Over the past few seasons, the Winnipeg Jets have been one of the most consistent teams in hockey. You could almost pencil this team into a playoff spot. Now they haven’t made deep playoff runs. Other than the trip to the Western Conference Finals in 2017-18. But still to make the playoffs in five of the last six seasons is nothing to be ashamed of. With players like Kyle Connor, Blake Wheeler, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Mark Scheiflie, and former Vezina-winning goaltender Connor Hellebuck. It’s no surprise the Jets have had all this success.
However, despite getting back into the playoff this season, things aren’t looking good in Winnipeg. Last week it was revealed that both Connor Hellebuck and Pierre-Luc Dubois were not interested in signing an extension. Hellebuck is entering the final year of his deal, and Dubois is set to become a restricted free agent this offseason. This is on top of the news that Mark Scheiflie, arguably the most important player to this Jets roster has demanded a trade. That’s three major pieces of the Jets’ core. Now there are two ways the Jets can go.
Option 1: Go All In
In both these scenarios, there will be one constant. That is trading Pierre-Luc Dubois. As mentioned before Dubois is set to become a restricted free agent. Meaning that Dubois can talk and sign a deal with other teams, but the Jets will have the ability to match any offer he is given. Now if the Jets don’t match the offer they will get compensation in the form of draft picks. However, trading Dubois can get a much better return than whatever they would get in compensation.
In this scenario, the Jets would trade Dubois for a package of NHL-ready players. Players who are either establish NHL players. Or young players who have played in the NHL and are about to have breakout seasons. The next step would be spending the 12 million they have in cap space on filling out the depth on the roster. With Connor, Wheeler, Scheiflie, and Nino Niederreiter the star power part of their offense is fine. They now just need to balance out the roster. Add a little depth to the defensive and bottom six. Add some grit and players that can make a big impact in limited minutes.
This of course is the riskier option. They would essentially be going all in for one year. It’s literally Stanley Cup or Bust. There would be no margin for error. If they fail to win the cup, free agency will ravish their roster, and put this team years away from a cup. However, if they do win it all, it would be all worth it.
Option 2: Start Rebuilding
This would be the safer option for the Jets. Realize that the championship window has closed and look towards the future. In this case, the Dubois trade will be more focused on acquiring draft picks and young prospects. They should also do this with Mark Scheiflie and Connor Hellebuck. These three would give the Jets a haul of draft picks and young players.
Now this alone would be enough for the Jets to start and have an advance on their rebuild. However if the Jets aren’t planning on winning anytime soon, why hold on to players who have value when you have no shot at winning? Wouldn’t you want the roster to be as bad as possible so you can have the best odds at the first overall pick? Sure this might hurt attendance numbers in the short term, but it would help the long-term health of the franchise.
In this case, the Jets should consider trading at least one of Blake Wheeler, Kyle Connor, or Nido Niederreiter. The smart move would be to move on from Wheeler and Niederreiter. Both of their contracts expire at the end of next season and will give the Jets a decent return. Not as big as the three mentioned early but still a decent package. They then should focus on building the team around Connor. He is still under contract for three more years and is the youngest of the three. Connor is the perfect player to build the franchise around. No, what road the Jets decide to go down, it’s going to be a very interesting offseason.
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