The Winnipeg Jets continue to fly under the radar in the Central Division. They are the one team nobody wants to discuss, but they remain at the top of the division. GM Kevin Cheveldayoff got buy-in from his top players, Mark Scheifele and Connor Hellebuyck, to go out and get players like Sean Monahan and Tyler Toffoli at the NHL Trade Deadline.
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The Jets are one of the best teams in the NHL, and they have a chance to win the Central Division and make it to the Stanley Cup Final. Head coach Rick Bowness has many options, and Toffoli was the perfect fit for the Jets to push them over the top in the Western Conference.
As TSN Hockey Analyst Martin Biron stated on SportsCenter with Jay Onrait when asked about the additions of Monahan and Toffoli and why the chemistry has come so quickly.
Jay Onrait: “As promised, here he is, our NHL Analyst Marty Biron, to talk about this dominating win for the Winnipeg Jets and Tyler Toffoli. Marty, three points, that’s back-to-back games with multiple points. He’s on the line with Sean Monahan and Nicky Ehlers. I love this line. Why has it been able to work so quickly for these guys?
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Martin Biron: Well, first of all, Tyler Toffoli has been on six teams in the last five years. I don’t know why it must be the demand, right? Because when you have that guy, you usually don’t trade him. But he’s been able to adjust wherever he’s been. Why? Because he has a simple game. He goes to the front of the net and stays there.
The big body, hard to move. He’s really good on the forecheck. He’s got a great active stick on puck retrieval, creating turnovers. That was one of his goals against Columbus. He’s up and down the wing. Very simple. You know where he’s going to be, and he’s always in a good position. But also, I mean, he has chemistry with Sean Monahan, and Monahan has also come in from a different team, so they get together like, let’s just play an up-and-down game.
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And then we have a skilled winger like Nik Ehlers with us. Let’s get him the puck, and it’s really, really been evident in the last two games, but even from the start of when Tyler Toffoli joined the Winnipeg Jets, you can tell that he was going to be a difference maker. Now, the Jets already had a really solid top six, but with Tyler Toffoli, they don’t just have a solid top six. They have a great top six.
It doesn’t matter who was on the ice in the first two lines; they can definitely score, and Toffoli has been better as a 30-year-old and 31-year-old than he was in his 20s. Now it’s gonna be a, well, back-to-back seasons of 30 goals or more. He only did that once in his 20s. So he is at his prime right now and will be at his prime for a few more years, and the Jets will benefit from that.”
Onrait: “Yeah, it’s great to see these guys thriving in Winnipeg.”
The Winnipeg Jets will be dangerous once the playoffs begin because of their depth and Hellebuyck between the pipes. But one thing is for sure, Cheveldayoff found the right guy in Tyler Toffoli.