- Winnipeg Jets defenseman Brenden Dillon is expected to test free agency, shares Friedman in 32 Thoughts. Dillon concluded his third year with the Jets this season, joining the team via trade in 2021 – with Winnipeg sending the Washington Capitals the draft picks used to select Seamus Casey and Carson Rehkopf, though neither player was drafted by Washington. Dillon, 33, will be looking for a new home after recording 63 points across 238 games with the Jets.
Jets Rumors
Nikolaj Ehlers Not Interested In Extension With Jets
Nikolaj Ehlers has been a key part of Winnipeg’s top-six forward group for the last nine seasons and remains under contract for 2024-25. However, it doesn’t appear that he’s interested in extending that number any further as David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports that the winger isn’t interested in signing a new deal with the Jets. He adds that while no formal trade request has been made, Ehlers would welcome a move.
Last month, it was reported that Winnipeg GM Kevin Cheveldayoff was likely to explore the trade market for the 28-year-old in the weeks leading up to the draft. With this report now out there, it stands to reason that his camp had notified the Jets earlier in the offseason that they weren’t interested in engaging in extension talks at this time.
Ehlers is coming off one of the most productive seasons in his career. He played in all 82 regular season games for the first time since 2017-18 and put 61 points, his second-best total. However, he was limited to just two assists in their first-round exit at the hands of Colorado.
Despite being one of Winnipeg’s more consistently productive players, it hasn’t resulted in him playing higher up the depth chart. Ehlers logged under 16 minutes a night in each of the last two years under now-former head coach Rick Bowness. With associate coach Scott Arniel taking over behind the bench, he might be inclined to keep the status quo in terms of Ehlers’ role so he’s likely hoping to have a more prominent role elsewhere.
Ehlers has one year left on his contract with a $6MM AAV with $6.75MM in salary. He also has some control on where he could be moved with a ten-team no-trade clause. That price tag is below what a 25-goal, 60-point scorer is likely to get on the open market next month so teams looking to make a more affordable addition will certainly be calling if they haven’t already.
Of course, Ehlers is a year away from cashing in on a more lucrative contract which has to be factored into the equation. Generally, players who are open to immediate extensions with an acquiring team will get more in return; Pagnotta adds that it’s unclear if Ehlers is willing to go that route at this time. Notably, he won’t be able to officially sign an extension in this scenario until July 1st.
The trade market is likely a few weeks away from fully opening up as teams often wait until after the Stanley Cup Final before reshaping their roster. It appears that Ehlers will be one of the more prominent names on that market when it gets going.
Jets Invite Kyle Penney To Development Camp
- The Jets have invited Cornell forward Kyle Penney to their upcoming development camp, reports Mark Divver of the New England Hockey Journal (Twitter link). The 23-year-old is coming off a strong year with the Big Red, one that saw him collect 10 goals and 18 assists along with a plus-30 rating in 35 games. Penney has one season of college eligibility remaining.
Offseason Checklist: Winnipeg Jets
The offseason has arrived for all but a handful of teams who are still taking part in the playoffs. Accordingly, it’s now time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months. Next up is a look at the Jets.
The Jets entered the season on a high note, knowing that franchise cornerstones Connor Hellebuyck and Mark Scheifele would be around long-term after signing matching seven-year, $59.5MM extensions. That excitement translated to their second-best season in franchise history, ending the season on an eight-game tear to match their record 52 wins set in the 2017-18 season.
However, they were the only team with home-ice advantage in the first round to lose their series, bowing out in five games to the Avalanche. With new head coach Scott Arniel in place after Rick Bowness announced his retirement, Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff has some other big-ticket items to check off his list this summer to keep the Jets in contention.
Make A Call On Ehlers
28-year-old Dane Nikolaj Ehlers is heading into the final season of his $6MM AAV contract. After his worst regular-season offensive showing in five years and going without a goal in the playoffs, his trade (and extension) value is lower than in past summers.
That leaves Cheveldayoff in a pickle about whether to trade the longtime top-six fixture or work on keeping him in Winnipeg through his prime. Murat Ates of The Athletic reported last month that Cheveldayoff would at least explore moving the winger as the 2024 NHL Draft nears.
While his 2023-24 season may not have been up to his recent standards, by no means did Ehlers have a bad year. In fact, he’s routinely given the Jets great value for his $6MM cap hit over the life of his contract, which began back in 2018-19. Despite not seeing heavy power-play usage, keeping his average ice time under 16 minutes per game for a second straight season, he still managed 25 goals, 61 points and a +27 rating while playing in all 82 games.
His even-strength possession play has long been among the best on the Jets. He’s never had a season with a negative relative shot attempt share to his teammates, consistently tilting the ice in Winnipeg’s favor.
But for a team looking to be Stanley Cup contenders after a 110-point season, his poor playoff history is a rightful cause for concern. The 2014 ninth-overall pick has just four goals and 14 points in 37 postseason contests in Winnipeg with a -9 rating. None of those four goals came during this year’s first-round elimination.
As with any future UFA entering a contract year, the Jets have three options: trade him now, work on an extension when he’s eligible to sign one starting July 1 or play the waiting game. But his trade value won’t be as high in-season if they decide to move him as a rental – an acquiring team would certainly be willing to pay more for a full season of his services plus a longer window to discuss an extension.
Winnipeg has forward help coming in the form of recent first-round picks Colby Barlow and Rutger McGroarty, but not as soon as next season. Trading Ehlers leaves a major hole in their top nine as they attempt to reshape their roster, and it’s unlikely they’d be able to find a better value proposition to replace his role on the open market.
Re-Sign Monahan
One clear hole on the Jets’ depth chart is their second-line center. It’s unlikely that the organization trusts 22-year-old Cole Perfetti, who averaged fewer than 14 minutes per game last year and was a healthy scratch for most of their brief playoff run, to take over that role come opening night.
It was an issue last year, too, but the Jets addressed it weeks before the deadline by acquiring Sean Monahan from the Canadiens. Like many others, the 29-year-old struggled to produce in the playoffs, but he did end the regular season with 13 goals in 34 games for the Jets. Injuries have troubled him in the past, but he managed to stay healthy for all 83 games he was eligible to play in thanks to the trade and scored 59 points, his most in five years.
There aren’t many options on the open market considerably better than Monahan, especially for the money. Signing him in the next few weeks to keep him from becoming a UFA would likely result in a mid-term deal in the $5MM range annually.
That’ll likely be significantly cheaper than the top option on the market, Elias Lindholm, who’s coming off a steady decline in production over the past three seasons and scored fewer points per game than Monahan this year. Bringing Monahan back allows Arniel to keep deploying captain Adam Lowry in a comfortable third-line shutdown role, too, instead of forcing him to be more of a factor offensively.
Revamp Defense
Three defenders who logged significant time on the Winnipeg blue line last season – Dylan DeMelo, Brenden Dillon and Colin Miller – are set to become UFAs next month. They may engage in more aggressive extension discussions with DeMelo and Miller, but reports last month indicated Dillon is unlikely to be back with the Jets.
If at all possible, the Jets should be taking the DeMelo negotiations down to the wire. He grew into a top-pairing role as a serviceable partner to Josh Morrissey this season, putting up 31 points in 82 games while logging 21:44 per night. His +46 rating is almost certainly inflated due to his quality of teammates (and the quality of his goaltender), but the Jets have still controlled 51.2% of expected goals with DeMelo on the ice since his acquisition from the Senators in 2020.
That still leaves more than a couple of spots up for grabs, though, especially considering 32-year-old Nate Schmidt and his $5.95MM cap hit appears to be a strong buyout candidate as he enters the final season of his deal. One of them will likely be earmarked for 2019 first-round pick Ville Heinola, who’s primed for more extended NHL minutes next season after three years of quality top-pairing play for their AHL affiliate. Outside of Morrissey, Neal Pionk and Dylan Samberg also project to be regulars, with Logan Stanley in the mix as well, although the hulking 26-year-old was a healthy scratch for most of last season.
If they can’t extend DeMelo, that leaves a hole alongside Morrissey that will need to be filled either via free agency or via an Ehlers trade. Other than Pionk, they don’t have any other NHL-ready right-shot defenders, and he’s not suited for top-pairing duties. Brandon Montour, Brett Pesce and Matt Roy are the top right-shot options on the UFA market. Expect Cheveldayoff to engage with most, if not all of them, if they still have a vacancy along Morrissey come July 1.
Back-Up Hellebuyck
The Jets don’t need to worry much about “the other guy” when Hellebuyck is consistently throwing up save percentages north of .920 while starting 60-plus games, even as the league average for both dwindles. But Winnipeg has also been able to bank a few extra points in the standings each season thanks to strong play from Hellebuyck’s backups, which have been a rotating cast of Laurent Brossoit, Eric Comrie and David Rittich over the past few seasons.
Brossoit has done so with the most consistency lately, returning to the organization in free agency last summer after a brief stop (and a Stanley Cup win) in Vegas. He was excellent in his limited action this season, posting a 15-5-2 record with a .927 SV% in 22 starts and one relief appearance. He’s unlikely to return as he searches for a chance at more starts on the open market this summer, though.
Winnipeg doesn’t have any young internal options ready for promotion yet, so that means they’ll be hunting for Hellebuyck’s backup on the UFA market for the third summer in a row. Casey DeSmith, Kevin Lankinen and Scott Wedgewood are the best/most consistent options with experience that would likely settle for 20-25 starts next year.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Jets Notes: Monahan, Coaching Staff, Schmidt
Ken Wiebe and Mike McIntyre of The Winnipeg Free Press write that the Winnipeg Jets are increasing their efforts to retain the services of center Sean Monahan whom they acquired ahead of the trade deadline. Monahan didn’t have a great playoff with Winnipeg tallying just a single assist in five playoff games but was solid in the regular season occupying their second-line center role and posting 13 goals and 11 assists in 34 games.
Monahan made just under $2MM last season on a one-year contract and could be in line to double that figure on a multi-year deal given that he is one of the best centers available in unrestricted free agency. The 29-year-old Monahan dressed in 83 games last season split between Winnipeg and Montreal and finished the year with 26 goals and 33 assists.
If Monahan reaches free agency the Jets may not have the cap space to replace him as they stand to have just over $13MM available at this time.
In other Winnipeg Jets notes:
- Wiebe and McIntyre write that the Jets have two remaining slots available on their coaching staff and are likely to hire a veteran associate coach to occupy one of those roles next to new head coach Scott Arniel. They speculate that former Seattle Kraken head coach Dave Hakstol could be a possibility as well as Western Hockey League head coach James Patrick who has ties to Arniel. It is expected that the Jets will decide on rounding out their coaching staff in the next few weeks.
- It’s possible that Jets defenseman Nate Schmidt may receive a buyout this summer as Winnipeg looks to clear cap space to address some of the holes in their lineup (as per Wiebe and McIntyre). Schmidt has one year remaining on his contract with a cap hit of $5.95MM and has struggled the last two seasons. Last year, the 32-year-old tallied just two goals and 12 assists in 63 games and saw his ice time dwindle to just 16:49 per game down from over 20 minutes a night in the 2021-22 season. A buyout would save Winnipeg $3.2MM in cap space next season but would create a $1.616MM cap hit for the 2025-26 season (as per CapFriendly).
Jets’ Cole Perfetti Drawing Trade Interest
It’s been a tumultuous offseason in Winnipeg already after a disappointing first-round elimination, with Scott Arniel taking over behind the bench and deadline addition Tyler Toffoli reportedly not returning to the club. David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period writes that the Jets are also receiving interest in forward Cole Perfetti, although there haven’t been any serious trade discussions surrounding the pending restricted free agent.
Winnipeg has done well for themselves in the draft in recent years, picking up a few quality forward prospects to help extend their playoff contention window in the Connor Hellebuyck/Mark Scheifele era. 2022 first-rounders Rutger McGroarty and Brad Lambert look like top-six fixtures, especially the former, and 2023 first-rounder Colby Barlow is coming off his second straight 40-goal season with the Owen Sound Attack of the Ontario Hockey League.
But Perfetti, the 10th overall pick back in 2020, is the crown jewel of that group. Now 22, the Ontario native is coming off a decent sophomore campaign, totaling 19 goals and 38 points in 71 games with strong possession numbers. Yet his ice time dipped from his rookie season, averaging 13:35 per game in his second year under head coach Rick Bowness compared to 14:58 in 2022-23. He was used especially sparingly down the stretch and was inserted into the lineup just once in the first-round loss to the Avalanche, posting three shots on goal in under 11 minutes of ice time in their Game 5 season-ending loss.
His lack of usage late in the season naturally has teams inquiring about whether he’s on the trade block. But as an RFA without arbitration rights, there’s no urgency to move him aside from the threat of an offer sheet, which would provide them with appropriate compensation anyway.
Trading Perfetti also jumps out as an unforced error as the matching seven-year, $59.5MM extensions for Hellebuyck and Scheifele kick in next season. He was especially strong before the All-Star break, putting up 30 points and a +12 rating in 47 contests. However, he resumed play with an 11-game pointless streak and overall had five goals and eight points in his final 24 outings. Part of that was due to his ice time beginning to routinely dip under 10 minutes per game, though.
For a team facing a decent amount of free-agent turnover this summer, parting with a high-ceiling asset like Perfetti doesn’t make much sense, especially since he won’t command immense value on his next deal after his slow end to the campaign. Evolving Hockey projects a bridge deal for the youngster at $3MM per season for two years, and he could likely be had for closer to $2MM on a one-year pact if conserving cap space becomes a premium for general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff. Perfetti won’t be eligible for unrestricted free agency until 2029, so the length of a short-term deal doesn’t matter much, although he will be eligible for arbitration the next time he’s up for a new contract.
Jets Hoping To Re-Sign Sean Monahan, Fire Brad Lauer
The Winnipeg Jets are reportedly looking to retain pending free agent Sean Monahan, shares Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on the latest 32 Thoughts Podcast. The Jets acquired Monahan ahead of the trade deadline, sending a 2024 first-round and 2027 seventh-round pick back to the Montreal Canadiens. Monahan went on to score 13 goals and 24 points across 34 regular-season games with Winnipeg, adding one assist in five postseason games.
Monahan was one of Winnipeg’s two Trade Deadline acquisitions, alongside Tyler Toffoli, who the Jets sent a 2024 third-round and 2025 second-round pick. Toffoli has shared his interest in testing the open market. That decision should give Winnipeg much more freedom to allocate their $13.353MM in cap space between Monahan, pending restricted-free-agent Cole Perfetti, and William Jennings Trophy-co-winner Laurent Brossoit. The trio headline a list of 10 pending free agents on the Jets lineup.
Maintaining Monahan will give the Jets some stability down the middle, while moving on from Toffoli could open the door for top prospects Brad Lambert or Nikita Chibrikov to challenge the opening-day roster. The Jets will likely be removed from any jaw-dropping deals, with limited cap space and already-spent draft picks, but they’ll look to hold onto a playoff-caliber lineup with their signing this summer.
- The Winnipeg Jets have dismissed assistant coach Brad Lauer, and will retain Marty Johnston and Wade Flaherty as assistant and goalie coaches, per TSN’s John Lu (Twitter link). Lauer just wrapped up his second season as Winnipeg’s assistant. The pair of seasons brought him to 11 years spent as an assistant coach across the NHL, with his longest tenure coming during a four-year stretch with the Anaheim Ducks. Lauer played in 10 seasons between the NHL and IHL during his own playing career and has been coaching since his retirement in 2002. He served as the head coach behind the Edmonton Oil Kings to the 2022 Ed Chynoweth Cup, winning the WHL Championship. That accolade, and a long career in the pros, should be enough to land Lauer a new role quickly.
Tyler Toffoli Expected To Test Free Agency
The Jets will be now turning their focus to their roster after Scott Arniel was elevated to the head coaching position on Friday. With several free agents of note and not a lot of cap space to work with, they’ll face a situation of trying to pick between who to keep and who to let go. It appears that winger Tyler Toffoli will be among the ones that move on as David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports that the veteran is expected to hit the open market in July.
The 32-year-old has moved around in recent years. This time a year ago, he was with Calgary before being moved to New Jersey after early extension talks went nowhere. Then at the trade deadline, he was on the move again with Winnipeg flipping a 2024 third-round pick and a 2025 second-rounder to get him as a rental to give their offense a boost in the tight Central Division.
The change of scenery bolstered Winnipeg’s attack but Toffoli saw his numbers dip somewhat. After putting up 26 goals and 18 assists in 61 games with the Devils, the veteran recorded seven goals and four helpers in 18 regular season games with the Jets. Like many of Winnipeg’s key forwards, Toffoli was somewhat quiet in their five-game loss in the opening round, recording just two goals.
Toffoli was one of the more prominent scorers available in his last trip through free agency back in 2020. However, in a deflated market, he wound up settling for a four-year, $17MM agreement with Montreal. Despite playing for four years on that contract, Toffoli wound up being pretty consistent, notching at least 20 goals each time while tallying 115 times in 287 games; that works out to an average of 33 goals per 82 contests. With a lot of teams looking to add scoring this summer, this should work out in Toffoli’s favor.
While the fact he has bounced around so much lately may raise some eyeballs (he played for two different teams in 2019-20 before signing with Montreal the following summer), Toffoli has shown that he can produce in a new system quite quickly. Accordingly, he should be well-positioned to earn another multi-year agreement and could push to land a contract in the range of last year’s top-paid forward Alex Killorn, who inked a four-year, $25MM agreement with Anaheim. That would be a nice improvement after how things went for Toffoli last time out.
Jets Name Scott Arniel Head Coach
The Winnipeg Jets have officially named Scott Arniel as the fifth head coach in modern franchise history (Twitter link). The deal was first reported by TSN’s Darren Dreger (Twitter link). Arniel served as an associate coach under Rick Bowness this season, stepping in during Bowness’ two personal leaves this season.
Arniel presided over 18 games in relief of Bownesss, posting a 10-5-3 record. It was his first time serving a head coach since the 2012-13 season, when he led the AHL’s Chicago Wolves to an 11-25-5 record. That season capped off a seven-year span of head coaching roles for Arniel – including two seasons with the Columbus Blue Jackets where he posted a combined 45-60-18 record. Arniel moved on from head coaching to join the New York Rangers as an associate coach in the 2013-14 season – bolstering the team’s run to the Stanley Cup Finals. He’d go on to serve five seasons with the Rangers before flipping to the division rival Washington Capitals, where he spent another four seasons.
Bowness would bring Arniel onto his staff when he joined Winnipeg in 2022. The pair have since led the Jets to two first-round exits, though they’ve posted a 98-57-9 record. Arniel, who played in six seasons with the Jets during his 11-year playing career, was reportedly a front-runner for Winnipeg’s vacant head coach role ever since Bowness announced his retirement. And while the club did look externally, holding interviews with Todd McLellan and Craig Berube, their next bench-leader will come from within the organization.
Arniel will take on an incredibly talented Jets lineup, headlined by star forward Mark Scheifele and goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, who both signed long-term extension with the club last summer. But it’s a lineup subject to change, with the Jets currently carrying 10 pending free agents – including Cole Perfetti, Sean Monahan, and Tyler Toffoli – with just $13.353MM in cap space. The team is reportedly considering moving top winger Nikolaj Ehlers’ $6MM cap hit to help free up some cap space – a potentially substantial move following Ehlers’ 61-point season. Arniel will luckily have strong supporting cast to lean on even without Ehlers, with Winnipeg still boasting each of Kyle Connor, Gabriel Vilardi, Alex Iafallo, and Josh Morrissey under contract for next season.
It’s been four years since the Jets advanced past the first round of the playoffs, and they’ve only made the Western Conference Finals once in the 13 years since taking over for the Atlanta Thrashers. Arniel will look to buck that trend next year with a strong roster next year, though cap constraints could make it a tougher lift than he’s hoping for.
Free Agent Focus: Winnipeg Jets
Free agency is now just a bit more than a month away and teams are looking ahead to when it opens. There will be several impact players set to hit the open market in July while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign as well. We begin our look around the NHL with an overview of the free agent situation for the Jets.
Key Restricted Free Agents
D Ville Heinola – This season didn’t quite go as planned for Heinola. Hoping to earn a roster spot in training camp, he instead fractured his ankle late in camp, keeping him shelved until January. Upon his return, he was assigned to AHL Manitoba and while he was quite productive with the Moose, he never got the call. The best news for Heinola is that he’ll be waiver-eligible next season and it’s hard to see a scenario where he clears waivers. Accordingly, instead of signing a two-way deal worth the minimum in the NHL with a higher AHL salary, he could simply elect to accept his $874K qualifying offer (even though it’d carry a $70K AHL salary) knowing that he’s highly unlikely to be in the minors next season.
F Cole Perfetti – Perfetti took a step forward offensively this season, notching 19 goals and 19 assists in 71 regular season games, not bad numbers for someone in his sophomore year. However, he found himself in the press box most nights when it counted the most, ending his campaign on a bit of a low note. At this point, it’s unlikely that either side would want to work out a long-term agreement; a bridge deal makes much more sense especially with him tailing off toward the end of the year. That deal should check in somewhere around the $3MM range depending on how many years it goes for.
D Logan Stanley – In 2022-23, Stanley was a frequent healthy scratch and rarely played which led to some wondering if he’d be tendered a qualifying offer with arbitration rights. Things really didn’t change this year. The 25-year-old was limited to just 28 games (including playoffs) while averaging less than 14 minutes a night. The qualifying offer is just $1MM and arbitration eligibility shouldn’t be too much of a concern here but if they see him squarely in seventh defenseman territory, how deep into seven figures do they want to go for that role? Regardless of what happens, another one-year deal around this price point should be coming his way, either from Winnipeg or somewhere else.
Other RFAs: F David Gustafsson, D Artemi Kniazev, D Simon Lundmark, G Oskari Salminen
Key Unrestricted Free Agents
G Laurent Brossoit – The decision to return to Winnipeg certainly worked out well for Brossoit. After spending most of 2022-23 in the minors, he was one of the top backups in the league this season, posting a 2.00 GAA along with a .927 SV% in 23 games. He’s played well enough to earn a fair-sized raise on the $1.75MM he made this year which will price him out of what the Jets can afford. That said, he has just 140 NHL appearances under his belt which might stop him from getting top-end backup money. Still, he could push for closer to $3MM and potentially a multi-year deal, a solid outcome for someone who was in the minors not too long ago.
D Dylan DeMelo – The 31-year-old has shown slow but steady improvement throughout his career and is coming off his best performance so far, notching 31 points while averaging nearly 22 minutes a night during the season, both career-bests. He also finished second in the league in plus/minus, checking in at +46. Being a right-shot defender will certainly help bolster DeMelo’s market as well. Four years ago, the four-year, $12MM deal looked a bit risky for someone who had exclusively been on the third pairing. In the end, it was a bargain and DeMelo is now well-positioned to land another contract that long while adding at least a million per season more to that price tag.
D Brenden Dillon – Dillon isn’t going to hit the scoresheet very often but as far as dependable physical blueliners go, he’s a good one. He has had that role for the past three years with the Jets, logging around 19 minutes a game while logging some big minutes shorthanded. It appears that Winnipeg is leaning toward moving on (his leaving opens up a spot for Heinola) but Dillon should have a solid market this summer. His set-to-expire contract carries a $3.9MM AAV and on a blueline market that isn’t the deepest in July, he should check in around that amount again on another multi-year agreement.
F Sean Monahan – The Jets parted with their first-round pick to bring in Monahan back in February and the fit was nearly seamless as he slotted in on their second line. After several injury-riddled seasons, the 29-year-old actually led the NHL in games played with 83 which will certainly help his case, as will his 26-goal, 33-point showing. His market will be an interesting one as there likely will be some teams still wary given Monahan’s injury history. That likely takes a long-term agreement off the table. However, he’s among the top few centers available and the market for those players can go up quickly. A multi-year agreement past the $4MM mark should be achievable and if the demand is fairly high, $5MM or more shouldn’t be impossible to reach.
F Tyler Toffoli – After a breakout year with Calgary last season, it was fair to expect a drop-off in production. Having said that, while his assists dropped by 17, he only went down by one goal, going from 34 to 33, putting him fourth among UFAs in that department. His last trip through free agency didn’t go as well as he hoped, resulting in a four-year, $17MM contract that wound up being a team-friendly agreement rather quickly. Now 32 and having shown he can produce with several teams, he should have a stronger market this time around. That should give him a chance for another deal around the length of his last one with a price tag that pushes the $6MM mark.
Other UFAs: D Kyle Capobianco, G Collin Delia, F Jeff Malott, D Colin Miller, F Kristian Reichel, D Ashton Sautner, F Jeffrey Viel
Projected Cap Space
The Jets head into the offseason with a little over $13MM in cap space which clearly isn’t enough to bring back everyone. They can likely afford to keep one of the two defensemen and it seems like DeMelo is their preferred option. Up front, they might be able to keep one of Monahan or Toffoli but not both and that assumes that Perfetti winds up on a shorter-term contract. They’ll also likely opt for a low-cost backup behind Connor Hellebuyck whose new seven-year, $59.5MM deal begins in July. If they keep a forward and a defenseman, re-sign their RFAs, and add a cheaper backup, that might just about be it for GM Kevin Cheveldayoff this summer.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.