Winnipeg Jets: 5 Reasons a Stanley Cup is Coming – #4
The key to building a good house? The foundation. The key to a successful country? A foundation of a good leader. (or someone who can build a wall…) The key to building a successful NHL team? Yup, you got it, a good foundation. The foundation isn’t found on the ice, but is put on the ice by managers and coaches. The Winnipeg Jets have one of the best coaches and general managers in the league, and that will help them find their first ever Stanley Cup, and bring it to Portage and Main.
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Kevin Cheveldayoff
When the Jets came back to Winnipeg, it was more fan passion of having an NHL team than pondering when they could have success. That was not the case for Jets management. Since day one, Kevin Cheveldayoff had a process. His process was not to be known. He wasn’t gonna be the one to have a short rope on players, and be known to wheel and deal players when not necessary. His process was “draft and develop”. His process was “trades will happen when they need to”. Three years into this process, Winnipeg fans started to wonder if Kevin Cheveldayoff had the guts to make a move.
To date, his biggest trade was bringing in a bottom six winger, Devin Setoguchi. As the process continued, there started to become less, and less followers. No success, and no press conferences to complain about why they suck? That’s rare. But a process was there. Kevin Cheveldayoff waited, and waited, and eventually it was time to make a move. In fact, the team almost made a move for him. Evander Kane was supposed to be a huge part of the Jets foundation for the next decade. Teammates, and management weren’t pleased with what he brought to the foundation of the franchise, and needed to build it stronger. That’s when he pulled the strings. That was it. A deal had come, a deal had gone. And although Kevin may never be one of the general managers always on the move, he does have a big win to his name.
Along with Kevin, and his scouting staff’s job of drafting, he has become one of the better managers. Kevin has drafted so many core peices of the Jets, whether it be Mark Scheifele, Jacob Trouba, Kyle Connor, or Patrik Laine, they were all masterminded.
Paul Maurice
Seeing Claude Noel pack his bags wasn’t a suprise, in fact it was much-anticipated. The team was done with him, and had to move onto a new system. That system is Paul Maurice. At the time, his name was hard to recognize, but his pedigree is still there.
The now 49-year-old has coached for nearly 20 years, starting with the Hartford Whalers in 1995-16. It was rough times for Maurice, as coaching people older than you can be a challenge, but he persevered. In 2001-02 Paul was now a full-time head coach of the Carolina Hurricanes. He led them to the Stanley Cup Finals, but never won. Another stint with Carolina was split by a stint in Toronto, before taking off for the KHL for the lockout year, 2012-13.
Paul’s 18 years of NHL coaching rubbed off on the Jets the second he walked into the dressing room. Players transformed from defensive liabilities, to all-around players. He fixed up Jacob Trouba’s game, to make it more NHL-caliber. He found out how to get Ondrej Pavelec on hot streaks, and how to get the most out of top scorers Blake Wheeler, and Andrew Ladd.
Most importantly he lead the Jets to a playoff berth in his first full season with the club. This year will be his third, and expectations are beginning to rise, but even if they aren’t met, Kevin Cheveldayoff knows he’s got his guy behind the bench, the mastermind behind a Winnipeg Jets Stanley Cup.