JETS ALL IN AFTER STASTNY DEAL
Talented centre waived no-trade clause to join Cup contender, Ken Wiebe writes.
Kevin Cheveldayoff made a bold move to bolster his roster and now it’s up to the Winnipeg Jets to show what they’re going to do about it.
By adding versatile centre Paul Stastny and depth defenceman Joe Morrow, the Jets’ general manager addressed the two big items on his wish list and made a statement to his group that he believes in their ability to go on an extended playoff run.
After losing out on skilled pivot Derick Brassard, who went to the Pittsburgh Penguins from Ottawa on Friday, it wouldn’t have been surprising if the Jets had chosen to stand pat or add on the fringes of the roster.
But with the St. Louis Blues in the midst of a six-game losing skid that knocked them below the playoff line, Cheveldayoff heard from general manager Doug Armstrong that Stastny, a veteran of 805 career games and an additional 55 in the Stanley Cup playoffs, might be available.
Given some time to ponder the situation, Stastny felt comfortable waiving his no-trade clause and accepted the trade to the Jets, a team he first considered joining as an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2014.
“I wasn’t surprised. I think I’ve always been brought up not to expect anything, whether you have one of those or whether they tell you you’re an untouchable,” Stastny told reporters in St. Paul, Minn. “You never know what might happen this late in the season. In the back of your mind when you start losing, it might become a possibility. With the situation that we’re in, there’s maybe only a few teams I would have really seriously considered. I had no idea one of those teams would be seriously interested.”
Stastny, 32, is a pending unrestricted free agent whose contract carries an average annual value of US$7 million, but the Blues agreed to cover 50 per cent of what’s left.
Stastny is expected to be in the Jets’ lineup on Tuesday against the Nashville Predators and will likely start on a line with Patrik Laine and Nikolaj Ehlers.
The Jets shipped their 2018 first-rounder (which includes draft lottery protection if the Jets should falter and move up to pick in the top three), forward prospect Erik Foley and a conditional fourth-round selection in the 2020 draft to the Blues. The Blues receive the fourth-round pick in 2020 only if Foley (who has 15 goals and 34 points in 32 games with the Providence College Friars of the NCAA) doesn’t sign a contract with them before Aug. 16, 2019.
There is a belief that Foley, who helped Team USA win a gold medal at the world junior hockey championship in 2016, was ready to turn pro this spring following the completion of his junior season.
Dealing a first-round pick for the first time since the franchise relocated from Atlanta in 2011 wasn’t easy, but it’s the cost of doing business for a contender looking to add an impact player.
“It goes back to what we felt would be a good fit and I was fully prepared not to make any moves if there wasn’t a good fit there,” Cheveldayoff said.
“So I could just as easily be standing here waiting for the questions about why I chose not to make any moves and I would have been able to sit here and look at you all straight in the eyes and say it’s because I like my team. That has not changed one iota.
“In fact, it’s actually been enhanced. We felt this was a tremendous fit for our organization on many different levels with both of these trades.”
Morrow is a left-handed shooting defenceman who can play on either side.
Known as a puck-mover with strong skating ability, Morrow has been in and out of the lineup this season with the Montreal Canadiens, who received a fourth-round pick in 2018 in the trade.
Morrow, 25, was chosen in the first round (23rd overall) of the 2011 draft and has some playoff experience, suiting up in five playoff games with the Boston Bruins last spring, while averaging more than 22 minutes of ice time per game. The Jets also assigned defenceman Tucker Poolman and forward Nic Petan to the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League.
Already one of the powerhouse teams in the Western Conference, Monday’s moves solidify the Jets’ roster, giving them three dangerous scoring lines and another effective checking group to go along with a goalie in the conversation for the Vezina Trophy and a deep defensive corps, especially after Jacob Trouba returns next month.
“I don’t think it sends any other message other than we want to win it this year. We’ve known that from the start of the year,” Ehlers said. “Getting (Stastny) just says exactly the same. We want to make it far this year and getting a guy like him is definitely going to help.”