Jets add depth, speed and championship pedigree

Kevin Cheveldayoff has watched his team, the Winnipeg Jets sit near or atop the NHL standings for the majority of this season. So, the question was would that affect how he approached the trade deadline which came at 2 CT on Friday?

“We’ve been pretty much all in here for every single year for the last little while. We’ve used a lot of different capital,” said Cheveldayoff on the Jets pregame show on Tuesday.

“So, some of the assets that are traditionally there, aren’t there (this year). That makes it’s a little more difficult when you are talking to teams, sometimes their asks, you just don’t have. The assets that they want, unless they change, you have to go in different directions.”

Before the deadline expired, Cheveldayoff and the Jets made two separate deals. Winnipeg brought in Luke Schenn from Pittsburgh for a 2026 second round pick and a 2027 fourth round pick. Then the Jets sent a 2027 second round pick to the Seattle Kraken for Brandon Tanev.

"I think we gave ourselves a little bit of a different dimension on the backend from a hardness perspective, penalty kill perspective, leadership perspective. I think we really got a lot in acquiring Luke (Schenn),” said Cheveldayoff.

“And then Tanev, it's always good to bring your guy back home. He was a big part of what we had going there when we went deep into the playoffs and the experience he had with this group. He's just that much more experienced as a player now. Speed-galore. Tenacity. Penalty killing. A guy that it won't take long for him to be familiar back with all the players again.”

On top of adding two players that should make the Jets tougher to play against, Schenn has championship pedigree with two Stanley Cup rings on his resume.

“He’s a competitor. I think as a hockey player, or as an athlete, you want a chance to compete for a championship. I really expect an exuberance from him. Because when you get a little longer in the career, you know that you don’t have as many of those years left,” said Cheveldayoff.

“So, I think that urgency, that desire, he’ll be able to talk to the guys and say, ‘You know what guys, buckle down, because it’s damn well worth it.”

A team that always seems to go big this time of year, the Tampa Bay Lightning, might have set the market back on Wednesday when they acquired Oliver Bjorkstrand and Yanni Gourde from the Kraken for two- first round picks, a second-round pick and Michael Eyssimont. Both Bjorkstrand and Gourde have been penciled in on the Lightning third line.

Winnipeg walked out of deadline with their first-round pick in 2025 intact and didn’t part with any of their top prospects or roster players. That being said, do not think that the Jets were not willing to part with their first.

"I tried like heck not to. Every deadline's different,” said Cheveldayoff.

“Sometimes -- were there teams asking for firsts even in situations that we've got right now? Sure. If there was a pressure point that a team can buckle under, you're always asking."

Dallas (Rantanen, Ceci and Granlund) and Colorado (Nelson, Coyle, Vesey and Lindgren) have been busy as well loading up the rosters. The Central Division will be a gauntlet especially with St. Louis and Minnesota being solid competition on top of the big three.

“You focus on what you do for your own organization. It's not an arms race. It's what works for you and what fits for you,” said Cheveldayoff.

“You're not able, no one's able, to truly try and go and get everybody and anything. Those teams did what they felt they needed to do. We did what we felt we needed to do.”