Namestnikov and the question mark, Jonathan Toews, as their top two center options behind Scheifele.

May 28th: Jets captain Adam Lowry won’t be available at the start of the 2025-26 season after undergoing successful hip surgery on Tuesday, per a club announcement. The procedure carries a five-to-six-month rehabilitation timeline, meaning he’ll likely make his season debut sometime in November.

While it could be a tough start to Winnipeg’s season without their top matchup and penalty-killing center, a roughly month-long absence shouldn’t impact the Jets’ offseason planning too much outside of adding a depth piece down the middle to give them additional insurance through the first few weeks of the campaign. A potential late October return doesn’t guarantee Lowry will miss enough time to qualify for a long-term injured reserve placement at the beginning of the season. Winnipeg general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff must presume Lowry counts against the salary cap to start the year.

The Jets’ center core of Lowry, Mark Scheifele, Vladislav Namestnikov, and Morgan Barron are all signed or under team control for next season, so there likely weren’t going to be many moving parts down the middle for Winnipeg this summer anyway outside of finding a potential upgrade on Namestnikov for the second line. However, Lowry’s absence for the first few weeks will likely allow the Jets to evaluate the readiness of their potential internal long-term replacements for Namestnikov in a top-six role. There’s 2023 first-rounder Brayden Yager, who’s primed to land an opening-night roster spot after scoring 25 goals and 82 points in 54 games with WHL Moose Jaw and Lethbridge this year. 2022 first-round Brad Lambert has gotten a couple of NHL reps over the last two years and might be a candidate as well, although he’s coming off a highly disappointing season with AHL Manitoba (7-28–35, -30 rating in 61 GP).

For Lowry, the hip rehab will mark an inauspicious start to the final season of the five-year, $16.25MM extension he signed in 2021. With Kyle Connor and Cole Perfetti also eligible to sign extensions on July 1, it’s unclear how quickly Cheveldayoff intends to start those talks with his captain. However, it should be expected that they’ll do everything in their power to keep the 11-year veteran in the only NHL city he’s ever known.

If they do opt to engage in extension discussions this summer, AFP Analytics projects the 32-year-old to receive a two-year deal in the $4MM range per season. He’s coming off his third straight 30-point campaign and has averaged at least 15 minutes per game for five straight seasons.

Lowry’s injury also puts a small dent in his climb up the Jets franchise’s all-time leaderboard. His 775 games played are fourth in Winnipeg/Atlanta franchise history, and he needs 69 games to leapfrog Bryan Little for third – that’s still doable next year if he returns at the early end of his timeline and stays healthy the rest of the way. His 121 goals are 10th all-time for the Jets, his 152 assists and 273 points rank ninth, while his +50 rating ranks fourth.

Players Who Could Start The Season On LTIR

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While only a handful of teams project to need cap relief via long-term injured reserve to open the season, multiple candidates across the league might technically qualify for a placement. Doing so would bar the player from returning until Oct. 31 at the earliest – 24 days from the season start date of Oct. 7.

Avalanche: Logan O’Connor

O’Connor underwent hip surgery in early June. Given the five-to-six-month projected recovery window, he won’t be available until early November at best, putting him past the 10-game/24-day threshold required for LTIR. Colorado, which has $2.10MM in current cap space, will likely place O’Connor on standard IR if they don’t make any other cap-affecting moves between now and October. If they need the relief, though, they could create up to O’Connor’s $2.5MM cap hit in cushion for the first few weeks of the season if they need it.

Blues: Torey Krug

St. Louis general manager Doug Armstrong announced in May that Krug’s career is done because of pre-arthritic conditions in his left ankle that surgical intervention only slowly corrected. Since the Blues only have around $625K in cap space, Krug and his $6.5MM cap hit will be going on LTIR as soon as they need the flexibility for a call-up.

Canadiens: Carey Price

What’s certain is that Price won’t play this season or ever again. He’s entering the final season of his contract at a $10.5MM cap hit after confirming nearly two years ago that his knee injury would prohibit him from suiting up again. What’s uncertain is whether or not he’ll begin the season on LTIR. Montreal isn’t in a great position to optimize its LTIR relief, either by matching his cap hit in excess or getting down to $0 in space before placing him on the list. That’s made his contract a trade chip for teams who might need the relief more.

Devils: Johnathan Kovacevic

Kovacevic underwent knee surgery in early May and won’t be ready for training camp and likely opening night as well. Whether that stretches past Oct. 31 and makes him eligible for an LTIR placement if New Jersey needs cap relief early on remains to be seen.

Flyers: Ryan Ellis, Rasmus Ristolainen

Ellis’ career is over after sustaining a wide-ranging muscular injury in his pelvis just four games into his Flyers tenure in 2021. Ristolainen underwent a procedure on his right triceps tendon on March 26 with a six-month recovery time, putting him right on the edge of potential LTIR eligibility. Philly will have a better idea of the latter’s LTIR deployment potential after he undergoes his training camp physical. With $370K in cap space, they’re in a good position for near-max LTIR capture and will almost certainly at least place Ellis there to begin the year to give them call-up flexibility.

Golden Knights: Alex Pietrangelo

Pietrangelo is already on offseason LTIR, meaning the Knights actually still have to add an additional $1.2MM to their roster before opening night to optimize his capture and unlock his full $8.8MM cap hit’s worth of relief for this season. The team confirmed he requires multiple undisclosed but significant surgeries that will likely mark the end of his playing career, but it’s unclear if he’s actually had them done yet.

Jets: Adam Lowry

Lowry underwent hip surgery in late May and won’t be available until after Thanksgiving at the earliest. Winnipeg likely won’t be formalizing an LTIR placement with nearly $4MM in cap space, though.

Mammoth: Juuso Välimäki

Välimäki underwent ACL surgery in early March. He likely won’t end up on LTIR given Utah’s current cap flexibility ($6.68MM), but he’ll be out until at least early November so he’ll be there as an early-season option in case they need relief for whatever reason.

Oilers: Zach Hyman

Hyman’s inclusion here is on the speculative side. The winger could very well be ready for the start of the season. However, there hasn’t been much clarity on how much recovery he still needs after undergoing surgery to repair a severe wrist injury that kept him out of the Stanley Cup Final. A report in early June indicated there was uncertainty about his status for training camp, with no meaningful updates since then.

Panthers: Matthew Tkachuk

Tkachuk told ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski earlier this month that he’s still deciding whether he wants to undergo surgery to address the adductor issue that hampered him down the stretch and in the playoffs after sustaining it at the 4 Nations Face-Off. All signs point to him opting for it and spending the next two to three months on the shelf as a result, though. Placing him on LTIR is the only way the Panthers, who currently have a cap exceedance of $3.725MM, can be compliant to start the season without shedding a significant contract, something they aren’t keen to do.

Wild: Jonas Brodin

Minnesota has $9.41MM in cap space, but that number will shrink once they re-sign restricted free agent Marco Rossi (or add salary while trading his signing rights). Neither scenario will likely push them into a situation where they need to use LTIR relief, but they might have Brodin and his $6MM cap hit as an option for some short-term flexibility if required. He underwent an upper-body procedure in early June and is questionable for the beginning of the season, so it’s not yet clear if he’ll miss enough time to qualify.

Jets Notes: Lowry, Ehlers, Vilardi

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The Winnipeg Jets are holding their final interviews of the 2024-25 season on Wednesday, offering a chance for many players to share insight on their futures with the club. The first up was team captain Adam Lowry, who will be eligible for an extension on July 1st and set to hit free agency next summer. Lowry emphasized to reporters that he’ll be ready to sign a deal as soon as the Jets are, and that he wants to stick with the club through the end of his career, per Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Free Press.

Lowry was named Winnipeg’s captain at the start of the 2023-24 season, after wearing an ’A’ in the year prior. The title rewarded Lowry’s career-long commitment to supporting Winnipeg’s bottom-six. He was originally drafted in the third-round of the 2011 NHL Draft, and made his NHL debut three seasons later in 2014-15. Lowry carved out a gritty role in the depth of Winnipeg’s lineup right away, recording 24 points and 46 penalty minutes in 80 games as an NHL rookie. He was full time in the league within two seasons, and quickly found a knack for tenacious plays, full-ice impacts, and routine 20-point seasons.

But he’s started to blossom in his later years, recording a career-high 36 points in the 2022-23 season – followed up by 35 points last year and 34 this year. He also scored a career-high 16 goals this season – all while continuing to operate from a strong role on Winnipeg’s second and third lines. Lowry will flirt with free agency throughout the 2025-26 season, but it’s hard to envision Winnipeg letting such a carved-out piece of their lineup walk away.

The same can be said for winger Nikolaj Ehlers, who will face the pressures of free agency this summer rather than next. Ehlers is another lifetime Jet, having spent the last decade with the club and totaling 520 points in 674 career games. that includes a dazzling 24 goals and 63 points in 69 games this season. That’s the highest scoring pace of Ehlers’ career, though it falls one point shy of his career-high total set in the 2016-17 season. Like Lowry, Ehlers has dedicated significant time to finding the lineup role that works for him.

With his deal set to expire this summer, Ehlers’ teammates have made sure to know how much they like having him around. Cole Perfetti called Ehlers a “joy to life” to reporters, and shared that he both hopes and knows that Ehlers feels how much the Jets franchise appreciates him – shares Murat Ates of The Athletic. Perfetti and Ehlers rotated as wing partners throughout the season, and outscored opponents 25-to-18 at even-strength in their minutes together. It was a career year for both players, and with his public words of encouragement – Perfetti could give Ehlers yet another reason to find a deal that works this summer.

Forward Gabriel Vilardi has also expressed interest in re-signing with the Jets when he hits restricted-free agency this summer, per Ates. Vilardi added that he hasn’t yet thought about if he wants a short-term or long-term deal, though. Either option could be a sensible bet, after Vilardi broke out with 27 goals and 61 points in 71 games this season. Both marks were new career-highs, confidently lapping the 23 goals and 41 points he scored in 63 games of the 2022-23 season. Vilardi’s rise in scoring coincided with a rise in ice time and lineup trust. He performed well with added responsibility, though only managed four points in nine postseason games.

71 games of this season is the most Vilardi has ever played in a single year. Those signs of newfound health could go a long way in solidifying Vilardi’s projection as a staple of the second-line. Winnipeg will have a chance to put a price to that faith in exclusive negotiations this summer.

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