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Jets Place Declan Chisholm On Waivers

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The Jets placed defenseman Declan Chisholm on waivers for the purposes of assignment to AHL Manitoba on Sunday, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.

The 24-year-old Chisholm has played sparingly this season and is currently on a run of 23 straight healthy scratches. His only two NHL games came in back-to-back showings against the Blackhawks and Hurricanes in early December, in which he recorded one assist and controlled 47.8% of Corsi events at even strength while averaging 11:33 per game.

He does have five assists in six games with AHL Manitoba this season, coming by way of a mid-November conditioning stint. The Jets have been hesitant to expose last year’s AHL All-Star Classic participant to waivers for fear of losing him for no return.

As Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press points out, placing Chisholm on waivers today is likely an attempt to sneak him through the wire while most teams are beginning their All-Star break. The 2018 fifth-round pick finished second among Manitoba defensemen with 43 points in 59 games last season.

Chisholm signed a one-year, two-way deal worth $775K with a minimum salary guarantee of $120K to remain with Winnipeg after reaching restricted free agency last summer. He was one of the last remaining RFAs without a contract nearing training camps, waiting until Sep. 13 to put pen to paper on a deal. He will be an RFA again next summer but is not yet eligible for salary arbitration.

Central Snapshots: Vilardi, Gustafsson, Dermott, Gurianov

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The Winnipeg Jets are expecting the return of forwards Gabriel Vilardi and David Gustafsson soon, per team reporter Mike McIntyre with The Free Press. Both players are out with lower-body injuries, with Vilardi missing the team’s last two games and optimistic he can return soon, while Gustafsson has been on injured reserve since December 30th.

Vilardi missed roughly a month-and-a-half earlier in the season with a sprained MCL. He made his return on November 30th and has since scored 11 goals and 19 points in 23 games, while averaging over 17 minutes of ice time each game. That’s a scoring pace of 67 points across 82 games, which would mark a new career high for Vilardi, topping the 23 goals and 41 points he scored in 63 games last season. Vilardi is in his first season with Winnipeg, with the 24-year-old forward serving as a focal piece of the trade that sent Pierre-Luc Dubois to the Los Angeles Kings this summer.

Gustafsson has appeared in 27 games of his own this season, scoring four points while averaging roughly nine minutes of ice time. He appeared in his 100th NHL game on December 20th, recording one assist in the Jets’ 5-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings.

Other notes from the Western Conference:

  • The Arizona Coyotes have shared that defenseman Travis Dermott will miss the team’s Saturday night game with a lower-body injury. Dermott missed 12 games earlier in the season with a hand injury, making his return on December 7th. He has just two points in the 22 games he’s played since then, adding a -8 and eight penalty minutes.
  • Nashville Predators forward Denis Gurianov has lost his waiver exemption status, with Nashville’s Saturday afternoon game marking his 10th game since being recalled on January 6th. He’s scored two points in his stint with the Predators, who have become the third NHL club that Gurianov has played for across his seven-year NHL career. The 26-year-old has totaled 289 career games and 113 points, spending six years of his career with the Dallas Stars.

Josh Morrissey Suffers Lower-Body Injury

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  • Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey left tonight’s game with a lower-body injury and will not return, per a team announcement. While he hasn’t been able to score at the same level as a year ago when he had 76 points in 78 games to finish fifth in Norris Trophy voting, he entered tonight with 33 points in 45 contests to lead all Winnipeg blueliners in scoring by 15 points over teammate Neal Pionk.

Gabriel Vilardi A Game-Time Decision Tonight

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  • Gabriel Vilardi will be a game-time decision for the Winnipeg Jets’ Monday night matchup against the Boston Bruins, per head coach Rick Bowness. Vilardi has been in and out of the lineup in his first season with the Jets, appearing in just 26 of the team’s 44 games. But he’s made his presence felt when he can, managing 11 goals and 20 points. Vilardi appeared at Winnipeg’s Monday practice but was seen speaking with Bowness after practice. If he can’t go, the team will likely turn toward Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, who has five points through 24 games this season.
  • Winnipeg Jets prospect Chaz Lucius is slated to have season-ending surgery on his ankle. It’s yet another significant injury for the 20-year-old centerman, who has only managed 59 league games over the last three seasons. Lucius was on a hot streak in the minor leagues this year, managing 13 points in his 17 apperances. The Jets will hope for the best from the former 18th-overall selection as he sets his sights on next season.

Snapshots: Jenner, Schiefele, Annunen

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The Columbus Blue Jackets have activated forward Boone Jenner off of injured reserve. This move confirms team reporter Aaron Portzline’s earlier report that the team captain would make his return on Friday.

Jenner is in his 11th season with the Blue Jackets and his third season as the team’s captain. He’s spent all 686 of his career games with Columbus – beating out Rick Nash for the most games in club history. Jenner has managed 347 points in those games, good for third in club history. Jenner had a career year in the 2015-16 season, managing 30 goals and 49 points in 82 games, while boasting a fairly meager 13.3 shooting percentage. He struggled to replicate that scoring ability for much of the subsequent years but has found a newfound finishing ability over recent seasons – netting 23 goals and 26 goals in the last two seasons respectively.  Jenner has 13 goals and 18 points in 29 games this season.

Other notes from around the league:

  • Mark Scheifele is expected to miss the Winnipeg Jets’ Saturday matchup against the Ottawa Senators says head coach Rick Bowness. He is battling a lower-body injury suffered on January 11th. He will be reevaluated ahead of the team’s Monday game against the Boston Bruins. Scheifele was placed on injured reserve on January 16th – with the placement retroactive to January 12th – making Saturday the first game that he could have returned for. His absence corresponded with teammate Kyle Connor’s return from injured reserve, helping to keep Winnipeg’s offense alive while their leading-scorer Scheifele misses time.
  • The Colorado Avalanche have sent 23-year-old goaltender Justus Annunen to the minors. He was recalled on January 13th and made his season debut, saving 36 of 40 shots in a 7-4 win over the Ottawa Senators. He’s now up to five career NHL games spread over the last three seasons, boasting a 3-1-1 record and .871 save percentage in them. Annunen returns to the AHL, where he’s already managed a 9-5-4 record and .908 save percentage in 18 games this season.

Winnipeg Jets Activate Kyle Connor, Place Mark Scheifele On IR

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Before their game tonight against the New York Islanders, the Winnipeg Jets are trading in one star forward for another. Per a team announcement, the team has activated forward Kyle Connor off of injured reserve, and subsequently placed Mark Scheifele on the injured reserve, retroactive to January 12th.

Connor’s return will come after missing just over a month of action for the Jets, after suffering a knee injury in the team’s December 10th game against the Anaheim Ducks. However, even without their top scorer in the lineup, Winnipeg has amassed an impressive 12-2-2 record since Connor’s original injury took place and have vaulted themselves into first place in the hotly contested Central Division.

Before Connor’s placement on the injured reserve, he was on pace for a personal best in goal-scoring to date, putting up 17 goals in 26 games. Incredibly, with only three of those goals coming on the Jets’ powerplay, Connor still sits tied for 16th in the NHL in even-strength goals, which puts him on par with the likes of Travis Konecny, Connor Bedard, and Robert Thomas with about half as many games played.

Nevertheless, the news of Connor’s return also bears some negative aspects, as Scheifele will now find himself on the injured reserve. Thankfully, since the placement is retroactive to January 12th, Scheifele may only miss one game for Winnipeg, and be eligible to return against the Ottawa Senators this Saturday.

By all accounts, it does not appear that Scheifele’s injury is serious, as it’s only been reported he is dealing with a lower-body injury from the team’s game last week against the Chicago Blackhawks. In the last 15 games that Connor has missed, Scheifele has picked up a lot of the offensive slack, scoring five goals and 13 points in that stretch of games.

Mark Scheifele Out With Lower-Body Injury

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  • Jets top-line center Mark Scheifele isn’t playing tonight against the Flyers with a lower-body injury sustained Thursday against Chicago, per the team. Captain Adam Lowry moves up to the first line in his absence to center Nikolaj Ehlers and Gabriel Vilardi. Scheifele’s 27 assists and 41 points through 41 games both lead the team, so it’s a sizable loss for a squad looking to extend their eight-game win streak. He’s in the final season of an eight-year, $49MM carrying a $6.125MM cap hit but is locked into a seven-year extension with an $8.5MM cap hit beginning next season.

Jets Notes: Dillon, DeMelo, Ehlers, Kupari

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Veteran blueliners Brenden Dillon and Dylan DeMelo are among the Jets players set to hit unrestricted free agency this summer.  However, speaking with reporters yesterday including Murat Ates of The Athletic (subscription link), GM Kevin Cheveldayoff indicated that the team has had discussions with the agents for both players although he declined to say if those talks are currently ongoing.

Dillon is in his third season with the Jets after being acquired from San Jose, a move that has worked out well for the 33-year-old who has logged steady minutes on the second pairing while providing plenty of physicality and shot-blocking for several years now.  With a $3.5MM cap hit, he’s likely to get an increase on that with a multi-year agreement.

As for DeMelo, the 30-year-old is in his fifth year with the team and is playing out the final season of a four-year, $12MM extension to avoid testing the open market back in 2020.  He has seen his playing time jump to nearly 22 minutes a night this season which gives him some extra leverage, especially after putting up a career-high 27 points last year.  Like Dillon, he’s in line for a raise and a multi-year deal as well.  With both players being key pieces on the back end, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Cheveldayoff try to get a deal worked out with at least one of them before the trade deadline.

More from Winnipeg:

  • Winger Nikolaj Ehlers left practice today with an upper-body injury, relays Scott Billeck of the Winnipeg Sun (Twitter link). His early exit is believed to be precautionary.  Ehlers has battled injury issues over the last couple of seasons but has been healthy and productive in the first half of this season, notching 15 goals and 18 assists in his first 41 games.
  • The team announced (Twitter link) that center Rasmus Kupari has been recalled from his conditioning loan with AHL Manitoba. Winnipeg sent the 23-year-old down to the Moose back on Tuesday to get him some game action after missing more than six weeks with a shoulder injury.  He only suited up once on assignment – one that could have lasted for two weeks – and was held off the scoresheet.  Kupari came to the Jets as part of the Pierre-Luc Dubois trade but he struggled considerably offensively before being injured, notching just one assist in 15 games.

Mark Schiefele Out Day-To-Day

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  • The Winnipeg Free Press’ Mike McIntyre relayed word this afternoon from Jets head coach Rick Bowness on the injury status of Mark Scheifele. Bowness said Scheifele is day-to-day, and not ruled out for tomorrow’s game. He also called that development “very good news.” He’s certainly correct on that point as the Jets are among the NHL’s best teams this season and Scheifele’s production is all but irreplaceable. He’s got 14 goals and 41 points this season after setting a career-high mark of 42 goals in 2022-23.

Jets Notes: Heinola, Dillon, DeMelo

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Winnipeg Jets defenseman Ville Heinola has recovered from the ankle injury that wiped out the start of his season and is ready to return to the ice, according to Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff. (via TSN’s John Lu) Heinola will be activated off of injured reserve, and assigned to the AHL’s Manitoba Moose where he can get some game action under his belt before he becomes a consideration for an NHL call-up.

Heinola, 22, is a 2019 first-round pick who was excellent in the AHL last season but has not yet played in more than 12 NHL games in a single season in his career. He appeared to be making real strides in preseason and training camp in the fall, but the injury he suffered scuttled his hopes of making the season-opening roster. Now back and healthy, he’ll look to work towards a more lasting call-up to the Jets’ NHL roster.

Some other Jets notes from Cheveldayoff’s media availability today:

  • Cheveldayoff told the media that they have had some conversations about a new contract with defenseman Brenden Dillon, but added that the discussions are not “ongoing.” The 33-year-old is currently entrenched as the club’s second-pairing left-shot blueliner and averages nearly 19 minutes per night, including 2:20 on the penalty kill. He’s making $3.9MM against the cap and could very well have an argument to match that number on his new deal, despite his age.
  • Another blueliner Cheveldayoff confirmed some, but not ongoing, conversations with on a contract extension is Dylan DeMelo. DeMelo is currently number-one defenseman Josh Morrissey’s partner on the team’s top pairing, and is playing the second-most minutes per night of any Winnipeg Jet. He’s chewing nearly 22 minutes per night and nearly three minutes short-handed. Seeing as he’s making $3MM on his current expiring contract, the 30-year-old’s big campaign on one of the NHL’s best teams is likely to set him up nicely for a pay raise this summer.

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