WINNIPEG – With tonight’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks being the 41st game of the season for the Winnipeg Jets, we’ve reached the halfway mark of the season.
The Jets are in first place in the National Hockey League with a 27-9-4 record and have tied a franchise record by winning seven straight games. Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff met with the media on Thursday and here are some of the highlights.
SCHEIFELE AND HELLEBUYCK EXTENSIONS
The day before the season started the Jets announced that Mark Scheifele and Connor Hellebuyck signed seven-year extensions. Scheifele is leading the team in scoring with 41 points (14G, 27A) and Hellebuyck has been named to his fourth career All-Star Game.
"They're two foundational pieces with respect to several foundation pieces within our organization. Thankfully, some of those foundation pieces are still locked up. But again, those two were certainly big pieces that I do think helped settle things down in those regards. I'd be lying if I stood up and said this is how I planned it all out because, again, you have to methodically go through things. And if it works, it works for both sides and things happen. But, at the end of the day, I do think that it does show that, and I think it rings even truer now, the two things that I talked to both of those players through that negotiation process is one, their very first and foremost thing was that they wanted to win. And two, they wanted to win with this group. And they're the ones that are walking the walk, so to speak, and that's what drives this team."
JETS DEPTH HAS BEEN IMPORTANT
The Jets depth this season has allowed them to be able to keep winning without the likes of Gabe Vilardi, Rasmus Kupari, David Gustafsson and Kyle Connor. A good example of the organizational depth is Dominic Toninto being recalled from the Manitoba Moose right after the Christmas break and the Jets fourth line has outscored the opposition 4-0 at five-on-five with Toninato, Morgan Barron and Axel Jonsson-Fjallby playing well together.
“I talked about it when we made the trade at the draft and acquired Gabe and Alex (Iafallo) and Rasmus. We talked that it gave our team different depth and dimension. At that time, did I envision that we were going to be able to do this or this? You don’t know. Gabe walks in and unfortunately gets hurt right away. Then when Gabe comes back, KC gets hurt. Those are things you want to have plans for, but I think you can never plan it. It comes back to that next-man mentality. With Bones talking about it, we’re not going to talk about excuses, we’re going to talk about solutions. It says it right in the dressing room — we’re here to find solutions. That’s really what the mentality that Bones has tried to instill. It’s easy to sit here and talk. At the end of the day, those players have to go out and execute.”
THE TRADE DEADLINE
The NHL trade deadline is 57 days away on March 8.
“Things evolve every single day so anybody who makes bold proclamations at 40 games hasn’t really felt the ups and downs and the rollercoaster of an NHL season. So much of the season is process. So much of it is preparation, and a great amount of it is execution, and that’s what those players need to continue to do. We’ll have conversations. We’ll seek opinions. We’ll talk. We’ll try and look to see what is available. You just hope that you’re in that situation that it matters.”
