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Winnipeg Jets Acquire Nino Niederreiter

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The Winnipeg Jets have added to their forward group, acquiring Nino Niederreiter from the Nashville Predators in exchange for a 2024 second-round draft pick. Winnipeg then sent Axel Jonsson-Fjallby to the AHL to open the roster spot.

The 30-year-old has been a reliable secondary scorer for the majority of his career and continued that trend in his first season with Nashville.  This season, Niederreiter has 18 goals and 10 assists in 56 games, good for second on the Preds in goals (just one behind Filip Forsberg).  He has reached the 20-goal mark in six of the last eight seasons and should certainly bolster Winnipeg’s scoring depth, especially with Cole Perfetti likely out for the remainder of the regular season and potentially into the first round.

Notably, Niederreiter isn’t a rental acquisition for Winnipeg as he still has one year remaining on his deal after this season with a $4MM cap hit.  They already had more than $66.5MM in commitments for next season to just 13 players per CapFriendly, a total that will jump to over $70.5MM.  Notably, that figure does not include an expected new deal for RFA center Pierre-Luc Dubois who is heading for a sizable raise on his current $6MM salary.  With that in mind, it’s quite possible that from here on out, the Jets will be focusing on rental players.

As for Nashville, this year hasn’t gone as planned for the Preds.  After being 12th in goals scored in 2021-22, they’ve struggled offensively this season, sitting 26th in that department even with the addition of Niederreiter who was supposed to help bolster their attack.  The end result is that they find themselves fifth in the Central Division and seven points out of a Wild Card spot heading into today’s action.  It appears that GM David Poile has settled on his course of action after previously suggesting he wasn’t entirely sure if he’d be a buyer or seller.

While the Preds don’t have a strong list of pending UFAs – it’s basically backup goaltender Kevin Lankinen and injured blueliner Mark Borowiecki – they do have some other players that are signed or under team control beyond this season that could be of interest.  Pending RFA defenseman Dante Fabbro has been in recent speculation while veteran rearguard Mattias Ekholm has previously been suggested as someone that could move if they look to undergo a longer-term retooling process.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman broke the news (Twitter link) that Niederreiter was headed to Winnipeg. 

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Cole Perfetti Out Eight Weeks

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Winnipeg Jets head coach Rick Bowness told reporters this morning that forward Cole Perfetti is expected to miss at least eight weeks due to an upper-body injury.

The young forward, who was drafted by the Jets 10th overall in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, has had a strong rookie campaign, registering eight goals and 30 points in 51 games played. Bowness stressed that Perfetti’s injury isn’t related to the upper-body injury that cost him the last few months of last season. The news of his absence is significant for the Jets down the stretch, as Perfetti is developing into a core part of the team’s top-six forward group.

Perfetti was placed on injured reserve Tuesday and has missed the team’s last two games.

The eight-week timeline lines up nicely for Perfetti to return during the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs if his recovery doesn’t extend past what’s anticipated. The Jets are second in the Central Division but have lost six out of their last 10 games.

Perfetti’s injury won’t impact Winnipeg’s salary cap landscape much, considering he’s still on his sub-$1MM entry-level deal, but it does exacerbate the need for the Jets to upgrade at the forward position with months left to go in the season. They have been linked in recent weeks as an outside team to land San Jose Sharks forward Timo Meier, and other depth targets like James van Riemsdyk and Ivan Barbashev could be an option to replace Perfetti’s top-six role at the deadline.

Cole Perfetti Placed On Injured Reserve; Axel Jonsson-Fjällby Recalled

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The Winnipeg Jets have placed forward Cole Perfetti on injured reserve per a team announcement Tuesday afternoon. Forward Axel Jonsson Fjällby has been recalled from the Jets’ AHL affiliate Manitoba Moose on an emergency basis. In 51 games played so far this season, Perfetti has scored eight goals and 22 assists for a total of 30 points. After spending much of the 2021-22 NHL season split between the Jets and the Moose, Perfetti has shown off his playmaking prowess this year showing just why he was such a high selection at the 2020 NHL Draft.

As the Jets find themselves in a very tight Central Division playoff race, losing Perfetti will be a sizeable hole in the lineup. Entering tomorrow night’s game against the New York Islanders, the Jets are averaging 3.14 GF/G and a PP% of 21.8%, good for 16th and 14th in the league, respectively. Spending most of his time on the Jets’ first line, and helping out with the second power-play unit, the Jets will need to find offensive help in different ways in the near future. With 25 games remaining in the regular season, the Jets find themselves one point back of the division-leading Dallas Stars, and four points up on the third-place Colorado Avalanche, a team with two games in hand on the Jets. After missing out on the playoffs for the 2021-22 season, losing Perfetti will be a hurdle that the Jets will need to clear in order to return to the playoffs.

Replacing Perfetti in the lineup, Jonsson-Fjällby will return to the Jets after a one-week return to the minors. Claimed from the Washington Capitals in early October, Jonsson-Fjällby has been able to provide some depth scoring for the Jets this year. In 45 games played during the 2022-23 season, Jonsson-Fjällby has scored four goals and seven assists. Although he does not garner the same recognition as Perfetti for many Jets fans, Jonsson-Fjällby should be able to provide serviceable minutes for the Jets in Perfetti’s absence.

Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, Spencer Martin Clear Waivers

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Feb 14: Both players have cleared and can be assigned to the minor leagues.

Feb 13: According to Winnipeg Jets head coach Rick Bowness, who spoke with reporters including Scott Billeck of the Winnipeg Sun, Axel Jonsson-Fjallby has been placed on waivers today. The club needed room for the return of Dylan DeMelo and is “selfishly” hoping that Jonsson-Fjallby clears and can stay with the organization.

He isn’t alone. Spencer Martin has also been placed on waivers by the Vancouver Canucks, suggesting that Thatcher Demko will soon return from injury.

It’s a significant fall for Martin, who signed a two-year, one-way contract with the Canucks in April to serve as the team’s primary backup. At the time, it seemed rather undeserved given he had only played in nine NHL games, but the Canucks were confident in his ability to play at the highest level after posting a .950 save percentage in his short time with them.

Unfortunately, he’s come nowhere near that number this season, with an .871 through 29 appearances. The goaltending in Vancouver has been rather dreadful, even if their defensive performance has hung netminders out to dry far too often.

The move essentially signals that Collin Delia has passed him on the depth chart, and will remain as the backup for Demko moving forward.

For Jonsson-Fjallby, this could potentially lead to another fresh start somewhere else. Not only do the Washington Capitals have the option of re-claiming him and sending him directly to the minor leagues if they are the only team interested, but his play could draw the gaze of some other teams looking for depth forwards. Through 45 games with Winnipeg, the 25-year-old has four goals and 11 points, routinely showing off his speed to get in on the forecheck.

He won’t be a top-six impact player, but could be of interest for clubs looking to add penalty killing and energy to a fourth line.

Valtteri Pulli Drawing NHL Interest

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Most of the news right now revolves around the NHL trade deadline, as media members try to find out where everyone will be playing when the dust settles. But yesterday, Jeff Marek squished in another interesting nugget during the 32 Thoughts podcast for Sportsnet.

Valtteri Pulli, an undrafted Finnish defenseman, is drawing interest from several NHL clubs.

A number of teams that have shown interest but at varying degrees. I’ve heard of a couple different teams that are really hot on him, and a couple that just will kick tires. I’m having a hard time trying to figure out who is really aggressive and who is just curious.

It sounds like the teams with interest (and again to varying degrees) are the San Jose Sharks…the Winnipeg Jets, the Boston Bruins, the Vancouver Canucks, the Nashville Predators, the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the New York Islanders. 

Pulli, 21, is a 6’6″ left-shot defenseman who is in his first full season for TPS in the Finnish Liiga, and has three goals and 14 points in 47 games. While those numbers don’t sound too impressive, he has shown flashes of high offensive potential, as he learns to use his massive frame to protect the puck and get it to dangerous areas.

Of course, flashes of potential don’t get you NHL minutes, and Pulli is by no means a finished product. He’ll turn 22 next month, though, meaning teams will have lots of time to try and develop him into an impact player.

Since he turns 22 next month, Pulli will be limited to a two-year entry-level contract when he does sign.

Winnipeg Jets Linked To James Van Riemsdyk

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  • Another name that was brought up as being on the market is that of veteran Philadelphia Flyers forward James van Riemsdyk. The 33-year-old has scored a healthy 21 points in 34 games this season, and would in all likelihood give a team additional scoring help at a lower cost than some of the other forward options on the market, such as Meier or Bertuzzi. Marek linked van Riemsdyk to three teams: the Winnipeg Jets, Minnesota Wild, and Vegas Golden Knights.

Jets Activate Mason Appleton, Place Dylan DeMelo On IR

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The Jets will welcome back one of their injured forwards tonight as they announced (Twitter link) that winger Mason Appleton will return to the lineup tonight against Chicago.  To make room for him on the active roster, defenseman Dylan DeMelo has been placed on injured reserve.

The 27-year-old had gotten off to a nice start to his season, picking up a goal and five assists in 14 games before suffering a wrist injury back in mid-November.  Appleton had been logging 16:34 per contest which was considerably above his career average of 13:00.  With his return, this will be pretty much as close to Winnipeg having their full complement of forwards with fourth liner David Gustafsson being the only one left on IR.

That is of particular importance to Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff.  Not only does Appleton’s return give him a chance to assess what his full forward group looks like to help determine their needs heading into the trade deadline, it also has allowed them to get back to banking cap space.  At one point not that long ago, they were nearly in a spot where they had to dip into LTIR.  Now, per CapFriendly, their current roster sits about $2MM below the cap with Winnipeg projecting to have more than $9MM in cap room before next month’s trade deadline.  Not many buyers will have that type of financial flexibility to work with.

Meanwhile, although the Jets moved DeMelo to IR, he’s making progress in returning to the lineup, per Scott Billeck of the Winnipeg Sun.  The veteran has missed the last two games with a lower-body injury but is skating on his own.  He won’t obviously play tonight but hasn’t been ruled out for Tuesday’s contest against Seattle.  Once DeMelo is cleared to return, Winnipeg will have to open up another roster spot and their only three waiver-exempt players are forwards Cole Perfetti and Morgan Barron along with blueliner Dylan Samberg.

Latest On Timo Meier

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The Timo Meier-to-New Jersey train has been gathering speed for the last few weeks. It seems like a perfect fit, and now with the New York Islanders and New York Rangers both loading up with Bo Horvat and Vladimir Tarasenko respectively, the Devils might have to keep pace.

Today, though, on the 32 Thoughts podcast, Elliotte Friedman suggested that two other teams could be involved in Meier trade talks. The first, which shouldn’t surprise many, is the Toronto Maple Leafs. Friedman noted that Kyle Dubas’ recent comments about not spending high picks and prospects were contingent on the term “rentals,” which, technically, Meier isn’t. The San Jose Sharks forward has a $10MM qualifying offer this offseason and has reportedly been open to potentially signing an extension wherever he lands, should it make sense.

One guy said to me that there are teams out there thinking that Toronto, at the very least have considered: ’do we go get Meier for this run, and then sort it out later.’ Basically punt the decision to the summer. 

Toronto isn’t the only one, though. Friedman notes there are a number of Eastern Conference teams after Meier and at least a few from the West. One of those is the Winnipeg Jets, apparently, who Friedman has also heard about in regard to Meier. With a new coaching staff the Jets look like a lock for the playoffs again and could even still compete for the Central Division crown with a good stretch run. With Blake Wheeler coming off the cap after the 2023-24 season, they’ll also have some flexibility in terms of a long-term extension if they were to land the star winger.

Almost everything surrounding Meier right now is speculative, though. The Sharks appear ready to wait out the market and make sure they get the biggest haul possible, and for a good reason. The 26-year-old Meier is a legitimate difference-maker, who already has 30 goals this season and can drive a line by himself. You don’t always have a chance to acquire in-their-prime assets at the deadline, especially not forwards that can play 20 minutes a night.

If Toronto and Winnipeg do get involved, it won’t be an easy bidding war. Things are set up to be quite beneficial for the Sharks, even if they are selling off a beloved homegrown star.

Mason Appleton Will Return On Saturday

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  • Winnipeg Jets head coach Rick Bowness issued a variety of injury updates to reporters today, but most notably said that forward Mason Appleton is on track to play Saturday. The 27-year-old played 14 games this season before sustaining a wrist injury that has cost him much of the 2022-23 campaign. Appleton was off to a strong start with six points and elevated ice time before going down with the injury. Bowness also mentioned that forward David Gustafsson and defenseman Dylan DeMelo, who are both day-to-day, aren’t ready to rejoin full practice.

Chaz Lucius Undergoes Surgery; Will Miss Rest Of Season

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The Winnipeg Jets have announced disappointing prospect news, tweeting that Chaz Lucius underwent shoulder surgery today and will miss the rest of the season. The young forward had been playing with the Portland Winterhawks of the WHL after being loaned back to junior last month.

Lucius, 19, was the 18th overall pick in 2021 and has taken an odd development path in the time since. He first went to the University of Minnesota for just one year, before turning pro and joining the Manitoba Moose at the beginning of this season. After just 12 games there (and a shoulder injury that kept him out for a while), he was headed to the CHL.

The NCAA-AHL-CHL route isn’t often taken, but it appeared to be paying off for Lucius, who had five goals and 15 points in his first six games for Portland. He dominated the younger, more inexperienced competition and built plenty of confidence along the way.

Now with this injury, he’ll have an odd little six-game footnote on his career. Given that he will turn 20 in May, Lucius will almost certainly return to the AHL next year instead of going to junior as an overage player, meaning his time in the WHL is over. His contract, meanwhile, will slide forward, meaning he will now reach restricted free agency in the summer of 2026.

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