Marko Dano – Becoming a Forgotten Name on the Winnipeg Jets
By Dylan Paré
Remember the trade that sent former Winnipeg Jets captain Andrew Ladd to Chicago? Some may remember that it brought us a first round pick in 2016 and a conditional pick in this years draft. If you remember that we also sent Matt Fraser and Jay Harrison, good job. A prominent name in that trade that people are forgetting is a guy who still plays on the Jets, Marko Dano.
Marko Dano was an additional piece being sent to Chicago along with the picks. The expectation was for him to crack the Jets lineup, which he did at the start. Currently, a few years later, Dano is a healthy scratch almost every game. Dano has actually been a healthy scratch for the team every game after October 27th. Obviously this must be frustrating for the young, 23 year old Jet.
Dano has only been dressed in six games this season, and still has yet to notch a point. In my opinion, I don’t think Dano is an NHL player, and he should be in the AHL right now. He’s still pretty young, but I can’t imagine sitting a young kid like that for over a month and a half straight can be too good for his confidence. Sure he’s struggling, but they need to give him a chance. He is no longer exempt to waivers, which really sucks because he should be in the AHL. If the Jets did end up trying to send him to the AHL, he’d likely get picked off waivers so fast, which rules out that option.
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Should they trade him?
I think with all this Michael Hutchinson trade talk, it would make sense to include Dano in a deal. There’s really no point of having him sit in the stands and lose confidence every game. I really don’t know what the Jets could expect in return for him, but I don’t think they can be asking for anything that makes teams disinterested in making a deal. He has a fairly easy contract to take on, at $850K for one year. He’s also an RFA (Restricted Free Agent) which makes teams more interested. It’s good for the Winnipeg Jets that he’s not a UFA (Unrestricted Free Agent).