On the Winnipeg Jets …
Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Sun: The Jets missed the playoffs for the second consecutive year, and five of the last six years. GM Kevin Cheveldayoff and head coach Paul Maurice are heading into the final year of their deals, but expects both to get contract extensions of at least one year.
Will the lack of organizational depth on the blueline force the Jets to protect four defenseman and four forwards for the expansion draft?
The Jets will need to make some moves either by trade or in free agency to improve their roster.
Coming off the books will be Ondrej Pavelec ($3.9 million cap hit), Chris Thorburn ($1.2 million), Paul Postma ($887,500) and Brian Strait ($600,000)
The Jets biggest offseason need appears to be a No. 1 goalie that has NHL experience. This doesn’t mean to give up on the Connor Hellebuyck‘s potential, but the Jets can’t have another season with a team save percentage under .900.
thinks the Jets should look at Chicago Blackhawks Scott Darling. The Dallas Stars and Vegas Golden Knights will also be looking at Darling.
Pending RFAs for the Jets include Hellebuyck, Ben Chiarot, Andrew Copp, Marko Dano and Brandon Tanev.
Jacob Trouba has a year left on his deal and the Jets might want to get him locked up long-term after July 1st. Trouba likely won’t be interested in that just yet unless they throw big money at him as he missed the start of the season, dealt with an injury and didn’t put up big offensive numbers. Trouba will likely want to wait until after next season.
The Jets need to bring in some depth along the blueline.
On the Arizona Coyotes …
Sarah McLellan of the Arizona Republic: The Coyotes will lose a player to Vegas in the expansion draft, but they are also looking at potentially adding to their roster because of the draft.
“We see it as an opportunity potentially to add a player or two that can really help our group next year,” General Manager John Chayka said.
The Coyotes basically know now who they will be protecting for the draft, but that could always change with another move.
“It’s pretty clear cut right now I’d say,” Chayka said. “But again, if we make a move, that’s when hard decisions would have to be made. That’s kind of the trade-off, right? If you are going to acquire a player that needs to be protected, then there’s a chance that we have to expose a player on our end.”