How The Jets Can Replace Nikolaj Ehlers If He Leaves
The Winnipeg Jets are in a pretty enviable position heading into this summer. They are coming off a Presidents’ Trophy and have 16 players signed for next season with nearly $26.5MM in available cap space (as per PuckPedia). Sure, they fell short of expectations in the playoffs, but overall, they are in good shape. That second-round playoff loss to the Dallas Stars isn’t the only somber moment the Jets could go through during the offseason, though, as forward Nikolaj Ehlers is set to hit unrestricted free agency. The Jets could afford to keep Ehlers in the fold and appear interested in doing so, but negotiations have been quiet, and the signs point to him leaving. If he does, Winnipeg will have to figure out a way to replace his production.
Replacing Ehlers’ contributions with one player will be nearly impossible for the Jets, as they aren’t likely to land a Mitch Marner-type player in free agency and will be very hard-pressed to find a comparable on the trade market. Ehlers’ speed and puck skills are tricky to replicate, particularly his contributions to Winnipeg’s transition game. Ehlers’ defensive play isn’t anything to write home about, but on offence, he is the complete package, possessing a heavy shot, excellent passing, and he can play with almost anyone. Outside of his poor defensive play, the big knock is that he can’t stay healthy, and that will undoubtedly be a concern for teams that are lining up to sign him this summer.
There is little doubt that the Jets will look far and wide to replace Ehlers and will likely look both internally and externally to try and navigate the loss. Internally, they could look to a Cole Perfetti, Nikita Chibrikov, and Brad Lambert as candidates who could step into more elevated roles in the Jets lineup. However, they would be hard-pressed to replace Ehlers’ numbers, and it would put a lot of pressure on some young players if they were tasked with replacing Ehlers’ production. Relying on young players to replace Ehlers is a risk, and it’s one that Winnipeg might want to avoid as they head into the summer.
If the Jets did want to swing for the fences and try to acquire one player to replace Ehlers, they could look to Buffalo and forward JJ Peterka. The 23-year-old is an RFA and should land a big contract this summer. The Jets probably couldn’t offer-sheet him, given that they traded away their second-round pick next year to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Luke Schenn trade, and Peterka would most likely fall in the $7,020,113 to $9,360,153 range on a contract going forward. That range for an offer sheet requires a first, second, and third-round pick as compensation, which is something Winnipeg simply can’t do.
They could look to re-acquire the pick, which is precisely what the St. Louis Blues did last summer with Pittsburgh after they had traded it along with Kevin Hayes in a salary dump. St. Louis made the trade so they could facilitate two offer sheets for defenseman Philip Broberg and forward Dylan Holloway. Given that Kyle Dubas is still the general manager in Pittsburgh and appears to be looking at the future, there is no doubt that Winnipeg could re-acquire their pick (for a cost) to make the move for Peterka. Nothing suggests they will do this, but these are the types of things the Jets will need to look at to replace Ehlers.
Suppose the Jets want to explore a trade for Peterka, which is the likelier route, then they might be in tough to top some of the other offers Buffalo would be fielding. Winnipeg has a middle-of-the-pack prospect system (ranked 15th in the NHL by Scott Wheeler of The Athletic) and probably couldn’t match what other teams offer. The Jets could trade Brayden Yager or Lambert as part of a package and do have their first-round pick for the next few years, but as mentioned earlier, they are lacking second-round picks in the subsequent three drafts.
The likeliest option for the Jets is to acquire another winger who may not possess the same level of skill as Ehlers but can fill the void at a lower cost, allowing the Jets to use the savings to address other areas. Bryan Rust in Pittsburgh would be an excellent fit for the Jets and will no longer have an NMC as of July 1. Rust is coming off a career year and would be a great leader for the Jets to add to their roster. Rust posted 31 goals and 34 assists in 71 games this past season and has two Stanley Cups to his name, as well as many moments of coming up big when games mattered the most. As far as concession plans, you can’t do much better than Rust.
Another Penguins forward who could be a fit is Rickard Rakell. The 32-year-old also had a career year, tallying 35 goals and 35 assists in 81 games. The Penguins like Rakell and were reportedly asking for quite a haul for him at the NHL Trade Deadline. If the Jets were able to pluck him or Rust from Pittsburgh, they would have done well to fill the void left by Ehlers’ departure.
Ultimately, whatever the Jets decide to do, it will likely involve acquiring another player and then hoping that several of their younger players can take the next step. The Jets are in a good spot to absorb the loss of a long-time player should it happen, and could look around the league to find a less skilled winger to fill in the void. Drake Batherson of the Ottawa Senators is another name that is out there, and he, too, would be a good fit for the Jets if they are looking at a trade.
Photo by James Carey Lauder-USA TODAY Sports
Jets Expected To Issue Qualifying Offer To Rasmus Kupari
- Earlier today, Winnipeg Jets forward Rasmus Kupari signed a two-year deal with the NL’s HC Lugano. If the Jets issue Kupari a qualifying offer before the June 30th deadline, they’ll retain his signing rights through the 2026-27 season, which Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Free Press expects them to do. Although Kupari’s recent deal had an AAV of $1MM, the Jets will have to issue a $1.1MM qualifying offer to Kupari this summer, given the backloaded nature of his salary.
- According to Mark Divver of the New England Hockey Journal, Matthew Desiderio is expected to join the Jets for their development camp. Desiderio has already committed to Brown University for the 2025-26 NCAA season. He’s coming off a solid year with the USHL’s Dubuque Fighting Saints, scoring 14 goals and 38 points in 62 games.
[SOURCE LINK]
Jets’ Rasmus Kupari Signs Two-Year Deal With Switzerland’s HC Lugano
Jets pending RFA center Rasmus Kupari has agreed to terms on a two-year deal with HC Lugano of Switzerland’s National League, the club announced today. While Kupari obviously does not intend to return to the NHL next season, Winnipeg can still retain his signing rights through the 2026-27 season with a qualifying offer before the June 30 deadline.
Kupari, acquired from the Kings in 2023’s Pierre-Luc Dubois trade, was a regular on the Jets’ fourth line this year until the trade deadline. The acquisition of Brandon Tanev from the Kraken pushed him down the depth chart, plus concussion symptoms limited his availability for a good chunk of the remaining regular season. He was cleared to return for Game 2 of Winnipeg’s first-round series against the Blues but remained out of the lineup for the entirety of the postseason.
All told, the 25-year-old played 87 games for the Jets over the last two regular seasons combined. He was a frequent healthy scratch in the first year of his tenure, although he did miss nearly two months with a shoulder issue as well, leading to just 28 appearances that year.
A first-round pick by Los Angeles in 2018, Kupari has rarely been elevated out of a fourth-line role during his five NHL seasons and hasn’t sniffed his offensive ceiling as a result. He had a career-high 15 points in 66 games with the Kings in his final year there before the trade. After signing a two-year, $2MM contract with the Jets following his acquisition, Kupari mustered a 5-4–9 scoring line with a minus-six rating over the life of the deal while averaging just 9:54 of ice time per game.
What Kupari lacks in offensive production, he’s somewhat compensated for in other areas of his game. He’s averaged 97 hits per 82 games over his career, wins over 50% of his faceoffs, and had good possession metrics in heavy defensive deployment in 2024-25 (49.0 CF%, 50.0 xGF%, 76.1 dZS%) at even strength.
That’s not Kupari’s calling card, though. He’s flirted with the point per game mark in the AHL before and had 33 points in 43 games for Kärpät in Finland’s top league back in 2018-19 before coming over to North America. It’s sensible that he’d look for more opportunity than he’ll realistically land in Winnipeg or anywhere else in the NHL next season by heading back to Europe.
A two-year deal with Lugano will walk Kupari to unrestricted free agent status in the 2027 offseason unless the Jets reach a deal to bring him back to the NHL before July 1 of that year. He was owed a $1.1MM QO this summer, though, making him a legitimate non-tender candidate given his limited deployment.
Image courtesy of James Carey Lauder-Imagn Images.
Islanders, Jets Explored Brock Nelson Trade At Deadline
The New York Islanders landed a Trade Deadline steal when they sent aging veteran Brock Nelson to the Colorado Avalanche for top prospect Calum Ritchie, defenseman Oliver Kylington, and draft picks in the 2026 first-round and 2028 third-round. But new reports have shared that New York could’ve found a jackpot return even if their offer with Colorado fell through. Marco D’Amico of Responsible Gaming reports that the Winnipeg Jets were also aggressive in their pursuit of acquiring Nelson – and were ready to offer a package very similar to Colorado’s. D’Amico specifies that Winnipeg would have offered up one of Brad Lambert, Brayden Yager, or Colby Barlow in the return, in addition to future draft capital.
New York can rest happy with how things ended up, but acquiring one of Winnipeg’s top names would have been just as lucrative. All three prospects offer their own upside, led by 2023 14th-overall pick Brayden Yager, who scored 82 points in just 54 WHL games this season. He also chipped in 14 points in 16 playoff games – but fell short of the championship run he went on with the Moose Jaw Warriors last season. Yager is likely headed for the pros next season, and could rapidly rise up Winnipeg’s depth chart with a hot start to his career.
Lambert is another top prospect, though expectations around him have cooled slightly after he scored 35 points in 61 AHL games this season – 20 fewer than he managed in 64 games last year. Lambert’s a dynamic and skilled forward, but is still a bit small for pro competition. He offers plenty of upside, but will need to first rediscover the scoring he posted last year.
Barlow is perhaps the most unheralded of the bunch after wrapping up his age-20 season in the OHL. He scored 32 goals and 61 points in 62 games this year. That mark continued his quiet slide down the OHL leaderboard – after he posted 40 goals and 58 points in 50 games last year, and 46 goals and 79 points in 59 games of his draft year in 2022-23. But Barlow intercut that with three points in three AHL games at the end of last season, and could translate as a hard-nosed scorer with pro-level physicality.
But while all three prospects carry reason for upside and reason for question, D’Amico specified that a deal with the Jets fell through because Nelson was unwilling to waive his no-trade clause to head to Canada. He instead waived it to land in Colorado, earning the Islanders the rights to Ritchie just a few months after he made the NHL roster directly out of training camp. Ritchie played in seven games and scored his first NHL goal before returning to the OHL for a dominant season. He posted 70 points in 47 regular season games, and 25 points in 21 playoff games, while serving as the clear-cut top center on an Oshawa Generals lineup that made it all the way to the OHL Championship.
NHL Announces General Manager Of The Year Finalists
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.
Axel Jonsson-Fjallby Signs Three-Year Deal In Sweden
Jets pending unrestricted free agent winger Axel Jonsson-Fjallby has signed a three-year contract with Brynas IF of the Swedish Hockey League, the club announced Friday.
Jonsson-Fjallby, 27, didn’t see any NHL time this season after clearing waivers and heading to AHL Manitoba during training camp. He’s wrapping up a two-year, partial two-way deal he signed in free agency with Winnipeg in 2023 and earned the full league-minimum $775K salary this year despite not receiving any callups.
It was the first season that Jonsson-Fjallby hadn’t touched NHL ice since making his debut with the Capitals in the 2021-22 campaign. A fifth-round pick by Washington back in 2016, he was claimed off waivers by the Jets at the beginning of the 2022-23 season and has remained in the Winnipeg organization since.
Not too long ago, it looked like the speedy 6’0″ winger had what it takes to be an everyday bottom-six forward. He appeared in a career-high 50 games with Winnipeg in 2022-23 following the waiver claim, averaging 10:27 per game but still managing to record six goals and eight assists for 14 points. AJF only got 26 NHL games the following year, though, as he passed through waivers unclaimed and bounced between the majors and minors.
His chances of making an NHL comeback likely ended with a poor showing in Manitoba this season. After hovering well north of a 0.7 points per game rate in the prior few years, Jonsson-Fjallby produced an underwhelming 12-15–27 scoring line in 65 showings for the Moose, just 0.42 points per game. As such, it would have made little sense for Jonsson-Fjallby to hold out hope for a two-way deal as a UFA this summer when there was a much more stable offer waiting for him back home in Sweden.
There aren’t many better places for a potential resurgence overseas for Jonsson-Fjallby than Brynas, which just took home the top spot in the SHL in the regular season. His previous top-flight experience in Sweden came with Djurgardens IF from 2016 to 2019, recording an 8-19–27 scoring line in 102 games there as a youngster.
Including his time in Washington, Jonsson-Fjallby has a 10-13–23 scoring line with a plus-five rating in 99 career NHL games.
Jets Still Hopeful To Re-Sign Nikolaj Ehlers
Although it’s already been heavily reported that winger Nikolaj Ehlers has no intention of signing a new contract with the Winnipeg Jets, that won’t change the team’s approach. According to TSN’s John Lu, the Jets are still expected to make a run at Ehlers before he hits the open market.
There is a slight chance that Ehlers may re-sign with Winnipeg, despite earlier reports this year. He’s arguably the second-best winger on the free agent market this summer behind Mitch Marner, and he may become a rebound candidate for teams that strike out on the former, giving the Jets some additional time.
Jets Notes: Lowry, Ehlers, Vilardi
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.
Winnipeg Jets Notes: Connor, Morrissey, Schenn, Fleury
Although the Winnipeg Jets extended a few of their pending unrestricted free agents shortly before the end of the regular season, they still have a few to iron out. One of which is winger Kyle Connor, who’s eligible for an extension on July 1st.
According to Murat Ates of The Athletic, he’s fully expecting the Jets to make Connor’s extension a priority this summer. It would be the second contract extension that the University of Michigan alum has signed in Winnipeg, following the seven-year, $50 million deal that was signed in 2019.
Connor’s next deal is sure to include a substantial raise, considering his impressive average of over a point per game for the last seven years, along with multiple 30- and 40-goal seasons, and two campaigns with over 90 points. With the salary cap continually increasing, the Jets should face no financial issues. The only hiccup could be Connor’s desire to stay in Manitoba.
Other Jets notes:
- In a report from TSN’s John Lu, defenseman Josh Morrissey won’t require surgery on his injured knee from Game 6 of Winnipeg’s Round Two series against the Dallas Stars. Still, it wouldn’t have mattered to the Jets’ Stanley Cup aspirations, as Morrissey shared he would have been done for the postseason regardless. He’ll be ready in time for training camp in September, at any rate.
- Morrissey wasn’t the only injured player on Winnipeg’s blue line. According to Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Free Press, trade deadline acquisition Luke Schenn had been playing through the playoffs with a fractured rib. Schenn didn’t let the injury affect his physicality, as the veteran blue liner collected 47 hits in nine games after purportedly suffering the fracture.
- Staying on the Jets’ blue line, team color analyst Mitchell Clinton shared that depth defender Haydn Fleury would love to stay in Winnipeg for the foreseeable future. Fleury, the pending unrestricted free agent, appeared in 37 games for Winnipeg this year, tallying seven assists while averaging 15:56 of ice time per game.
Jets’ Morrissey Injury “Not Good,” Says Coach Scott Arniel
The Winnipeg Jets not only lost Game 6 against the Dallas Stars, ending their season, but they also lost key defender Josh Morrissey to a potentially significant injury, per a TSN report.
Morrissey was injured in the second period of Game 6 after getting tangled up with Stars forward Mikko Rantanen. His knee appeared to twist awkwardly, and after struggling to get to the bench, Morrissey was helped to the locker room and did not return. Following the game, head coach Scott Arniel said the injury is “not good,” but that the team would learn more upon returning to Canada. Arniel noted that Morrissey’s injury was among a series of obstacles the team had to face against the Stars.
“Again, losing Josh tonight was a big blow. Just a lot of circumstances that happened. Our leadership within our group kept grinding everybody and pushing everybody. It’s growth. It hurts a lot. But we lost to a great team,” Arniel said.
Morrissey enjoyed a fantastic regular season, recording his third consecutive campaign with over 60 points. Typically a model of durability — with at least 78 games played in each of the last four seasons — Morrissey wasn’t as fortunate in the playoffs, where he sustained two separate injuries that forced him to miss time. He was also injured in Game 7 of the first round against the St. Louis Blues after being hit by Oskar Sundqvist, which caused him to miss Game 1 against the Stars.
It remains unclear whether the injury Morrissey suffered against the Stars is related to his earlier ailment, and the full extent has yet to be revealed. If the injury proves to be serious, he’ll have the entire offseason to recover with the goal of being ready for the start of the 2025–26 campaign.