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Kevin Cheveldayoff

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

Snapshots: Scheifele, Sharks, Kuzmenko

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Despite some ominous comments earlier in the week, it turns out that Winnipeg Jets star Mark Scheifele did not request a trade in his exit interview with GM Kevin Cheveldayoff, reports Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Schiefele had expressed concern over the direction of the team after the Jets missed the playoffs this season, which raised some eyebrows in the media and across the league. Scheifele is signed through the next two seasons, so if he was unhappy enough with the situation, he would have had to request a trade, which likely would have occurred during his exit interview this week. Instead, the situation remains status quo in Winnipeg, at least for now. If the Jets, who have a lot of money tied up in long-term contracts, cannot find a way to improve the roster within their salary cap restrictions early this offseason, Scheifele’s position could change. The 29-year-old center has the ability and the contract to draw immense interest if he does hit the trade block this summer.

  • Friedman notes that another team who could be in the star trading business this offseason are the San Jose Sharks. The Sharks reportedly held preliminary trade discussions with multiple teams this season regarding Erik Karlsson, and those talks could continue over the summer. The Sharks need to first name a new general manager, for which a search is ongoing, but the expectation is that whoever the team hires will be directed to retool rather than rebuild. In order to get more competitive sooner rather than later, the Sharks need to add more high-end depth to their lineup and need more cap space to do so. Moving all or even part of Karlsson’s five remaining years at $11.5MM would help immensely and the trade return wouldn’t hurt either. However, is it realistic to expect the Sharks to find a team both willing and able to add Karlsson? Friedman suggests that Brent Burns, who has three years remaining at $8MM, might be easier to move and would still accomplish the task of redistributing a mass amount of cap space from the right side of the blue line to be used elsewhere in the lineup. The Sharks are also expected to evaluate their options with Marc-Edouard Vlasic this offseason, whose remaining four years at $7MM could prove impossible to move but could be bought out instead.
  • While the Jets and the Sharks will be looking for outside-the-box ways to improve this summer, neither team appears to be in the race for KHL free agent Andrei Kuzmenko. Friedman lists the Carolina Hurricanes, Edmonton Oilers, Nashville Predators, Vancouver Canucks, and Vegas Golden Knights as the finalists for the Russian winger’s services. Kuzmenko, 26, initially drew interest from at least 20 NHL teams, but now that his KHL contract has expired as of May 1 and he has begun actual negotiations, the list has been trimmed considerably. Kuzmenko is coming off of a career year in the KHL, recording 20 goals and 53 points in 45 games for SKA St. Petersburg, plus another 14 points in 16 playoff games. While he would be brand new to the NHL and his international experience is somewhat limited as well, Kuzmenko could be an affordable impact forward right away next season.

Latest On Mark Scheifele, Winnipeg Jets

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After the Winnipeg Jets announced a three-year extension with their long-time General Manager Kevin Cheveldayoff this morning, Cheveldayoff spoke to the media to address the state of the Jets, including the status of of star forward Mark Scheifele. Cheveldayoff clarified that Scheifele has not asked for a trade, but mentioned that he was yet to have his exit interview with the forward and would be doing that later today, hoping to find some clarity (link). Recall yesterday, Scheifele himself spoke to the media, who questioned him on his future in Winnipeg. Scheifele reiterated his desire to stay in Winnipeg, but cautioned “I just have to know where this team is going and what the direction is.”

It’s not clear yet if Cheveldayoff and Scheifele did meet today, and if so, what the result of their conversation was, but the idea of the Jets trading their first ever draft pick is nothing short of noteworthy, and an intriguing proposal at that. The way Scheifele’s comments have been worded would make it sound as though he is set to become a UFA, however he is signed through 2023-24 at a very reasonable $6.125MM per season. Though Winnipeg is under no obligation to trade Scheifele if he does not see eye-to-eye with their future plans, if he does decide to move on from the team, it might be in their best interest to try to trade him with two seasons left on a very team-friendly contract than to see how the next two seasons play out.

After several playoff runs that ultimately did not yield a Stanley Cup, the Jets found themselves on the outside of the playoff picture for the first time since 2016-17 (excluding a loss in the 2020 Qualifying Round), and appear poised to make a few significant moves this offseason. The organization did find itself making changes already this season, with former Head Coach Paul Maurice stepping aside from his duties in December, and longtime Jets forward Andrew Copp being traded to the New York Rangers at the trade deadline.

Though changes are expected, the nature of that approach is up in the air, which appears to be Scheifele’s primary concern. On one hand, the Jets have had a successful run since the start of the 2017-18 season and have a roster full of stars including Scheifele, Kyle Connor, Blake Wheeler, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Josh Morrissey, and former Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck. They also have a promising group of young players and prospects, headlined by Cole Perfetti, Ville Heinola, and Chaz Lucius. There appears to be plenty of reason to continue this build while making some tweaks to get the group back on track next season.

On the other hand, this Jets core struggled this season and lost Copp. Wheeler, the team’s captain, will be 36 on opening night, Dubois is a RFA this offseason, and Scheifele and Hellebuyck are set to become UFAs after the 2023-24 season. With Connor and Morrissey signed long-term, and the team having a couple of assets in Scheifele and Hellebuyck that they can turn into draft picks and prospects to add to their already existing stockpile, a rebuild, whether quick or drawn out, could be a realistic option without completely ignoring the prime of Connor and Morrissey’s careers.

Turning the attention back to Scheifele, the interest in him should be expected to be nearly league-wide. Considering Scheifele’s affordable cap-hit for two more years and his year-to-year production, any team looking to improve right now would be in on him. Scheifele does have a modified no-trade clause, which permits him to submit a list of 10 teams he cannot be traded to, but that should still leave Winnipeg with an expansive market from which they can draw bids on their star player, maximizing their return.

Ultimately, the direction the franchise chooses to take could dictate what happens not only with Scheifele, but with some of their other stars. With the playoffs only beginning tonight, they will have a good two-and-a-half months to discuss their intentions and decide how they want to proceed.

Jets Agree To Three-Year Extension With Kevin Cheveldayoff

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While Winnipeg ended their season on a high note today with a victory over Seattle, it was a disappointing season overall for the Jets as they finished in sixth place in the Central Division while missing the playoffs by eight points.  However, despite the tough year, Sportsnet’s Ken Wiebe reports that the team has signed GM Kevin Cheveldayoff to a three-year contract extension.

Cheveldayoff is the third-longest-tenured general manager in the NHL having joined the team back in September of 2011, putting him only behind Doug Armstrong (St. Louis) and David Poile (Nashville).  He has been the only GM the franchise has had since it relocated from Atlanta.

Over that time, Winnipeg has only reached the playoffs in five of eleven seasons, although most of those appearances have come in recent years; their streak of four consecutive postseasons came to an end this year.  Along the way, Cheveldayoff has built a strong core, anchored by goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, center Mark Scheifele, wingers Kyle Connor and Nikolaj Ehlers, and defenseman Josh Morrissey, among others.  But despite that core, they’ve only reached the Western Conference Final once and made it out of the first round twice.

The Jets underwent a big change midseason when head coach Paul Maurice surprisingly resigned, prompting Cheveldayoff to elevate Dave Lowry to the interim role.  It didn’t result in any improvement as the points percentage for both coaches were nearly identical, .534 for Maurice and .528 for Lowry.  Deciding Lowry’s future, as well as that of the rest of the coaching staff, figures to be at the top of the priority list over the coming days and weeks.

But determining whether or not the core needs another shakeup will also have to be on Cheveldayoff’s list.  He made one significant move last season when he moved Patrik Laine and Jack Roslovic to Columbus for Pierre-Luc Dubois in an effort to shore up their depth down the middle.  Dubois, a pending RFA, had a nice season but it didn’t result in any extra team success.

Center Mark Scheifele has been a fixture in Winnipeg’s lineup since he was their first-ever draft pick (after moving) but his comments following the game suggested that his future with the team could be in question as well:

I’d love to be in Winnipeg, but I also have to see where this is all going and what direction this team is going in and I guess we’ll see this summer. I’m in the prime of my career. I still have so much to improve on too and I like where my game is at. I like the physical nature that my body is at. I’m only improving, I’m only getting better and I’m only going to be a better player next year than I was this year.

I just have to know where this team is going and what the direction is and what the changes are going to be, if any. I have to think about my career and what’s going to be best for me. Those are going to be…talks with my agents and everyone in my family and stuff like that and figure out what I really want. So, it will be a tough talk tomorrow.

If Cheveldayoff was to move the 29-year-old, there would be no shortage of interested teams although moving their top center would also open up a big hole down the middle.  He has two more years left on his deal with a team-friendly $6.125MM AAV.

The GM will also need to navigate a tight salary cap situation as the team already has around $16MM in cap room this summer, per CapFriendly, about half of which will need to be spent on a new deal for Dubois while they will need to sign several players to round out their roster.  There isn’t enough room to bring in another core player to bolster the team without moving one out so Cheveldayoff will have to think long and hard as to whether this group is good enough to contend in the West.  If not, some changes will need to come.

Cheveldayoff has done well enough in his tenure in Winnipeg to get this vote of confidence.  However, some big decisions lie ahead for him and the Jets.

NHL Will Not Discipline Kevin Cheveldayoff

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The NHL has announced that they will not be handing out any discipline to Winnipeg Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff for his role in the 2010 Brad Aldrich situation with the Chicago Blackhawks. Cheveldayoff was an assistant general manager with the Blackhawks at the time, and one of the men present in the now-infamous meeting that took place on May 23, 2010.

Commissioner Gary Bettman released the following statement:

While on some level, it would be easiest to paint everyone with any association to this terrible matter with the same broad brush, I believe that fundamental fairness requires a more in-depth analysis of the role of each person. Kevin Cheveldayoff was not a member of the Blackhawks senior leadership team in 2010, and I cannot, therefore, assign to him responsibility for the Club’s actions, or inactions. He provided a full account of his degree of involvement in the matter, which was limited exclusively to his attendance at a single meeting, and I found him to be extremely forthcoming and credible in our discussion.

The investigative report, released earlier this week, has so far been followed by the resignations of Stan Bowman, Al MacIsaac, and Joel Quenneville.

Cheveldayoff released the following statement through the Jets:

First and most importantly, I want to express my support of and empathy for Kyle Beach and all he has had to endure since 2010. He was incredibly brave coming forward to tell his story. We can all use his courage as an inspiration to do a better job of making hockey a safer space for anyone who wants to play the game.

Further, I want to express my gratitude to the National Hockey League for the opportunity to meet with Commissioner Gary Bettman, in person, and directly share my role in and recollection of events while I was Assistant GM of the Chicago Blackhawks in 2010. 

Cheveldayoff is returning to Winnipeg and will speak with the media on Monday.

Snapshots: Jets, Tarasenko, Buchnevich

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The Winnipeg Jets will be in the market for defensemen when the trade freeze is lifted in a few days. GM Kevin Cheveldayoff spoke with NHL.com, explaining that the team is looking to improve the back end through trades or free agency, even though they have several young defensemen in the system already. Jordie Benn, Derek Forbort, and Tucker Poolman are all scheduled to become unrestricted free agents this summer.

There’s also the possibility that Dylan DeMelo is selected by the Seattle Kraken, leaving the Jets even more shorthanded. Currently, the team has just DeMelo, Josh Morrissey, Nathan Beaulieu, and Sami Niku under one-way contracts for next season. Logan Stanley and Neal Pionk are both restricted free agents, while Ville Heinola, who could be in line for a full-time role, is still on his entry-level contract. Even if that whole group was brought back, it simply wasn’t good enough to help the Jets really contend for the Stanley Cup, meaning a more substantial change could be in order.

  • The Seattle Kraken are reportedly considering a select-and-trade with St. Louis Blues forward Vladimir Tarasenko, but Andy Strickland of Bally Sports Midwest tweets that it could get even more complicated than that. Strickland suggests a third team could be involved in any Tarasenko trade were the Kraken to choose him. That would open up the door for even more salary retention, potentially giving someone the 29-year-old forward at a bargain. Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic spoke with the doctor that performed Tarasenko’s most recent shoulder surgery, who explained that it is “rock solid” and suggested the sniper would be at full strength for the start of the 2021-22 season.
  • Strickland also tweets that the Blues have serious interest in New York Rangers forward Pavel Buchnevich, who is an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent this summer for the final time. Buchnevich is now 26, just a year away from UFA status, and appeared on Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff’s list of trade targets last week, with the scribe writing that Rangers GM Chris Drury has “engaged in conversation about the possibility of moving” him. With 20 goals and 48 points in 54 games this season, Buchnevich has blossomed into a true top-six option that could potentially replace some of the outgoing firepower in St. Louis. It’s not just Tarasenko that could be leaving the Blues, as Mike Hoffman, Jaden Schwartz and Tyler Bozak are also all pending UFAs.

Snapshots: Jets, Americans, Kallionkieli

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The Winnipeg Jets are in action tonight against the Montreal Canadiens after going 7-2-1 in their last 10, climbing all the way to second in the North Division. One might assume that the team is looking to supplement their imposing roster in a trade and do it soon, given the two-week quarantine any newcomer will require if he comes from a U.S.-based team.

Speaking with reporters including Ken Wiebe of Sportsnet, Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff explained that he is willing to make another deal to improve the club if the fit is right, regardless of COVID protocols and the wait. Mattias Ekholm has been linked to the Jets in recent days, but Cheveldayoff wouldn’t comment on any specifics.

  • The Rochester Americans are still not playing thanks to at least one positive coronavirus test and have announced a new postponement for this week. The team’s Wednesday game against the Syracuse Crunch has been postponed with no current makeup date, while Saturday’s game that was already pushed will now be played on May 3. The Americans players continue to be unavailable for the Buffalo Sabres as they stay in the protocol.
  • The Henderson Silver Knights have a new player to use after Marcus Kallionkielli was reassigned from Finland to the AHL today. The 19-year-old was a fifth-round pick in 2019 and spent part of last season with the Brandon Wheat Kings of the WHL. In nine games with HIFK’s junior squad in Finland this season, he recorded five points.

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