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Kevin Cheveldayoff

NHL Announces General Manager Of The Year Finalists

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The Jets’ Kevin Cheveldayoff, the Stars’ Jim Nill, and the Panthers’ Bill Zito are the three finalists for this year’s Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award, the league announced today.

Unlike most other major league awards, GMOTY honors take playoff performance into account. Voting for the award is also done by a jury of their peers – all 32 NHL GMs, plus a panel of NHL executives, print and broadcast media, comprise the voting, which takes place after the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs concludes.

Cheveldayoff is the relative newbie of the trio in terms of being included among the finalists. It’s his second time making the cut – he previously finished second in GMOTY voting after Winnipeg had its then-best season in franchise history in the 2017-18 campaign. That club had 114 points, a mark this year’s Jets beat by two en route to winning their first Presidents’ Trophy in franchise history. This year’s notable moves included promoting Coach of the Year finalist Scott Arniel to the head role last offseason following Rick Bowness’ retirement as well as acquiring winger Brandon Tanev and defenseman Luke Schenn at the deadline.

His nomination stems more from identifying his core and sticking with it through ups and downs. Most of Winnipeg’s driving forces – namely Connor Hellebuyck, Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor, and Josh Morrissey – have been there for years and were all drafted under Cheveldayoff.

Nill, meanwhile, is going for a three-peat. He’s already one of just two GMs to win the award twice, alongside former Islanders boss Lou Lamoriello. While he’s wholly responsible for the Dallas core that’s now advanced to three straight Western Conference Finals, his in-season moves may have him well-positioned to take home the honors yet again.

Playoff performance will be a factor here – after Nill traded for and signed Mikko Rantanen to a massive eight-year, $96MM extension at the deadline, he’s returned the favor as the Conn Smythe favorite so far with a playoff-leading 9-11–20 scoring line through 14 games. His draft record among mid-to-late first-round picks in recent years, highlighted by Wyatt Johnston, Jake Oettinger, and Jason Robertson, is arguably the biggest reason they’ve been able to enter their lengthiest contention window since winning the Stanley Cup in 1999.

As for Zito, he’d have won one by now if not for Nill’s reign. He’s a finalist for the third year in a row and the fourth time overall during his stint at the helm of the Panthers. His offseason work, with depth pickups like Nate Schmidt performing well in lieu of big-name players who left in free agency following last year’s Stanley Cup win, already had them well set for a repeat. Acquiring stars Brad Marchand and Seth Jones in separate pre-deadline deals, both of whom have been among the Cats’ best postseason players, is the main reason he finds himself on this year’s list, though.

Central Notes: Holland, Perfetti, Sundqvist, Jiricek

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Longtime executive Ken Holland may be joining the third team of his career with former player Jordan Schmaltz reporting Holland will be joining the Utah Hockey Club in some capacity. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman and Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff slightly downplayed the report by indicating Holland had merely been invited to Utah’s camp and no formal hire had been made.

Both reports from Friedman and Seravalli indicated that Holland maintained several connections in Utah’s front office leading to the invite to training camp. There may even be a pathway for Holland to work with his son Brad in some capacity with the newly relocated franchise as the latter recently parted ways with the Edmonton Oilers as assistant general manager.

A hire of Holland would undoubtedly bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to the new franchise with Holland starting his professional career as an amateur scout for the Detroit Red Wings in 1985-86. He went on to win four Stanley Cups with Detroit (three as general manager) in six attempts and one attempt with the Oilers last year. Any hypothetical role he takes in Utah will be a lesser one than he is accustomed to with the organization already having a president of hockey operations in Chris Armstrong and a general manager in Bill Armstrong.

Other Central notes:

  • Winnipeg Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff spoke at length today regarding the extension negotiations with forward Cole Perfetti (X Link). Cheveldayoff was adamant the team is still trying to craft a resolution with Perfetti now that training camp has kicked off. Perfetti is looking for other skating arrangements while the contract negotiations play out to be ready for the start of the regular season. It doesn’t appear the lengthy negotiations will tarnish the relationship between the Jets and Perfetti with Cheveldayoff saying, “Personally, I’d give these guys the moon. I’d love to have the ability to pay them everything they want and deserve. In a salary cap world I have to make business decisions“. Winnipeg currently has approximately $5.77MM in cap space with no other RFA’s to sign according to PuckPedia.
  • The St. Louis Blues will be without a couple of players to start training camp with Matthew DeFranks of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporting Oskar Sundqvist and Adam Jiříček are out with knee injuries. Neither player is expected to play any preseason contests but Sundqivst should already have a guaranteed spot on the roster despite his early absence. Jiricek, the younger brother of Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman, David Jiříček, was recently selected by the Blues as the 16th overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft. Jiricek was limited to 19 games last year with Czechia’s HC Plzeň due to a season-ending knee injury and his availability for the 2024-25 season is still in the air.

Winnipeg Hoping To Get More From Younger Players

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While at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup in Edmonton, Alberta earlier today, the general manager of the Winnipeg Jets, Kevin Cheveldayoff spoke very candidly about the younger players on the roster (Article Link). According to TSN, Cheveldayoff said, “The ball’s in their court. If you’re a young player in our organization right now, it’s all in front of you, there for the taking“.

The only GM in team history wasn’t speaking generally either as he specifically called out Logan Stanley, Ville Heinola, Brad Lambert, Nikita Chibrikov, and Cole Perfetti. The quote is significant given that new head coach Scott Arniel is instituting a major change in philosophy to the Jets’ organization.

Winnipeg has long been known to slow-play prospects to the professional level. Most quality prospects in the organization spend several years in the minor or junior levels before finally being graduated to the NHL where they will sometimes sit in depth roles for much of the season.

Heinola, Lambert, and Chibrikov spent all of last year (besides one game a piece for the latter two) in the minor leagues. The Jets kept an impressively healthy blue line through the 2023-24 regular season which prohibited Heinola from receiving a call-up. With several key players leaving through buyouts and free agency this summer — a strong training camp performance could earn them a full-time role at the NHL level.

The quote from Cheveldayoff is a bit more interesting when considering the career trajectories of both Perfetti and Stanley. Perfetti has been a full-time member of the Jets for two years now and played in 71 games last year. It was his most productive season to date as he scored 19 goals and 38 points in total.

He was still tremendously underutilized in the forward group as he averaged 13:35 of ice time each night which ranked 12th on the team for forwards with 15 or more games played. Perfetti has arguably already worked his way into a top-six role in Winnipeg and it will be intriguing to see how Arniel utilizes him this season.

Stanley, on the other hand, could be a bit jealous of Perfetti’s situation with the team. The 6’7″ defenseman went from averaging 15:39 of ice time over 58 games in 2021-22 to averaging 13:46 of ice time over 25 games this past season. Stanley has already proven himself as an adequate shutdown defenseman and could play himself into the former role of Nate Schmidt.

This fate felt inevitable for the Jets. Arniel is now in charge of plugging the holes left by Schmidt, Sean Monahan, Tyler Toffoli, and potentially Nikolaj Ehlers. If Winnipeg hopes to compete in a rugged Central Division, they must give their young players more responsibility.

Latest On Pierre-Luc Dubois

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The Pierre-Luc Dubois saga with the Winnipeg Jets appears likely to end this summer with a trade. Arpon Basu and Marc Antoine Godin of The Athletic write that it appears that the young forward will submit a list of teams that he is willing to sign with long term and it will be up to the Jets to determine if any of those teams are willing to make a move. In the meantime, Dubois’ agent Pat Brisson could begin talking to those teams to setup a framework for a potential long-term extension.

While this is not an ideal situation for Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff, it does give him the opportunity to have serious negotiations with teams that can plug Dubois into their lineup long term, hopefully maximizing the return for Winnipeg.

Jeff Marek acknowledged on his show today that the Montreal Canadiens are high on Dubois wish list, and The Athletic article even mentioned that the Canadiens called Winnipeg after the season ended. While there does seem to be a fit for a trade between Montreal and Winnipeg there will be plenty of other interested suitors. Players like Dubois don’t come on the market all that often and even an eight-year contract will only carry Dubois into his age 33 season, meaning that he should be very productive throughout the life on any long-term deal.

The Athletic article also mentions that Dubois is willing to be flexible depending on the situation, meaning that he will take a discount to go to a cup contender but would want his full freight if he goes to a rebuilding club.

The situation is not unlike the sign and trade of Matthew Tkachuk and the Calgary Flames last summer. Tkachuk signed his eight-year deal with Calgary and was then quickly dealt to the Florida Panthers for a large haul that was universally praised at the time. Winnipeg could maximize the return by working out a similar situation with Dubois allowing both sides to leave the relationship happy with the end result.

Pierre-Luc Dubois Has Requested A Trade

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Pierre LeBrun of TSN Insider Trading is reporting that the agent for Winnipeg Jets forward Pierre-Luc Dubois’ has informed the club that he isn’t interested in signing any type of contract extension with the team, not even a one year deal that would take him to unrestricted free agency. The timing of the news is a little bit surprising as Gary Bettman doesn’t like these types of stories to break during the Stanley Cup final, however the news itself is one of the worst kept secrets in the NHL.

Dubois reportedly told the Jets last summer that he had no intention of signing a long-term deal to stay in Winnipeg and it appears that the 24-year-old is staying true to his word. Dubois had 27 goals and 36 assists in 73 games this season after signing a one year $6MM contract last summer. He helped lead the Jets to the postseason this year, but it appears that he would prefer his time in Manitoba come to a close sooner rather than later.

Dubois is just one year away from being free to sign with anyone. However, he is under Winnipeg’s control for next season as a restricted free agent and may have handcuffed the Jets if they were to shop him in the trade market. Winnipeg could move on and try to facilitate a trade to meet Dubois request, or they could take him to arbitration and accept a one-year deal and lose him as a free agent next summer. While neither option is great for the Jets, it could be a launching pad for a lot of movement this summer. The Jets have quite a few very talented players that are approaching unrestricted free agency and may either opt to take one more run at a cup or begin a painful rebuild.

Superstar netminder Connor Hellebuyck, former captain Blake Wheeler, and center Mark Scheifele are all unrestricted free agents next summer and with a potential exodus on the horizon general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff may decide that the more palatable option is to jump start the rebuild now and bring in a boatload of young controllable talent.

Kevin Cheveldayoff To Remain Winnipeg Jets GM

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Those expecting sweeping organizational changes after the Winnipeg Jets’ frustrating five-game series loss to the Vegas Golden Knights are likely to be disappointed. According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, Kevin Cheveldayoff will remain in his position as Jets’ general manager and will be the one to guide the club through what looks to be an extremely uncertain future. In addition, Cheveldayoff announced that head coach Rick Bowness would remain the team’s head coach.

Cheveldayoff has been the only GM the Jets have had since they relocated from Atlanta in advance of the 2011-12 season. His reign seemed to reach its peak in the 2017-18 season when he was named a finalist for the GM of the Year Award. The Jets made a run to the Western Conference Final that year, falling to the upstart Vegas Golden Knights.

Their core of Mark Scheifele, Connor Hellebuyck, Josh Morrissey, Dustin Byfuglien, Blake Wheeler and 44-goal scorer Patrik Laine looked to be among the most complete cores any competitive team could boast, and that conference finals run looked to be simply a warning shot to the rest of the league that a new era of true Stanley Cup contention was set to begin in Winnipeg.

That didn’t happen, though, and for a variety of reasons the Jets currently find themselves in an uncertain organizational place. Byfuglien’s surprise retirement proved quite the curveball for the team to handle, and while the emergence of Morrissey and Neal Pionk has helped Winnipeg maintain a solid stable of blueliners, Byfuglien added a dynamic element to their team that the Jets still miss.

On offense, Laine’s maddening inconsistency and uncertain contract situation prompted the team to deal him and another frustrating first-round pick, Jack Roslovic, to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Pierre-Luc Dubois. Dubois scored 67 points in 78 combined regular-season and playoff games this season, but his night-to-night inconsistency and his apparent desire to test the unrestricted free-agent waters in 2024 has left the Jets wanting more.

Now, Winnipeg has four key players set to potentially hit the open market after next season: Hellebuyck, Wheeler, Scheifele, and Dubois.

Cheveldayoff has in the past traded players in similar situations, such as Jacob Trouba and Andrew Copp, rather than let them hit the open market and be lost for “nothing.”

One might assume given how long Cheveldayoff has been in position as the Jets general manager, the organization might prefer a fresh face to lead them in any sort of rebuilding or retooling direction.

With so many key players inching closer to unrestricted free agency, the best path for the Jets could very well be to cash in on those assets and use them to retool around a new core of players like Kyle Connor, Nikolaj Ehlers, Pionk, and Morrissey.

It’s also true, though, that the news that Cheveldayoff will remain in charge of the Jets’ hockey operations indicates that such a drastic shift in organizational direction (towards a re-tool) isn’t yet on the table.

Instead, it could be that Cheveldayoff’s mandate for the summer will be to surround his existing core with as much talent as possible in order to make one last run for a Stanley Cup next season.

If that’s indeed the direction the organization prefers, the 2023-24 season becomes possibly the most important campaign in this new era of Jets hockey. Based on Friedman’s reporting, it seems Cheveldayoff will be the one to guide the Jets through that all-important year, and this upcoming all-important summer.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

West Notes: Kaprizov, Keith, Jets Prospects

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Concerns continue to rise about the availability of Russian players to NHL teams next season. One player who’s come into focus today due to a variety of conflicting reports is Kirill Kaprizov, who Minnesota Wild general manager Bill Guerin confirmed today is still in Russia despite rumors stating he had returned to the United States. In response to reports this morning that Kaprizov is currently wanted in Russia for buying a false military ID card five years ago, Guerin said the following:

We’re not going to push the panic button or anything like that. We’re just trying to gather information right now and find out if this is even credible.

Kaprizov is one of the multiple players whose situations are in limbo, exacerbated by the fact their KHL rights are held by CSKA Moscow, a Russian army-owned team. Russo notes that in the past, CSKA players have been exempt from military service, but this is an informal and non-codified rule. In addition, Kaprizov’s exemption from mandatory military service via a studentship in a Russian organization expired at the end of June. Very little is confirmed about the situation, but it’s a significant development that bears watching over the course of the offseason as it pertains to Kaprizov’s availability to the Wild next season.

  • The Edmonton Oilers will get some clarity soon on the playing future of defenseman Duncan Keith, who could potentially decide to retire with one season remaining on his contract carrying a $5.54MM cap hit. General manager Ken Holland noted that he’d spoken to Keith twice in the past few weeks and that he’s requested an answer by this Saturday. That gives the Oilers a brief window of time ahead of free agency to work out replacement plans for Keith if he retires. The 38-year-old defenseman would not inflict a cap penalty on the Oilers if he opts to call it a career.
  • Winnipeg Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff gave injury updates today on a pair of important Jets prospects. Cole Perfetti, who suffered an upper-body injury in mid-February, has just started skating again and is not cleared to participate in the 2022 World Junior Championship for Team Canada. Additionally, 2021 first-rounder Chaz Lucius, who underwent ankle surgery after suffering a late-season injury with the University of Minnesota, won’t participate for the United States.

Latest On Pierre-Luc Dubois

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23-year-old centerman Pierre-Luc Dubois has had quite an interesting career after the Columbus Blue Jackets drafted him third overall in 2016. Things looked great for him after the 2018-19 season, where the 20-year-old had 61 points in his second season and played a key role as the team won their first playoff series in franchise history. Dubois faltered the next season, though, and after just one goal in five games the following year, Dubois was dealt to the Winnipeg Jets in a one-for-one swap for second-overall pick Patrik Laine. A tough season continued for him after the trade, raising doubts about his long-term future.

Dubois got his game back under him this season, though, notching a career-high 28 goals as he averaged nearly 19 minutes of ice time per game. A restricted free agent this offseason, however, it doesn’t appear as though Dubois wants a long-term contract. In fact, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman is reporting that Dubois has informed Winnipeg that he wants to test unrestricted free agency in 2024. The Jets are still hoping to convince him to stay long-term, though, per the report.

It means that Dubois could either take the team to arbitration for a one-year contract or accept his $6MM qualifying offer. It might be a safe bet to just take the qualifying offer, as it’s likely around what the arbitrator would award anyways considering his inconsistent performance over the past few seasons, if not more.

As Sportsnet’s Ken Wiebe notes, it puts Winnipeg in a tough situation. Dubois evidently wants to see a long-term improved situation in Winnipeg and a clear path back to Cup contention. Is Winnipeg willing to potentially go more all-in than they should in order to keep Dubois around long-term, or are they better off hitting the reset button? That’s the decision general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff will have to grapple with.

Snapshots: Jets Offseason, Armia, Pokka

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After winning a playoff round last season, the Winnipeg Jets were among the league’s most disappointing teams this season, going 39-32-11, good for 89 points and sixth in the Central division. It was a season full of problems, but one problem the Jets didn’t have was a lack of scorers. Led by Kyle Connor’s 93 points, the Jets had four players hit the 60-point mark. One of those players, Pierre-Luc Dubois, hit the 60-point plateau for the second time in his career and has become the focal point of the Jets offseason. Dubois, 23, was part of the Patrik Laine trade and is now a restricted free agent with arbitration rights. The Jets have to decide if they want to commit to a long-term contract with Dubois as well as how much to pay him, and Dubois has to decide if Winnipeg is the place he wants to spend the bulk of his prime years. It looks to be a very interesting contract negotiation, but according to Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff (via Jeff Marek of Sportsnet) that negotiation process has not begun yet. There’s no major rush as we’re still in early June, but with a potential arbitration date looming, it’s likely that both parties would rather get this done before then.

Beyond that update on Dubois, Cheveldayoff also spoke to Marek about the priorities for this offseason, noting a “need to replenish their prospect pool.” The Jets do have two blue-chip center prospects in Cole Perfetti and Chaz Lucius, but that is seemingly not enough for Cheveldayoff and the Jets. The team’s prospect pool was ranked 11th in the NHL by the Athletic’s Scott Wheeler, (subscription link) and based on these comments it seems Cheveldayoff would like to raise his farm’s ranking into the top-10.

Now, for some other notes from across the NHL:

  • Like many Montreal Canadiens, Joel Armia had a season to forget this past year. Armia, who had scored at a 22-goal pace as recently as 2019-20, scored only six goals in 60 games last season and finished with 14 points. Armia’s contract has made him a potential candidate to be traded this offseason, as the Canadiens would clear $3.4MM off their books if they move him. That contract and Armia’s performance was generally believed to be working against Montreal if they chose to shop him, but one thing that could be working in their favor is Armia’s performance at the recent IIHF World Championships. Armia scored five goals and added three assists in ten games and captured the gold medal as a member of Finland’s team. Armia looked rejuvenated after taking a personal leave at the end of the NHL season, and a league source told Jimmy Murphy of Montreal Hockey Now that Armia’s performance at the World Championships has gotten him noticed. That’s far from an indication that a trade is near, but it does indicate that the Canadiens could have an easier time finding a trading partner than they would have had a few months ago.
  • Former top prospect Ville Pokka, who was the focal point of the Blackhawks’ return for trading Nick Leddy to the Islanders, never quite made it to the NHL despite being reasonably successful at the AHL level. Pokka played four seasons of North American hockey, scoring 138 points in 289 AHL games. The defenseman looked to be on the cusp of making the NHL in 2015-16, when he scored 45 points as an under-22 AHLer. But that success didn’t translate into an NHL job, and after being traded to the Senators organization Pokka left for the KHL. Now, it seems Pokka’s stint as a starting-caliber KHL defenseman is over. According to Swedish outlet SportExpressen, Pokka will spend next year playing for Farjestad of the SHL, the reigning champions. Pokka is still just 28 years old, so perhaps with success on one of the best teams in the SHL Pokka can earn another crack at making an NHL roster.

 

Winnipeg Jets Not Looking To Trade Mark Scheifele

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At his end-of-season press availability, after the Winnipeg Jets ultimately missed the playoffs, Mark Scheifele raised some eyebrows around the league. The veteran forward explained that he wanted to know where the team was headed and that he would take some time to talk to his family and agent this summer. While the idea of a trade request was quickly rebuffed, some still wondered whether the Jets would explore a move this offseason, given the fact that Scheifele has just two years left on his deal.

Not so, according to general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff, who told Mike Zeisberger of NHL.com this week that he expects Scheifele to be back on the roster in 2022-23. The Jets executive explained that the end of the season was an “emotional time” for the whole group after failing to reach the postseason and that his exit interview with Scheifele went well.

Eventually, Cheveldayoff will have to decide what the next path forward is for the Jets and whether Scheifele is part of it. He, captain Blake Wheeler and netminder Connor Hellebuyck are all scheduled for unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2024, potentially meaning this upcoming season is a make-or-break opportunity. The team doesn’t have very many long-term commitments and could quickly shift to a rebuild if things aren’t going well, though that would be a disappointing result for a group that many believed could contend for the Central Division crown this year.

Scheifele himself experienced another strong offensive season but critics will continue to point to a poor defensive effort as a big reason why the Jets struggle in the first place. Despite putting up 29 goals and 70 points in 67 games, Winnipeg was still outscored 78-69 at even strength with Scheifele on the ice and had an even worse expected-goal rate.

Still, 30-goal centers are extremely difficult to come by and usually command a price tag much higher than the $6.125MM cap hit that Scheifele will carry through the 2023-24 season. If the team were to make him available, there would certainly be interest even despite any defensive issues.

For now, it appears as though the big forward will be back in Winnipeg when the year begins. Under what coach and for how long remains to be seen.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

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