Kevin Cheveldayoff – The Mastermind Behind the Winnipeg Jets Success
By Dylan Paré
Have you ever watched the Jets play and see a player absolutely on fire? Did you ever think to yourself, “Dang, he’s good. I wonder who’s brilliant idea it was to bring him to the Winnipeg Jets?” I can tell you that I never have, because I already know the answer. The answer is two words: Kevin Cheveldayoff.
Oh how perfect for Jets fans, finally after many long painful nights, I can now say that the Winnipeg Jets are a contending team. Top 5 in the league, 31 games into the season with a 18-8-5 record is exactly what all Jets fans have been waiting for. Of course, the deep, and talented team didn’t just put itself together. It took many precise acquisitions, and trades to create a team of this calibre. None other than the man himself, Kevin Cheveldayoff is the guy behind all of this success here in the ‘Peg. Obviously there was more to it than just him such as guys like assistant GM Craig Heisinger, and the entire Jets scouting crew.
The making of a superstar:
Take Mark Scheifele, a scrawny young teen from Kitchener, Ontario. He had just spent a fairly successful individual 2010-11 season with the Barrie Colts of the OHL, and was up be to drafted. Not a whole lot of Winnipegers, or anyone really, actually knew who he was. Scheifele was drafted, the first ever selection made by Kevin Cheveldayoff after re-locating to Winnipeg. Some fans were confused, and others were furious that Chevy had picked him over a highly touted Sean Couturier. Obviously he had seen potential in Scheifele. Now you look at both players, and Jets fans are looking back and laughing at themselves for ever wanting Couturier over Scheifele. Sure Couturier was able to start playing full seasons in the NHL a few years before Scheifele, but take a look now who the better player really is, and who it will continue to be. It’s clearly Scheifele.
The pick that completed their blueline:
2012-13 was a year that none of Chevy’s picks were developed into the NHL yet. It was far too early for him to risk spoiling a diamond of a prospect. We went into the 2013 draft selecting 13th overall, thinking that all of his picks were just mediocre in the previous years. (Now they clearly were all steals, and perfect moves by him). He picked Josh Morrissey. That was one of the best picks the Winnipeg Jets have ever made in my opinion. Not only the drafting, but properly developing him unlike many GMs who need someone to come into the lineup right away and rush and waste away brilliant prospects.
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The Blockbuster trade:
Once again, lets go back in time. This time I’d like to take you to February of 2015. This is when people truly understood that Kevin Cheveldayoff is truly one of the best general managers in the league right now. This is when he pulled off the biggest blockbuster since the Jets came to Winnipeg. He traded Evander Kane, who was just a problem that needed to be dealt with, injury prone Zach Bogosian, and goalie prospect Jason Kasdorf to Buffalo. In return, somehow he came out with Joel Armia, one of my favourite players, and a former 1st round pick. They picked up Tyler Myers, who is one of the biggest pieces of the Jets blueline. Don’t forget that’s how Brendan Lemieux and the pick used to select Jack Roslovic were acquired. Finally, they pulled away with veteran Drew Stafford, who made an immediate presence in their lineup.
Tim Murray (Buffalo’s GM at the time) obviously thought that trading for Kane and Bogosian could give the Sabres the shakeup they really needed. Obviously that trade wasn’t enough to spare Murray his job later on, as he was fired just over a year and a half later.
In conclusion…
To put an end to this article, I think Chevy is really smart and has made some really beneficial decisions for the Jets organization. He makes moves, but he is patient which is perfect. He doesn’t do anything that could put the entire franchises future at stake. His deals also stay fairly quiet, until they hit the ice, (Mathieu Perrault) but make a really big difference.