Ken Wiebe of Sportsnet: The Winnipeg Jets will have some salary cap space to work with this offseason to upgrade their blue line and forwards. The Jets could use their cap flexibility to their advantage.
“All you can do is project internally here by going over and poring over other team’s caps and situations as to what might become available or not. Then, one thing we can provide for those players is an opportunity to play with a real solid core of players,” said Cheveldayoff. “Whether it’s a centre or whether it’s a winger or whether it’s a defenceman, we’re an easy sell to say ‘you can play with Josh Morrissey’ or ‘you can play with Player X up front.’ Those are enticing things to try to get a player to come in and prove themselves.”
One question mark for the Jets is the status of forward Bryan Little. Little hopes to be able to play. He has four years left on a deal at $5.291 million cap hit.
Andrew Copp could be an internal option for a bigger role down the middle. If looking at the trade market, Montreal Canadiens Max Domi or Philadelphia Flyers Nolan Patrick could be two players that may benefit from a change of scenery.
The Jets have 11 pending unrestricted free agents.
The Jets haven’t started contract talks with defenseman Dylan DeMelo.
“He really fit in well,” said Cheveldayoff. “We’ll definitely take a look at it. We haven’t had any negotiations with his representatives. But there has been a constant communication with respect to the understanding that we think he has been a good fit.”
Could the Jets take a run at pending unrestricted free agent defenseman Alex Pietrangelo?
Paul Friesen of the Winnipeg Sun: The Dustin Byfuglien situation through a wrench into the Jets season.
The Jets could use from depth up front and on the blue line.
“We tried to do some things on the fly, given the limited cap space that we had until the trade deadline,” Cheveldayoff said. “We acquired some players. Most of the players probably punched above their weight class.”
To become a competitive team again, the Jets need a second-line center and a top-four defenseman. The Jets have the cap space for a free agent to acquire through trade. The Jets need to find someone who is already a proven NHLer.